by In May 2019, about 200 of the best women’s hockey players in North America decided not to play for another league until a serious and sustainable one, with the “resources that professional hockey needs and deserves” . Previous leagues, like the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, had folded, or in the case of the Premier Hockey Federation, were cash-strapped and offered subpar working conditions. The players, for one, wanted a decent wage. They also felt that they deserved the same kind of protection, such as health insurance, that other professionals – athletes or otherwise – are usually afforded without question. They wanted more than a new place to play. They needed a destination, and so did others.
Some of those standout players were at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto on Friday night at ‘The Battle on Bay Street,’ a midseason marquee game between Montreal and the new teams of the Toronto Professional Women’s Hockey League. The PWHL, which launched in January, is a result of their 2019 decision. And the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, founded in that boycott, is now a union that has a collective bargaining agreement with the PWHL. The CBA runs until 2031, guaranteeing salaries of up to USD$80,000, competitive bonuses, life and health insurance, workers’ compensation and parental leave. In other words, the same kind of deal that men have had for a long time. On Friday, both women’s teams had something more than their male counterparts usually had: a crowd of 19,285, the highest attendance ever for a women’s hockey game.
A significant portion of those fans were young girls wearing their own team jerseys, the seats in a sea of local minor hockey emblems trying to get a spot on the giant screens above center ice. They watched as Toronto in the third and Montreal in the second started nervously, before settling into a tight, physical game, in which Toronto took most of the penalties. The second period drew no goals, but five minutes into the third, Toronto’s Jesse Compher she scored the first of the season to make it 1-0. The roof blew off, releasing all the pent-up energy. A second goal from Hannah Miller with four minutes remaining sealed Toronto’s lead, followed by an empty netter from Victoria Bach for the home team 3-0.
GOAL TORONTO
BEDLAM AT SCOTIABANK ARENA
Jesse Compher whips this crowd into a frenzy. Her first of the season. Toronto leads Montreal 1-0 in the third period. pic.twitter.com/1SFVwfjxRf
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) February 17, 2024
Throughout the night, the atmosphere inside Scotiabank was like a concert. There is no serious business-drunk of the Maple Leafs’ crowds, the building’s usual tenants. Comparisons to the men are well-worn, but they still remain an inevitable part of these inaugural PWHL games. Friday’s event was a pioneering effort to create and reach a healthy fan base, but it was also a necessary statement.
In 2010, then-IOC president Jacques Rogge considered dumping women’s hockey from the Winter Games if the talent gap between North American teams and those from the rest of the world could not be closed. That summer, Hayley Wickenheiser, the captain of the Canadian team, explained why the difference existed. Funding was part of it – Canada and the US had more. But there was also the question of livelihood. “We have to keep players in the game,” Wickenheiser said. “After they graduate and have nowhere to play, so many women leave the game.” Needless to say, that’s not what happens to men. They have developed tracks, cultural and social support, and access to education and jobs through hockey. Men have an infrastructure – not just a place to go, but a way to get there. All of them ultimately stem from one thing: the NHL.
Before the puck dropped on Friday, Lindsay McLelland of Rockwood, Ontario, stood on the second level of the conference. When asked what life in the PWHL meant to her and her daughter, Brynn, a young hockey player, she said it simply meant “a future in the sport.” Downstairs, 9-year-old Victoria from Brantford, Ontario, echoed that thought. “It’s not just about the boys playing hockey, it’s about the girls too. I’m glad they have a league.” Nearby, a woman named Jennifer, from Kitchener, Ontario (who did not give her last name) recalled her own experience. “I played as long as I could and chose not to pursue it … because I knew that opportunity was not there for me in the future,” she said.
“You saw the crowd today. It’s really exciting to hear from the fans and give them something to watch,” Compher said after the game. “We’ve been working towards this for a long time and it’s really special to see people supporting us and giving us what we deserve.”
In fact, it took a while. One evening long ago, another women’s hockey game was played in downtown Toronto. At the Mutual Street Rink – later the site of the Mutual Street Arena, home of the Toronto Arenas, St Patricks and, later still, the Maple Leafs – the Toronto women’s hockey team Wellington defended their championship against nearby Waterloo. It was Thursday 14 February 1907 – this week, 117 years ago. Toronto won 6-0 but, “although the better team won, the score is not an absolute criterion of the night’s play,” reported the Toronto Daily Star the next morning. “The girls were very much in earnest throughout, and, considering the disadvantage of three-quarter skirts, gave a very good display of Canada’s national winter pastime.” A larger than usual crowd turned up that night. They were taken by surprise. The Daily Star reporter admitted: “Many came to laugh, but stayed respectfully.”
Here’s the thing: you can’t be serious about a sport unless the sport takes itself seriously, which is what professional leagues are for. Of the many differences that still exist between men’s and women’s hockey in North America, the desire to professionalize one has been the most damaging but not the most damaging. Apart from limiting practical things like financial support for the women’s game at all levels, it also unfairly meant that for many years a girl’s hockey dream of stardom was less credible than a boy’s dream. Because, without a serious and sustainable pro league, the perception of women’s hockey has been allowed to remain unchanged since the beginning of the last century: a bit of a joke. Although everyone knew all along that it was just.
Hockey was good on Friday. A professional showcase of Canada’s national winter pastime as good as it gets. It belongs to this place, it always has.
