Editor’s note: Here is your chance to tell your story about your team, your school or your favorite player. If you’d like to join The Gazette’s growing list of high school contributors, contact J.R. Ogden at jr.ogden@thegazette.com

By Morgan Breitbach, Xavier sophomore

CEDAR RAPIDS  - Hockey is not the most popular sport at Xavier High School.

Only five of the approximately 750 students who attend Xavier play hockey. A few more attend the games.

Senior Lizzy Edwards is one of the five who actually play the game and she  plays with a mission. Edwards plays for the Pink Ladies of Cedar Rapids to bring awareness to breast cancer.

“Currently our team has three breast cancer survivors – Donna, Britta, and Tina,” Edwards said.

The three originally played for the first women’s hockey team in Cedar Rapids,  Hockey Heaven. They broke off with a few others to form the Pink Ladies.

Edwards joined the team with her mother, who is the goalie.

“I started playing ice hockey when I was around 8 because my mom and stepdad played,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Each year the team attends the Stick it to Cancer ice hockey tournament in Minneapolis. The Stick it to Cancer tournament donates all its proceeds to the University of Minnesota Cancer Center for cancer research.

The Pink Ladies are more of a recreational team. They only practice when a tournament is coming up. They play weekly games either on Sundays or Mondays and are sponsored by St. Lukes. They’re team logo is a pink ribbon with a hockey stick.

According to Edwards, hockey has been a big stress reliever, especially for those battling or who have survived the disease.

Edwards is very proud of what her team is doing.

“Mainly we are a bunch of people of all different ages having fun for a good cause,” she said.