Girls are playing hockey in this day and age. They're just not playing it in high school.

Pat Neubert hopes to change that.

A physical education teacher at St. Luke's Elementary School and the Eagle's running columnist, Neubert attended the South Butler school board meeting Wednesday night and proposed the formation of a Knoch High School girls hockey program.

"We play sessions of floor hockey at St. Luke's and it's quite popular," Neubert said. "I've had plenty of girls ask me about ice hockey and where they can play.

"The interest is there. The opportunity isn't."

Neubert's husband, Mark, is a former president of the Knoch Hockey Association. Their son, Zach, was a team captain for the high school varsity and now plays hockey at Indiana (Pa.) University.

The Knoch Hockey Association welcomes female players on all of its teams, but few have joined.

Ashley Harper was a goaltender for the freshman and junior varsity squads a year ago, but she has since transferred to Culver High School in Indiana, which has a girls hockey program.

"We've had maybe one or two other girls play over the years. There haven't been many," said Don Olmstead, president of the Knoch Hockey Association.

No high school in Pennsylvania has a girls hockey program.

"There are a number of female amateur hockey associations," said Ed Sam, commissioner of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League. "They just don't exist in the high schools themselves.

"We probably have 30 to 40 girls playing on hockey teams in the PIHL."

There are 66 high school teams in the PIHL on the western half of the state.

"Girls aren't comfortable taking up the sport on a coed team," Neubert said. "An all-girls team would be different."

Neubert took an informal survey and found 14 middle school and high school girls in the South Butler School District interested in playing ice hockey.

Knoch athletic director Josh Shoop is in the process of conducting a formal survey on the subject.

"I'm anticipating that number will increase," Neubert said.

Neubert said she hopes to have a girls developmental hockey program in place at Knoch by February. The program would be available to middle school and high school girls.

Her plan calls for the school district to recognize and fund the sport, which would include paying for equipment and ice time.

"Parents aren't going to invest $600 for their daughter to try a brand new sport," Neubert said. "That's just not realistic.

"The initial cost would be the highest because equipment needs to be purchased. It's a district's choice how it allocates its athletic funding. To give girls equal opportunity to compete, I believe this is justified."

Neubert said the projected cost of funding a girls hockey program at Knoch in the first year would be $15,275.

She said the district has demonstrated willingness to invest at least an additional $21,000 annually, including a projected wrestling program, in boys sports.

"Title IX doesn't require more spending, just equal spending," Neubert added. "There should be room to do this."

Knoch freshman and junior varsity goaltending coach Jarron Gass, a former Knoch hockey player, said he is willing to coach the proposed girls team. Knoch girls soccer coach Amy Travis is also lending support.

Knoch boys varsity hockey coach John Nicholas "has three daughters and is totally supportive of this new program," Neubert said.

Olmstead supports the idea as well.

"Our association is completely on board with this," he said. "Once we start a program, I'm sure other high schools would follow suit."

In the meantime, Knoch's girls would play amateur girls teams in the Pittsburgh area of comparable age.

"There is no girls hockey program in the PIHL," Sam said. "But everything has to start somewhere."

South Butler School Board president Jim Jones said at Wednesday's meeting the matter would be referred to Shoop and the board's athletic committee within the next few weeks.

Staff writer Shari Berg contributed to this report.