Jayde Naponse mixes it up with boys (Little NHL photos)

Jayde Naponse plays defence for the girl's bantam Shawanaga Flames.

Her team started the Little Native Hockey League 2008 with a 5-0 win over Garden River Braves at the Steelback Centre last night.

But at home, Naponse likes to mix it up with the boys to sharpen her skills.

And Paula Naponse, her coach, says Jayde's game will get even sharper now that she is in bantam league.

Our photo shows Jayde and Paula at the Steelback Centre after their Little NHL game last night.

"The boys are allowed to do some checking in that division," says Paula. "She gets to learn that and she wouldn't get that here."

Jayde says not many of her female friends play hockey now, though more of them played on the streets or ponds when they were younger.

"Now, it's just my cousin - she's my best friend - and me," she says.

But a lot of their male relatives play too, and Jayde finds it seems very natural for her and her cousin to play.

She believes many of the girls her age are afraid to try league hockey, even though a lot of their male relatives and friends are playing and girls are interested in the game.

Jayde thinks more girls would play if they found out how much fun it is. "It's not really about winning. My house league team lost every game so far but we still have lots of fun every game."

Paula agrees, saying more girls would sign up and play if they just put their skates on and tried it.

Hockey Canada says the first female hockey game took place in 1892.

A century later, there were 11,341 females registered to play hockey in Canada.

Coach Paula picked up a curved stick when she was eight years old, but played ringette before that.

"Girls' hockey has really come a long way," Paula said. "In the beginning we really had to scramble to get any kind of ice time anywhere, but now we have girls' leagues in the big cities and girls are playing more and more everywhere."

This year, the Little NHL expanded its female divisions to include peewee, making the tournament accessible to more female players.

"We recognize that female hockey is growing and want to provide more opportunity for girls to participate in the tournament," said Trevor Sayers, an organizing committee member from this year's host community, Batchewana First Nation of the Ojibways.

There are currently 73,791 female hockey players registered with Hockey Canada and participation growth has levelled off at about five percent over the past few years.

Paula and Jayde both would like to see more girls playing because the sport is so much fun, is such a great workout and can really help improve a girl's confidence.

Paula also said there is a need for more female coaches.

"There needs to be more women coaching because right now you still have a lot of men coaching girls' teams," Paula said. "There is much more to come and many more girls will be playing. We need more women in the sport."

She said girls seem to be able to relate to and bond with a female coach easier than with a male, and female coaches can be effective role models, encouraging girls to stay in the sport longer.

More Little NHL coverage

Hockey-playing leprechaun hangs his hat (24 photos)