Hannah Waterhouse speaks about her first year as an ice hockey captain for Manchester Storm
The cold hits you first. Breath fogs in the air inside of Altrincham ice rink as pucks ricochet off the boards and skid everywhere. The outside world is muffled to a dull hum as Manchester Storm women’s team drill their goalie, their captain Hannah Waterhouse is watching the play unfold.
No less than twenty women race around in front of me on ice, in a ferocious game of ego. Their skates carve thin white lines behind them and they are covered from head-to-toe in protective armor, they use themselves like battering rams.
“I would love to be on the Great Britain team myself.” Says Hannah Waterhouse, Manchester Storm's Captain, she’s grinning and at ease in the subzero temperatures: “I'm absolutely not there yet, I don't know what I need to do to get there.”
Hannah’s small stature is nothing to underestimate as she is positioned on the right wing during match games, enabling her to be one of the primary goal scorers for the team. With one draw and the rest of the matches as victories, Storm are en route to success in winning the WNIHL in Division 2.
Yet Hannah’s brow pulls together in frustration: “I’ve only been playing ice hockey for three years.. So, I think it's been a challenging role, [as captain] trying to find the balance in managing lots of things and being a player and knowing when to step forward and when to step back for the team.’
‘It's definitely not been the easiest thing, I think you have to find your place as a captain, which is challenging. That feeling that you've earned the right, is definitely something that I'm still working on. But for most of it, I absolutely love it, I'm not going to lie. It's good fun and I'm very proud to be the captain.”
Manchester Storm Women's professional team became officially established in 2025, by Great Britain's former Under 18s women's coach, James Ashton. He glides in front of me on the ice mid-conversation, whilst reffing a hockey match, he explains the trials and tribulations of getting enough women on board to compete professionally.
“Covid delayed it by two years because the leagues all shut down. Prior to that we had set up the under-16s girls team. So when we came back we generated more interest and then we started training around February last year.”
James is dressed casually in a matching black tracksuit, his head however is engulfed in a hockey helmet, with an eye visor, protecting him from more than just the cold. He ducks a puck that narrowly misses his head as he speaks with me in short breaths. He can’t help but glow with pride for the team he is helping to make their way up the league table.
“We have nearly forty registered players, so we're able to reduce the monthly subs, and then we've been donated probably four or five kits. So there's four or five players on here’ - he gestured widely with a gloved hand to the women's fast paced game behind him - ‘who came from Hockey Basics. Who didn't have kit,’
‘We loaned them a kit and then over time they were able to buy the pieces they needed and play in the leagues... The cost is an issue and the other big thing is Sponsorship which Wes Warrant our general manager is good at. I think if you can generate interest and get sponsorship, that's a big key thing for us and Wes has done great with that this year.”
Ice hockey is the third most popular winter sport in the UK, according to British Ice Hockey. Despite its popularity, the disparity between funding, audience, and interest is vast between men’s and women’s games, including women looking to get involved in the high impact technical sport.
Hannah noted this: “You've just got to be brave and give it a go… I came down to Hockey Basics, which is here in Altrincham on Sunday night. It's just for beginners up to intermediate levels. It's quite difficult the first time you come because it's a busy session. There's about, thirty to forty people on the ice and it's mainly guys so it's quite intimidating,’
‘But there's many great people. My favourite was Stan, he was about 80 and he was still coming to Hockey Basics, he'd come with his wife and I used to sit and get changed next to them and she'd always encourage me, his wife was also about 80.’
‘I thought, if Stan can still be getting on the ice, I can certainly be brave enough to come and give it a go. So I started coming and fell in love with it. I joined the men's team Altrincham Jets which I still play for, as well as Storm Mens sometimes..’
On and off the ice Hannah continues to excel within work and sport: 'I rock climb, I have two dogs, I work at Manchester Children's Hospital, I work as an assistant psychologist in the cleft team.’
Dressed head to toe in protective gear with Storm Womens purple jersey on it’s surprising Hannah juggles such a delicate job alongside the high-impact sport: ‘I work with children who've got cleft lips palates. Some adults as well who've got clefts. I absolutely love it. It’s one of the best jobs ever. I'm very guilty of spending a lot of time at work. You’ll see me sometimes running in my scrubs 5 minutes before training.”
‘As we only get one hour, [to train each week] we train hard, James is an absolutely excellent coach. He's trained GB women, he's a player himself, so he pushes us really hard. But I have an absolute abundance of respect for him. So when he says skate harder, I'm going to do my best to skate harder.’
‘I'm very driven, in terms of career and stuff. So when I have a goal, I do think that it's not impossible to achieve. I would love to be on the Great Britain team myself...That’s the only slightly realistic major hockey goal for me. Maybe I'll be the oldest player on the team. Maybe when I'm 50 and I've got loads of years of experience, I hope to just about make it.’
Currently, Manchester Storm are undefeated champions for this season, with only one match left in mid May, they hope to claim the WNIHL League 2 title. If successful they’ll be promoted to WNIHL league 1, enabling them to compete nationally and continue to broaden their horizons and inspire more women to put their skates on or come and support.
