Girl's and Women’s hockey in Minnesota, and across the country, has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades. Thanks to the increase in organizations that provide more opportunities to young female skaters than ever before, the future of the game looks even brighter.
One of those thriving programs, based about 50 miles west of the Twin Cities in Hutchinson, is the Pink Panthers, which in 2025 is celebrating its 20th year of making memories on the ice.
For the last two decades, the Pink Panthers have provided this town of around 14,000 an outlet for girls ages 5 through 8 interested in trying out the sport, sharpening their skills and being part of a hockey community.
Troy Lenarz, also known as “Coach Troy,” who has been a driving force behind the program since its inception, says the kids involved certainly gain hockey knowledge but also so much more.
“What you see on the ice with our group is not all about hockey,” said Lenarz, whose daughter Ellie went through the program as one of the original Pink Panthers back in 2006. “We have fun socializing, building camaraderie and also building confidence. There will be girls that catch the hockey bug, but even the kids who only play a few years will come out of the program with many benefits.”
AN INSTANT HIT
According to Lenarz, 20 years ago, the Mite program in Hutchinson had roughly 100 boys and 10 girls on its roster. So, like a lot of other programs, 1-2 girls would be divided among the different boys’ teams. As a dad with a daughter interested in the game, it wasn’t an ideal situation. So, he set out to make a change.
“I went to the association board and said, ‘What would you think about us having a team of just girls?’” he said. “They said, ‘Do you think we can get enough girls? Are you willing to coach?’ I said, ‘I think I can,’ and they said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ We created our own bubblegum pink jerseys and started recruiting. Once word got out that we were going to do an all-girls program, that opened the door for a lot of kids to want to try it. We ended up getting 24 girls to come out for that first season.”
Lenarz said the Pink Panthers program was instantly embraced by the community.
“Any parent of daughters, you’re always looking for ways to build their self-esteem and confidence,” he said. “This really filled those needs, and the girls loved it. They loved having something they could call their own. And, because there weren’t many girls’ teams for our kids to play against, we went around to other associations to talk about what we were doing and how they could mimic it. We tried to build girls’ hockey all around us.”
GROWING THE GAME
The current Pink Panthers program boasts 47 players, an all-time high and nearly double the number of 20 years ago.
In what has become a common occurrence over the years, Lenarz said he is often approached by parents, coaches and administrators of other associations, who praise what this group in Hutchinson is doing and want to pick his brain about how they built the program and how they sustain it. Many express that they wish their local programs would offer something similar.
“It’s kind of cool when a parent or coach from a bigger association will come up to me after a game and want to talk about our program,” he said.
Promoting the Pink Panthers to the masses and ensuring the program continues to grow remains a team effort. Local businesses as well as individuals in the community demonstrate their support through sponsorships, donations and hosting events. One local supporter, Hutch Bowl, brightens its entire alley with pink lights at the program’s annual bowling parties. Pink Panthers T-shirts are given to the players, who are encouraged to capture and share photos of themselves wearing the shirts wherever they go. Posters featuring all 47 players are visible all over town -- from homes to high school locker rooms to local store fronts.
The Pink Panthers have made a significant impact on Hutchinson’s high school girls’ program as well.
During the 2014-15 season, when Lenarz’s daughter Ellie, a goaltender, was a freshman, she was pulled up to the Tigers’ varsity squad. Because of an injury, she got the opportunity to start between the pipes fairly early in the season. Ellie was one of several original Pink Panthers on the roster that year, which ended with a trip to the MSHSL Class A State Tournament.
Troy Lenarz estimates that five years later, when Hutchinson won the 2020 State Tourney consolation championship over South St. Paul, “probably 95% of the varsity team were former Pink Panthers.” Pink Panther alum Alex Hantge led that squad in scoring and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
The relationship between the young Pink Panthers and the Hutchinson high school team continues to flourish.
“We have a program that we call the Puck Pals, where we connect varsity players with a Pink Panthers player,” he said. “We will do a meet-and-greet at the beginning of the season, and then throughout the year some varsity players will skate with us at practices at Burich Arena. We always encourage our Pink Panther families to go to the varsity games, and usually you’ll see players there in pink jerseys holding up signs for the varsity players. The varsity players are always very good about coming to our games, practices and scrimmages and embracing the relationship with our kids. They’ve done a great job embracing their roles as leaders, making the Pink Panthers feel special and having that connection.”
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS
On February 1st of this year, the Pink Panthers were honored at Hutch Hockey Day, a day to celebrate the game together as a community. In addition to playing earlier in the day, the varsity girls’ team took the ice wearing Pink Panther jerseys as a dedication to the program and its impact over 20 years. Players from the very first Pink Panthers team were welcomed back to join in the celebration.
“It was an unforgettable day,” said Lenarz. “I take immense pride in this program and what it provides for these girls. It goes far beyond just coaching and hockey.”
Thinking back on his favorite memories of the last 20 years, Lenarz highlighted players expressing their gratitude during Senior Nights and graduation ceremonies, Pink Panther references at players’ weddings, as well as the success stories—both on and off the ice—of the players themselves.
“One of the original Pink Panthers, Ellie Larson, went on to captain her team at RIT and also Boston University,” he said. “Alex Hantge is another one. She was an incredible player. Last year her University of Wisconsin-River Falls team went undefeated and won the D-III national title. Alex has come back and talked to the girls about her time as a Pink Panther and how it affected her, how she’s taken those lessons with her.”
Looking ahead, Lenarz hopes to see the Pink Panthers program continue to grow and thrive.
“I hope it continues for those players that will go on and continue to have amazing hockey careers and also for the kids that need it for the confidence boost or self-esteem boost,” he said. ‘But I also hope it will inspire other programs. When I hear people from bigger programs than ours asking me about what we’re doing, and we’re little Hutchinson out here in the middle of the prairie, that’s inspiring to me.”