It was an incredible weekend in St. Louis, home of the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, which saw a gathering of the world’s best players being honoured and celebrated by the National Hockey League. Whereas the two-day event is usually comprised of only men athletes, festivities were slightly altered to expand the game with the inclusion of women.
The All-Star Game took a twist at last year’s showing in San Jose where Kendall Coyne Schofield took part in festivities, stealing the show, winning fastest skater. Joining the former Whitecap being invited by the NHL were Brianna Decker of the Calgary Inferno, Rebecca Johnston and Renata Fast.
While inclusion has been integral to the growth and success of the NHL, it has allowed for their roles to expand in a duo of partnerships in women’s pro hockey. Given last year was the last before the CWHL was forced to shutter, the National Hockey League assisted in payments, lending $50, 000 towards players and coaches.
While the same was done in the states to lend a hand to the NWHL, the NHL relocated those funds, increasing its financial investment in the league. Today, that amount is vital, increasing from $50,000 to $100,000. However, since then, the 200-plus players who were caught off board while abroad in Finland came together with Ballard Spahr LLP to form the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA).
Before the CWHL folded, the league saw support from the NHL with a pair of partnerships with the Calgary Flames, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. This was to help with funding for Les Canadiennes, the Inferno and Furies. However, on a new route to showcase the game, the NHLPA was quick to join forces, becoming a premier partner as a show of support.
In lieu of this agreement, the NHL is an active advocate, however, commissioner Gary Bettman has said time over he won’t interfere unless he sees that it’s needed. That would bring us forward to the annual All-Star Game played in Missouri. Back on January 12th, Emily Kaplan of ESPN reported that there would be a new event at NHL All-Star weekend. It would be a three-on-three scrimmage between top American and Canadian women’s hockey players.
While this year has become an important one to raise awareness of the women’s pro game, it was reported just hours following the Secret Women’s Showcase being played at Ryerson that the game would be headlined by 18 players, but only those from the National Women’s Teams. These players were carefully selected by Jayna Hefford, Cammi Granato and Leafs development coach Hayley Wickenheiser. Also chipping in as consultants were Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Angela Ruggiero.
As well, it was later reported that all players taking part in the skills competition would be invited from the PWHPA. Fast forward to Monday morning, The Puck Authority confirmed that there would be no involvement from any players in the NWHL. Following that, The Puck Authority then learnt that the reason for this would be the NHL wanting the best players in the world to participate at the All-Star Game.
With that in mind, the NHL announced the rosters on Wednesday with HockeyCanada’s composed of Olympians such as Natalie Spooner and Marie-Philip Poulin. Poulin, 28-years-old, is a two-time Olympic gold medal goal scorer. Joining these two on the roster would be Blayre Turnbull and Sarah Nurse while Melodie Daoust was added to the mix after leading her team to a win on Sunday.
As for the United States, their roster was led by Hilary Knight and gold medal-winning forward Amanda Kessel. Kessel is a former player in the NWHL, meanwhile, she works with the Rangers and is the younger sister of star forward Phil Kessel. With both teams constructed with Olympians and high-end talent to take centre stage, they certainly didn’t disappoint while stealing the spotlight to kick off the festivities.
As such, this would see Team Canada break open the scoring just one minute in as Rebecca Johnston led off in style while banking the puck through the legs of Alex Cavallini. This would give the Canadians a 1-0 lead over their American counterparts. As the second frame got underway, Team Canada continued to heat up as Melodie Daoust, just two minutes in, would find the mesh from the right-side circle.
This would double their lead with seven minutes left to play on the clock. Another two minutes later with Team USA now seeking revenge, it would be Hilary Knight skating in on Ann-Renée Desbiens before netting the puck while being chased by Poulin. That would be all she wrote as Team Canada took it 2-1 in regulation. Desbiens made 15 saves while the women made history before a national audience.
After meeting at centre ice to shake hands, both teams respectively named an MVP with Knight and Poulin both receiving the most votes. With that in mind, both women took part in the Shooting Stars drill where they continued to impress with their accuracy, but fell just short to the winner, Patrick Kane. While joining the men for another new addition, multiple players watching on from the benches expressed how impressed they were with the skill they were seeing. Amongst that list included TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals. While Oshie plays right-winger for Todd Reirden, he is also a husband and father with two daughters, Lyla (5) and Leni (3).
When speaking as to the motto “If you can see it, you can be it”, the 33-year-old winger said to Samantha Pell of The Washington Post, “For them to look up to role models like this and be able to see them at the NHL All-Star Weekend I think is pretty cool. They were on the bench with me out there and they saw some of the girls skating around, so it’s pretty special for them to see that.”
