Nearly 50 years ago, at the age of 35, Linda Sinrod laced up her ice skates for the first time since graduating college. She had just been laid off from her job and decided to rekindle her passion for figure skating on an icy pond in Annandale. On the ice, she met the founder of a Northern Virginia women’s hockey team, the Washington Redcoats, who urged Sinrod to join. With zero ice hockey background but a love for competition, Sinrod thought why not? 

Last month, Sinrod hung up her skates for the last time, at age 84. She holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to play ice hockey. 

Now, if you’re anything like us, you probably have lots of questions. How does an 84-year-old stay in shape to play competitive ice hockey? Did she ever get hurt? We sat down with Sinrod (who also happens to be the mother of New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker) to hear her story—from her first day on that Annandale pond to her last day at the MedStar Iceplex. 

The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

How and when did you originally start playing ice hockey?

Back in 1960, when I was a sophomore in college, my roommate was a figure skater and she got me into figure skating. That was the last that I skated until 1975, when one day I just decided to go out to the pond near the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale. I started trying to do one of the jumps that I had done. That’s when Marylin Schnibbe came up to me and asked if I would play ice hockey. I was a member of one of the first and in fact the only [women’s] ice hockey team in the Washington area for our first year.

Tell me more about when you started playing for the Redcoats. And how did you come to love it? 

As soon as I started playing I loved it. I borrowed some equipment, including a hockey stick, which I had never used before. I had trouble learning how to stop. But, I just loved everything about it.

I was ten years older than the next oldest person playing. Some of them had even played ice hockey in college. After 10 years, I decided I was too old to play, so I quit. 

It wasn’t until I was 67 that I was retired [from her job] and decided to try to come back. I was looking up my old teammates and I found one who was coaching a team in Woodbridge, the Prince William Wildcats. So I contacted her.  

Why did you decide to get back on the ice at age 67?

Frankly, I was bored. When I looked up some of my old teammates, some of them were still playing. In fact, three of them still are. I said to myself, why not try again and see what happens?

What positions did you play?

I was always a left wing. When I was with the Washington Redcoats, which was the first team, we played all up and down the East Coast. With the Prince William Wildcats, we played teams up in Pennsylvania and down in North Carolina; we played all over the place.

In 2016, I was 17 years older than the next oldest player and they decided I wasn’t competitive enough—which I wasn’t. So, basically, they kicked me off the team.

How did that moment feel and how did you continue playing?

Well, obviously I was disappointed and a little hurt, because I had been with them for so long. But, I was already playing at the MedStar ice rink in an in-house league and we don’t play teams outside the ice rink. Originally, they divided us up into four teams. And each season they would re-pick the teams based on how well they skated. Now, they have eight teams out there. Anybody can play if they’re 18 or older and no skill level is required.

Did you ever get injured?

Well, three times, only one of which was serious. The first time, I had gone to a Can/Am Hockey training camp in 1977. One of the things they had us do—we were all women—we would hip-check each other, even though we don’t do that in a game. The winner was the person who lasted the longest. Well, at that time, my ice hockey pants were not as well cushioned as they should have been. I ended up with a broken tailbone.

The second time was the more serious one, and that was in February of 2009. I was practicing with the Wildcats and another girl and I backed into each other. I twisted my leg as I went down and hit the ice. I had a medial and a lateral meniscus tear of my left knee, and that required surgery. It was about five or six months before I could come back and play.

The last one was funny, actually. That November, of 2009, I was playing with a couple teams at the Prince William ice rink and suddenly I found myself flat on my back on the ice. My helmet had flown off. The next thing I knew, I was in the locker room with everyone else, changing my clothes, and I had no idea how I had gotten there. I had a concussion. Which resolved fairly quickly. Those are my only injuries.

How have you stayed fit?

Once I started playing ice hockey, I biked three times a week and I lifted weights twice a week. I’ve continued to do that all through the years and I still do it today. I have an indoor bike, and in the wintertime that’s what I use. But I also bike outdoors. 

I have a strict schedule. I bike Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and lift weights on Tuesdays and Saturday nights while my husband and I watch TV. I spend about an hour lifting weights. We like watching Shark Tank, we like The Conners, we’ll watch Love is Blind once it’s on again, and we like Undercover Boss. 

So after 50 years, what have been some of the most memorable moments of your hockey career?

The year 2012 was one of my most memorable, because out of all the 60 players at MedStar, I had the most assists, which was very unusual. I had 11 compared to the next highest, which was seven. Believe me when I say that other people were a lot better than I was. I was never a goal scorer; I was somebody who did assists. I would pass and let somebody else score the goal. 

