Newcomer girls introduced to Canada's sport: hockey (CTV News - Ottawa)

Young women and girls who are new to Canada were invited to their first skating opportunity on Wednesday.

Hockey 4 Youth, a program that wants to make hockey more accessible, hosted the event at the Jim Durrell Arena.

The program was introduced to 53 new Canadians from Ridgemont and Gloucester High Schools in grades 9 to 12. The participants skated alongside teachers, volunteer coaches and Hockey 4 Youth staff. MORE >

'Hockey is Canada': Charity sends 10 teens to their first Leafs game (CBC Radio - Here & Now)

Javeria Mehmood, 18, expected her first time putting on a pair of skates to be her last. 

"The first time I went [on the ice], I thought 'I know nothing, I'm probably going to quit on the first day,"' she told Eli Glasner on CBC's Here and Now Thursday. 

Having grown up in Pakistan, she never had the chance to skate until she moved to Canada last year. 

But through the Toronto-based group Hockey 4 Youth, a charitable organization that provides new Canadians and low-income youth the opportunity to play hockey for free, Mehmood's been honing her skills on the ice. MORE >