Hockey Without Sound

On the boy’s varsity hockey team at Dakota Ridge High School, a forward representing No. 14 is just a little bit different than what may be expected. Her name is Lauren Johnson, she is a 15-year-old sophomore at the school, and she was born with profound hearing loss.

At an early age Johnson’s parents enrolled her into auditory verbal therapy. Now as an excellent lip reader and with the help of a cochlear implant—which is an electronic device that acts as a hearing replacement—Johnson is indistinguishable. She says that she doesn’t struggle with it as an athlete at all anymore, but that it wasn’t always so easy.
 “It took me a while to get used to at first,” said Johnson. “But once you really know the game you get smart about where people are supposed to be and get smart about what’s gonna happen, so you don’t necessarily have to rely on your hearing and just know what’s around you.”     

At age 9 Johnson first picked up a hockey stick, hit the ice, and coming from a long line of hockey buffs has stuck with it ever since. Despite the bit of a different learning curve, she now plays for not only the Dakota Ridge Eagles but is one of the leading scorer’s on her girl’s club team. The two are a little bit different though.
“I would say that the boy’s team compared to the girl’s team is a lot more intimidating,” Johnson said.
On the Colorado Junior Eagles girl’s team that she also plays for, there is no checking like there is at the high school level. Johnson isn’t the odd girl out though; May Wilkerson is a junior at Dakota Ridge that also plays on the varsity team. Johnson says that the two girls are sort of a support for each other.

Brock Anundson, coach for the Eagles, says that the girls don’t get pushed around by the boys at all.
“They can match any playing style of a boy,” said Anundson. “The real only difference is physical play which Lauren and May both haven’t had any trouble with this year. Long hair flowing out the back of their helmet is pretty much the only way you would know they’re not a boy.”

Lauren’s father Jim is an assistant coach on the team, and as far as her playing ability goes, he says that her hearing impairment might actually make her that much better an athlete.

“She is probably more aware of what’s going on on the ice than most players,” said Jim. “She just has to keen in on her eyes so much.”

Jim explained that despite Lauren’s hearing aids and how well they help off the ice, she can’t hear a thing while she is playing. He said that she keeps her head up and reads the other players and her coach’s lips very well.

Lauren gives her father quite a bit of credit for how far she has come in the sport.

“Early on, when I was younger, he was always one of the assistant coaches on whatever team I was on and he definitely helped me a lot,” she said.

Now Lauren does more than okay on her own. She has joined the Dakota Ridge girl’s lacrosse team which will begin play in the spring, and though she has never played before, she said that she’s very much looking forward to it.

As far any future plans for her forted sport, Lauren says that she intends to continue competing in hockey for an indefinite time, playing through her high school career and potentially onto the next level.

One of her hero’s in the sport is her father’s cousin, Mark Johnson, who played for the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team in its victory over the Soviet Union. He now coaches the women’s team at the University of Wisconsin and was just recently announced as coach for the USA’s women’s hockey team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Lauren said that playing for him one day would be a dream come true.

As an honor-roll student, a varsity athlete on the boy’s team as a sophomore, and having overcome a different kind of challenge, what is there to block her from that goal?