Women’s Hockey Struggling In Canada

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In Canada, hockey is king, but queens are few. In many regions there are no women’s teams and no women’s professional league. But many are fighting to change that.

“The next five years will catch up with the last 15 years. I think now is the right time,” said Daniele Sauvageau, former Canada national team coach and now director of the High Performance Center.

“We’re going to see changes and more visibility, probably more women’s sport on TV than we’ve ever seen,” she added.

It’s quite paradoxical that despite another Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Canadian women ice hockey players are still not very visible in their country and ice hockey remains primarily a men’s sport. Women still make up less than 20 percent of gamblers in Canada (less than 10 percent in Quebec).

The introduction of a salary form in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) in 2017 could have marked a turning point. But barely two years later, the announcement of bankruptcy put an end to the professionalization movement that had apparently begun.

“The Olympic Games will bring us back to the top. But everything has to be redone every four years,” said Marie-Philip Poulin, captain of the Canadian team and three-time Olympic champion.

The latter founded the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) along with other Canadian and American players. Their goal: to create a cross-border league in which female athletes can be paid as professionals without having to work on the side.

“We believe in it. We are fighting to create a league not only for ourselves but for the next generations of players. It takes patience,” she added.

In the women’s clubs, the girls know little about these champions.

“There’s still a perception that only boys play hockey, but I think that’s starting to change now,” said Kim McCullough, executive director of a women’s hockey club in Toronto.

According to a recent survey, more than 92 percent of Canadians think girls should be encouraged to exercise as much as boys, but more than 33 percent still think certain sports are not suitable for women.

In recent years, “we’ve seen growth on many different levels, which I think is great. The more players we can bring on, the better for our sport,” added McCullough, who wears a Team Canada red cap.

On the ice, beginners aged seven to 14, green or pink jerseys on their backs, skated at full speed from one end of the rink to the other, forwards and backwards, sometimes falling, under the watchful eyes of their parents catching the moment in pictures on their smartphones behind the safety glass that surrounds the ice rink.

Jamie Bliss, 43, accompanied his daughter Kira, 12, to practice: “It’s great to have all the girls on the ice but also that the coaches are women. I think it’s great for them to see other girls and women coaching them, encouraging them, it really helps build their confidence.”

Having a role model motivated 10-year-old Hallae. “I was inspired by my dad’s girlfriend, she played a lot of hockey,” she said, adding that she loves the sport.

Many say they feel more comfortable at this all-girls club in Toronto.

“It’s easier because sometimes some boys can be mean if you mess up,” said eight-year-old Riley.

But not all provinces offer girls the opportunity to explore hockey on women’s teams. In Quebec, the girls are mostly integrated into the boys’ teams.

A recent report commissioned by the Quebec government on the French-speaking province’s hockey system focused specifically on the promotion of women’s hockey and recommended better monitoring of women’s player development and careers. And for more women in key positions in Hockey Quebec.