When we were the Redcoats, since we were the only team in the southern division, we won the southern division, which meant we could go to the Nationals. The year I remember most is when we went to Lake Placid the year after the US team had won the “Miracle on Ice.” Skating on that rink after that was one of my most memorable moments.

Also, one of my most memorable moments would have been when I was invited to participate in the ceremonial puck drop at the March 9, 2024, Capitals Hockey game and shake [Alex] Ovechkin’s hand. I went along with four other women—one was six, one was 12, and one was 27—who were in the learn-to-play program at MedStar. 

Did anyone else in your family play ice hockey? Did your kids or your husband ever play?

Nope, I was the only one. 

When you broke the Guinness World Record, did you know about it prior? Did you continue to play in order to beat the record? Or was it happenstance? 

Well, the rink had of course closed during Covid. In about 2021, they opened for a short session. I played about seven times and, at that point, the Delta variant was getting worse. My husband told me I needed to quit, so I quit and I hadn’t thought anything about the Guinness World Record at that point. The following year, after not playing and being bored, I looked it up to see who was the oldest women’s ice hockey player. That’s when I discovered that my time of playing the previous year would beat it. So that’s when I applied for the Guinness World Record. 

In October of 2023, I had felt a pain at the top of my left leg. It was not a hockey injury, although it did happen when I was going into the rink. It was a partial tear of my glute medius and my glute minimus tendon. I saw a doctor and had a cortisone shot and two PRP injections and physical therapy. Even when the doctor told me it was only 50 to 60 percent healed and he said I risked tearing it if I played again, I said I wanted to play again to break my record. So I went out and played five times in the fall of 2024, quit on November 4, and applied for [another] Guinness World Record.

I was assigned somebody there who would answer my questions and I asked her if all the things I had submitted the previous time would work. She told me no, that I needed a video. I couldn’t produce a video of November 4. So that is why I went out one more time on April 7 to shoot the video. I have submitted everything and she’s assured me there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be accepted. So I will have established a new record that would be at 84 years and 198 days. 

Have you heard from anyone about how your story has inspired them? 

The three women and girls at the ceremonial puck drop all said that they were inspired. In fact, one of them said she was inspired to break my record. 

Why did you finally decide to hang up your skates and retire? 

As I mentioned, the doctor said that I really should not be playing and that I risk tearing those tendons again. But truthfully, it’s not as fun as it used to be when you’re this old. You can’t keep up with everybody else and therefore they’re not going to pass to you because they know somebody’s going to be on top of you instantly. I don’t get the puck as quickly because I’m not as fast, so I don’t even get to touch the puck too often. 

I’m thankful I was able to play as long as I have. It certainly has produced many memorable moments. 

The University of Maine men’s hockey team has added three players from Canada’s Major Junior Hockey Leagues, and two of them are National Hockey League draft choices.

Center Jaden Lipinski was a fourth round draft choice of the Calgary Flames and the 112th overall player selected in 2023, and defenseman Luke Coughlin was a sixth round pick (191st overall) by the Florida Panthers — also in 2023.

The other addition is defenseman Simon Motew.

The upcoming season will be the first in which players from Canada’s three Major Leagues will be eligible to play U.S. college hockey.

Players from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League had previously been deemed professionals in the eyes of the NCAA because they received monetary stipends. That disqualified them from playing U.S. college hockey.

But now all NCAA student-athletes are allowed to earn money from the addition of Name, Image, Likeness deals and, under a recent settlement, schools will be allowed to pay them directly.

Lipinski, Coughlin and Motew give the Black Bears a current total of six incoming Major Junior players as they join defensemen Jeremy Langlois and Loic Usereau and left winger Will Gerrior. And there could be more additions.

The 6-foot-4, 209-pound Lipinski registered 17 goals and 41 assists in 59 regular season games for the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League this past season and added two goals and three assists in five playoff games.

The 20-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona, appeared in 260 career games for the Giants and notched 68 goals and 124 assists.

According to the Elite Prospects 2023 NHL draft guide, Lipinski is a center with “mobility, point production and flashes of skill.”

The Elite Prospects guide says Lipinski “has a deep bag of skating skills, surveying the perimeter with heel-to-heel skating and separating from opponents with powerful cutbacks” and that he “combines handling and passing skill to hook pucks back into space or pulls pucks closer to his feet before releasing.”

