DaytonDailyNews.com

KETTERING — Playing hockey is the common denominator among a group of diverse women.

Among the Dayton Fangs players are several military women, including Julie Goode — just back from deployment in Afghanistan — plus a fourth-grade teacher, a nurse, a couple students, a film preservationist for the Library of Congress, a pottery instructor, an amateur actress, a law-school graduate and an air-cargo specialist.

A handful of players recently answered some of the questions they get about hockey.

The players

• Jennifer Siehl, 33, is a fourth-grade teacher in Northmont's system. A self-proclaimed "rink rat," her father ran Hara Arena for 25 years and now runs the Nutter Center. She started skating at age 6 and has played hockey for 17 years.

• Shannon Bailey, 29, works for ASTAR air cargo in Wilmington and works at the Kettering Rec Center. She's only played hockey for a couple years.

• Tana Frangioni, 32, is the chief of the support branch of civilian institutions at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. She grew up in Pittsburgh and wears No. 66 in honor of Mario Lemieux. Tana and her husband, Fangs co-coach Ralph, named their daughter after Penguins star Sidney Crosby. Tana missed last year while pregnant.

• Gerri Kail, 37, is a major at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. She's in her second year and couldn't skate before deciding to join the team.

• Karen Pichler, 32, is a Centerville native who played coed hockey at Bowling Green State University. She works in sales and commutes from West Chester Twp.

The questions

Q: Why hockey?

Siehl: "I didn't play other sports, actually. Hockey was all I knew. Once I got older, I absolutely loved the checking. That's why I stuck with it. I loved knocking guys over, honestly."

Frangioni: "My neighbor girls are big into soccer. I'm trying to push them into hockey and to watch the U.S. women's hockey team. I'm trying to get more hockey out there."

Bailey: "I tried it and loved it. I've gone full-force into it."

Q: What do get from playing hockey?

Siehl: "It's an adrenaline rush. All your worries go away when you're out on the ice. It's like nothing else."

Pichler: "I love sports and I love to be competitive. Once you play hockey, there's no other sport like it. Nothing else is the same."

Frangioni: "I love the speed. No standing still. The action."

Bailey: "Once I get the skates on, I'm a totally different person."

Q: Are you worried about getting hurt?

Bailey: "I partially tore my (medial collateral ligament). A girl (on the opposing team) was on a breakout, and I was chasing after her to get the puck away. ... I realized we were heading toward our goalie, so I pulled back. We got tangled up, and most of my body went with her, except for my knee."

Kail: "With all this equipment, it's almost hard to get hurt. Usually, it's fluke things. It's just like basketball. They call fouls, so theoretically, it's not noncontact. You're banging into each other."

Q: What if a woman is curious about playing?

Pichler: "Come out, and try it. We have a closet full of hockey equipment that many of us have donated. It is expensive, so if someone wants to come out and try it, we all usually pitch in to help someone get geared up."

b>Dayton Fangs information

The Dayton Fangs officially started two years ago, founded by player-coach Marianne Graham. There were five players and a goal to provide area women with their own hockey team.

Last year, the Fangs (the logo on their Web site shows a menacing cartoon animal with prodigious fangs) joined the Pennsylvania-Ohio Women's Hockey Association (POWHA).

They played games against the Cincinnati Rising Stars, Cleveland Heights Ice Hawks, Columbus Bandits, Pittsburgh Piranhas and Pittsburgh Puffins, plus exhibitions against other clubs. There are upper and lower divisions in the POWHA. The Fangs play in the lower division. They pay their own way to other cities to compete.

The 2007-08 nine-game home schedule at the Kettering Rec Center starts with a 3:30 p.m. Sunday contest against the Cincinnati Rising Stars. Games are free to attend. The Dayton Bombers play an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Cyclones at 7 p.m. Sunday.

For more information or to ask about joining, visit www.daytonfangs.com or call Shannon Bailey at (937) 305-8694.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.