In a sense, when speaking of young girls, the same was re-iterated by Gary Bettman who said of the event and the challenges being faced, “The fact that we can shine, using our light, a brighter light on the women’s game I think is a positive for them, for the game and for young girls watching and aspiring to do the same thing.” While there is no definite answer as to how long the uncertainty may last, the players who participated in NHL All-Star Weekend learnt a valuable lesson as to what they’re deserving of. Whether that be a weekly schedule or extra ice time to prepare or showcases, Rebecca Johnston told The Washington Post, “It’s definitely challenging, and it’s a step that we need to take. I think there is so much talent in women’s hockey, and for us to try to push for a league that is sustainable for us, a plan, is a step we need to take. For us, it is a challenging year but something that needs to be done.”
The players are not the only ones who have raised attention to the matter of equality as Cassie Campbell Pascall, a broadcaster on Sportsnet, stepped in with her own thoughts having played for the National Team. When speaking between intermissions about the state of women’s hockey as it is, the former Olympian said on the telecast, “You know, the best players are not playing in the NWHL and that’s a statement that the PWHPA made and you know, the best 200 players are playing in that league, so there’s no slight for sure, but the fact is that none of the best players are simply playing in that league. They don’t feel it’s an option for them, they don’t feel that it’s a viable league moving forward and they’ve made a huge statement to literally halt their careers to make that statement and that says a lot about that league.”
To that extent, the PWHPA has started the Dream Gap Tour, a cross-country showcase for these 200 players to ensure they’re kept active while promoting the best players. After most recently completing a Toronto stop, the tour is set to continue on February 29th with a stop to Philadelphia. After that, there are games set up in Voorhees, New Jersey and Tempe Arizona. While the talent is certainly top notch, Kendall Coyne Schofield has expressed her displeasure, saying she would love to see more international players involved in future showcases.
This can certainly be seconded by former Clarkson Cup champion Brianna Decker. When speaking with regards to the initiative to grow women’s pro hockey with support internationally, the 28-year-old forward said after the All-Star Game, “I think we obviously want to try to grow our sport any time we can. I think winning gold in 2018 [in the PyeongChang Olympics] has helped that. You know, Canada, they have a lot more support up there; [hockey] is what they live for. So our goal as women’s hockey players is to continue to grow the support.”
Because of that significance alone, pro women’s hockey got big news on Friday as they received from ScotiaHockey a generous donation of $50,000. The gift, provided to Hockey Canada, was given in celebration of the momentous event of Team Canada defeating USA Hockey in St. Louis. This wouldn’t be all as the positivity continued on Sunday when the women were gifted a hefty donation of $250,000 from the National Hockey League. As cited by the league announcement through the added contributions of their many partners, the generous donation, split between USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, was given to support and grow girls’ hockey across North America.
With that in mind, both organizations receive $125,000 and if you add that to Friday’s donation, Hockey Canada has now raised a total of $175,000 in support of women’s pro hockey. On a similar note, at the Secret Women’s Showcase, the PWHPA also received a $50,000 donation at Ryerson University to grow the game from Kipling Group.
Speaking of growth and participation in girls’ and women’s hockey in the United States, The Washington Post notes that records from June indicate a total of 82,808 girls and women having registered to play. This of course being from the most up-to-date document made available. As a result, it accounts for a 4.35 percent increase from 2017-18. As well, every female age group from under-6 to adult increased by at least 1.62 percent.
Additionally, when digging deeper into the numbers of grassroots hockey, The Washington Post notes that the group with the highest growth in girls and women’s hockey was the U9-10 category. They saw an increase in registration by an impressive 7.88 percent. With this being said, there is an overall total of 34,941 girls 10 and under who are currently registered with USA Hockey.
Given these encouraging statistics, things are only looking up for the state of the game and with the 200-plus players participating in the Dream Gap Tour, they’re only agreeing as they fill sold out arenas. When speaking as to future, despite being unclear at the time of writing, Rebecca Johnston concluded her statement saying of the unwavering support they’re receiving, “I think we are all hopeful. And especially for us being here, I think that is a step in the right direction. The NHL is supporting women’s hockey; they are helping us get the exposure that we need. The partnership is there. I think you know it’s not something that you can just build overnight, so for us it is something that we want to continue to grow the game and get as much exposure as we can.”
It’s because of a movement like this that young girls all over can continue to dream as the key driving source of this motivation is the love in the stands that is felt in mass numbers. When speaking as to the inspiration that the push for equality has managed to share, Wisconsin native Brianna Decker closed in saying of the mission at hand, “I think we all wish we had women role models, like ourselves. And I think girls, it gives them a lot of hope and helps us grow our game as much as possible.”