Coughlin had four goals and 20 assists in 54 regular season games this season for Rimouski Oceanic in the QMJHL and had 15 goals and 68 assists in 188 career regular season games with the team.

According to the Elite Prospects guide, “with his loose hips and flexibility, Coughlin can easily shift his weight to launch himself around opponents and open up his skates to walk the blue line while facing his options.”

The draft guide describes him as a “fluid mover at the offensive blue line and a deceptive one, too. He uses his hip pocket handling and fake shots to keep defenders at bay and move the puck or find good lanes to fire in.”

Hip pocket handling is a technique which sees a player hold the puck close to their side, near their hip, which allows them to quickly pass, shoot or skate away with the puck.

The 22-year-old Motew, a native of Highland Park, Illinois, played Canadian college hockey for St. Francis Xavier this past season after his 212-game Ontario Hockey League career with the Kitchener Rangers.

The 6-foot, 183-pound Motew had three goals and 12 assists in 25 games for the Nova Scotia school after tallying 21 goals and 66 assists in his career for Kitchener.

The 2021 Elite Prospects NHL draft guide said Motew’s “hands and skating are very clean” and that he “explodes into gaps and is transitioning constantly” and “defends one-on-one situations relatively well, especially off the rush where he matches the speed of attackers and forces them to dump the puck before the blue line.”

UMaine went 24-8-6 this past season and won the Hockey East tournament for the first time since 2004. The Black Bears also qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season but were upset in the first round by regional host Penn State 5-1.

It was the first time since the 2005-06 and 06-07 seasons that UMaine earned back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. UMaine has gone 47-20-8 during those two seasons.

They wound up seventh in the country in the final USA Hockey poll and eighth in the United States College Hockey Online poll.

UMaine will have to replace four of its top 11 scorers including outstanding veteran centers Harrison Scott, Nolan Renwick and Lynden Breen, along with two of its top six defensemen and its backup goalie.

DULUTH — A trio of city councilors is proposing a new ordinance designed to better inform local renters of their tenant rights.

Councilors Terese Tomanek, Roz Randorf and Lynn Marie Nephew have introduced a policy that would require local landlords to inform tenants of the rights and resources that are already available to them to help resolve any issues that may arise with property managers.

But a local group called Duluth Tenants continues to push for

a new “right to repair” ordinance

that could give them an additional, potentially more robust tool to wield if a landlord fails to address basic maintenance requests in a timely fashion.

As proposed, the right-to-repair ordinance would empower tenants to notify a landlord of a maintenance issue, providing the property manager 14 days to address the problem or schedule a repair. If no action is taken within that time frame, a tenant would then have the right to hire a qualified third-party individual to execute the needed repair.

The tenant could then submit a receipt for the repair, requesting reimbursement or a commensurate reduction in rent — up to a maximum of $500 or half a month’s rent, whichever is greater.

Nationwide, more than 30 jurisdictions, including Chicago, have similar policies on their books. Nevertheless, Duluth could become the first Minnesota city to adopt such an ordinance, if the Duluth Tenants campaign proves successful.

Randorf has questioned the need for the “Right to Repair” policy, however, pointing to tenants’ ability to file a Rent Escrow Action or an Emergency Tenant Remedies Action through the courts, under existing law.

She suggested educating tenants of their rights would be more productive than creating new remedies.

Similarly, a “statement of purpose” statement accompanying the proposed council ordinance Randorf has co-sponsored asserts: “Providing tenants with clear and accessible information about their legal protections fosters transparency, accountability and community well-being.”

But the tenants union is not relying on the Duluth City Council alone to advance its cause.

The group’s volunteers have been knocking on doors throughout the community, and they already have gathered more than enough signatures to get the proposed ordinance placed on the ballot for a referendum vote come November. TakeAction MN Organizer DyAnna Grondahl said Duluth Tenants has a goal of collecting 5,600 signatures — about 2,000 more than required — and they’re less than 1,000 names away from that final target.

“We’re encouraged to see movement at the council level, but after thousands of conversations with renters and folks across the city, it’s clear that education alone isn’t enough,” Grondahl said. “Duluthians, renters and homeowners alike, are clear that passing the common-sense policy Duluth Right to Repair to ensure folks can get timely repairs in their units is the next step renters deserve.”

Randorf said she has remained in close contact with the tenants union and Grondahl.

