History of The Cape Cod Waves

Tom Nelson founded the Cape Cod Waves in 1996 with help from Dick Sullivan who was director of the National Champion Cape Cod Aces of the 1980’s. The Waves started with one team that drew players from Cape Cod and the South Shore, and South Coast (New Bedford and Fall River) region. They joined the New England Girls Hockey League and played their first few seasons with one or two teams of mostly high school age girls.

In 2000, the Waves formed their first U12 team. Five years later, the core of this team would qualify and play in the USA Hockey Nationals as a U16 team. Also in 2000, Tom Nelson started the South Coast Sharks, a U19 USA Hockey National Bound team. The team was registered under the Waves program. The Sharks team drew players from across southeastern Massachusetts, many of them from prep schools. 2005 was the last season of the South Coast Sharks, which had become a team of mostly players from off-Cape. In 2005, the South Coast Sharks were renamed the Cape Cod Sharks and are now made up of girls mostly from across Cape Cod.

In 2002-03, the Waves started a farm program—the Ripples—which brought in many younger girls that had no hockey experience. Last year, the Waves offered free learn-to-play hockey sessions. The experiment yielded immediate results. This season’s U8 Mite team is the most obvious. It is the first time the Waves have fielded a U8 team since 2005-2006. Likewise, the bulk of the U12 team is comprised of home-grown, first-year players. The program was so successful; the Waves have brought back the free learn-to-play program this season. Like many programs the Waves are trying to grow from the ground up, introducing girls’ ice hockey to many who may not otherwise have the opportunity.

Today, the Waves continue a proud tradition of preparing the girls of Cape Cod to play at the highest levels, to be leaders of their high school teams, and to continue playing in college and beyond.