As a hockey-playing young girl in the early 1990s, Michelle Sikich dreamed of performing at the Minnesota State High School League state tournament — as a cheerleader.

Girls were relegated to playing ice ringette, which Sikich did for Apple Valley's varsity team in seventh and eighth grade. All the while she wondered, Why can't we play hockey instead?

Sikich wasn't alone. A MSHSL survey in 1993 indicated thousands of girls were interested in playing high school hockey if it were offered.

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That popularity ignited what had been mild Title IX progress in Minnesota when it came to providing a girls' winter sport comparable to hockey.

Milestones quickly followed. In 1994, Minnesota became the first state to sanction girls' high school hockey. In 1995, Sikich and her Apple Valley teammates won the nation's first state tournament. Twenty-seven years later, another girls' tourney begins today to crown champions for 2022, the 50th anniversary year for Title IX.

Sikich's Eagles were a mixture of players with hockey and ringette backgrounds. One of her linemates didn't know how to stop. Sikich marvels at the sport's growth from novelty to norm. This winter, 114 teams competed, several of them led by at least one Division I-committed player.

Last week, arenas rocked with student sections and pep bands supporting their girls' hockey teams in the section finals. Many of those boys will be cheering for their female peers at this week's state tournament.

"It's still unbelievable to me to see girls at the rink," Sikich said. "But I have coached all three of my boys in hockey, and they don't think twice about girls playing hockey."