“They are aware of all the work we are doing, in hopes that they will find it satisfactory to the ballot measure that they have been proposing, which we believe is systemically flawed,” Randorf said, pointing out that the council ordinance to be read for the first time Tuesday is just the first part of a larger councilor initiative to hold problem landlords accountable for not making needed repairs.

In a news release announcing the council’s efforts to enhance tenant rights, a second pending initiative also was laid out that could lead to the adoption of the International Property Maintenance Code to establish the minimum requirements landlords must meet in maintaining their properties.

Nephew warned that the proposed tenant union’s “right to repair” ordinance could create cash flow problems for organizations that provide critical affordable housing in the community, as repairs made under the new policy might not be eligible for grant reimbursements, making for a less sustainable funding model.

She also predicted that more landlords would shift away from long-term lease agreements and toward month-to-month leases that provide them with more flexibility but that also would come at the expense of housing stability for renters.

Randorf suggested that tenants might get over their heads in seeking repairs and could find themselves out on the street for jobs that unexpectedly snowball, putting them at odds with their landlords.

Nephew, Tomanek and Randorf all said they want to see landlords held to account, noting that the vast majority want to do right by their tenants.

For the small minority of landlords who don’t want to make timely needed repairs, they say the city can step up enforcement mechanisms and penalties. Toward that end, the council aims to convene a “study session” Tuesday evening with staff to discuss possible means to gain greater and stricter code compliance.

Tomanek said it is her hope that when people see the amount of work the council is investing, in consultation with trusted housing partners, “and they will see that we are putting forward a program that will help tenants in a very positive way,” making the right-to-repair policy proposal unnecessary.

But Grondahl said members of the Duluth tenants union remain unconvinced at present.

“Renters need real tools, not just information, to ensure their homes are safe and livable,” she said.

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About the Duluth City Council

The Duluth City Council’s regular meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 6 p.m., with agenda meetings at 5:15 p.m. each Thursday preceding a regular meeting, unless otherwise scheduled, at City Hall, Room 330. Meetings are also livestreamed and recorded for later viewing at duluthmn.gov/city-council/city-council-meetings-events/council-meeting-media.

District 1: Wendy Durrwachter

Represents: Duluth city precincts 1-7
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5700, Ext. 3, wdurrwachter@DuluthMN.gov

Represents: Duluth city precincts 8-13
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-428-9195/218-730-5355, mmayou@duluthmn.gov

Represents: Duluth city precincts 14-19
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-443-8364/218-730-5353, rrandorf@duluthmn.gov

Represents: Duluth city precincts 21-27
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-730-5356, tswenson@duluthmn.gov

Clint Austin / 2024 file / Duluth Media Group

District 5: Janet Kennedy

Represents: Duluth city precincts 28-35
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028

Contact: 218-341-6113/218-730-5357, jkennedy@duluthmn.gov

Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-730-5359, aawal@duluthmn.gov

Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5352, aforsman@duluthmn.gov

At large: Lynn Marie Nephew, vice president

Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5354, lnephew@duluthmn.gov

At large: Terese Tomanek, president

Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-216-9126, ttomanek@duluthmn.gov

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Peter Passi covers city and county government for the Duluth News Tribune. He joined the paper in April 2000, initially as a business reporter but has worked a number of beats through the years.

WILKES-BARRE — Several residents raised concerns over a proposed hotel and convention center project on Public Square during city council’s combined work session and regular meeting Thursday night.

During the public comment session, resident Sam Troy said he was skeptical about the plan given that the developers tried and failed to complete the project on the site initially proposed at the intersection of River Street and Market Street, where the Hotel Sterling once stood.

“So we’re stuck with that — with that eyesore for God knows, probably the rest of our lifetimes,” Troy said.

H&N Investments LLC purchased the former Hotel Sterling property from the city in 2018 and later announced plans to construct a Gateway Hyatt Place Hotel and Conference Center there.

However, it was announced on May 15 by the developers that the roughly $20 million project would be moving to the old Martz Trailways building at 46 Public Square instead.

During a press conference, developer Hysni ‘Sam’ Syla and project engineer George Albert explained that moving the hotel and conference center to a building that was already constructed would be more cost-effective.

Because of rising construction costs spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project would have cost about $40 million if it remained on the Sterling Hotel site.

Mayor George Brown said he believed Syla may end up selling the property to a different developer. When the Times Leader spoke with Syla on May 15, he indicated that he wasn’t sure what he would do with the property, but new plans would be announced soon.

“Maybe it’s not his fault altogether, but I think it’s shameful what happened in that Sterling property,” Troy continued.

He also seemed skeptical of the project’s new location and questioned the developer’s available finances.

“How do we know [Sam Syla] is gonna come through with that?” Troy asked.

Almond Lane resident John Suchoski voiced similar concerns and asked council if they now felt it was wrong to approve Syla’s purchase of the property back in 2018.

“You didn’t go through and do your right research because they did not have the ability to build this property,” he said.

While he wants to be optimistic about the latested version of the project, Suchoski said that was difficult to do because it’s been in limbo for so long.

“I know everybody wants to be able to do that, and we want this down here, but do they have the actual ability to do it?” he asked.

Suchoski also criticized the council for its apparent removal of the reverter clause in the sales contract that would have allowed ownership of the property to revert back to the city under specific conditions.

“Like, now we have no control on what goes on that property,” he said. “It could be a gas station, it could be anything.”

Brown responded to these concerns by stating that the developers do have financing to complete the hotel project. He also pushed back against the notion that he was too optimistic about the project’s completion.

“Am I rosy about it? I’m very happy about it, okay? Because I see a very positive new hotel coming into the area that we don’t have. And that’s gonna be very competitive for us,” Brown said.

Additionally, Council Chairperson Tony Brooks, who was on council at the time, defended his decision to approve the sale of the property to Syla, saying he had a proven track record of success in the city.

Syla currently owns restaurants Cafe Tuscana and The Vault, among others.

“It’s completely understandable about everything else that happened with it, and I think you are absolutely correct. They didn’t have enough money. I wish we had a lot of rich people in Wilkes-Barre that could be developers and they would have egos to compete against each other. […] Sad to say, we don’t have that up in Wilkes-Barre,” Brooks said.

Council Member Bill Barrett pushed back again the idea that the city would have “no control” over what ultimately happened to the Sterling site.

“We all share the same concern about what’s going to become of the property, but it’s not going to be a gas station. It’s not gonna be a cigarette shop. There is zoning, there’s planning, all different safeguards to ensure that what someone does to the property is a good fit for the city of Wilkes-Barre,” Barrett said.

Huber Park improvements

In regards to agenda items, council voted to approve a resolution that would allow the city to apply for a Trails and Recreation Program (GTRP) grant in the amount of $250,000.00 from the Commonwealth Financing Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for various improvements to Huber Park.

The park, often referred to as Mayflower Park, was officially renamed the Brian Grohowski Memorial Park in 2018.

Brown told council that if the city is approved for the grant, he hopes the park will be completely renovated, which includes installing new playground equipment and redoing the basketball court.

The field where the old baseball field used to be will remain green space, the mayor said, with the possible addition of some benches and fencing.

Brown also thanked Council Member Stan Mirin for championing the project and said they were both up at the park recently, speaking with residents.

Mirin said he believed the park hadn’t be updated since the 1990s.

Brown also gave an update construction at The Bog, off Dewey Lane. He expects work on the special needs playground portion of the project to be completed by the end of June.

Suchoski voiced his support for the Huber Park project and asked for more details regarding the planned improvements.

“I want, you know, I want that park fixed more than anybody,” he said. “I live right by it.”

Additional items approved include the second and final reading on an amendment to an ordinance that would raise fines for drivers who cut through parking lots to avoid waiting in traffic and the appointment of Jerome Dunn to the General Municipal Authority. His term will expire Dec. 31, 2028.

Possible community garden

During the public comment section, city resident Jamie Smith told council that he and a group of his neighbors presented a proposal on April 14 to the South Valley Land Bank, in hopes of acquiring a blighted property on 64 W. Ross St. to turn it into a perennial flower garden and outdoor youth education space.

While he knew the land bank had the final decision, he wanted to make council aware of his plans and ask for the city’s support. Smith also brought a group of residents along with him, who also support the project.

Brittany Stephenson shared her thoughts about the community garden with the Times Leader following the meeting.

“It’s a thoughtfully designed initiative that brings together environmental sustainability and educational opportunities,” her remarks read.

According to his website, Smith has been a resident of Pennsylvania since 2011 and founded the Social Fabric Collective in 2015, which is a nonprofit organization that provides professional photography equipment and education to school students.

“Jamie, I wanna say, I wanna thank you for investing in the city and all the work that you’re doing,” Brooks said.

Brown met with Smith and several other residents about the project following the meeting.

Smith told the Times Leader that he expects his proposal to be on the land bank’s June 11 agenda. That meeting will take place at 9 a.m. at the Earth Conservancy building in Ashley.