Hockey is for Everyone...

...but it seems to be easier for some. Or, at least, that's the impression I got from our class this week. Since our topic was diversity, Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell, the president of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) came into the class as our guest. (We were actually supposed to have another guest, but he never showed up, it seems.)

So I learned a lot about women's hockey in Canada, and it was the exact opposite of inspiring, I'm sad to say. Okay, so maybe that's not quite correct, the determination of these women and all the volunteers involved with the NWHL is inspiring, but Canada's treatment of our women hockey players is appalling.

There was quite a lot brought up in Mayor Fennell's talk, so please excuse me if I'm rather disjointed and confusing. From what I understand, the NWHL is governed by the Ontario Hockey Federation, which is under some other organization perhaps, but at any rate is ultimately under Hockey Canada. Under the OHF, the women are subject to the exact same rules as men's midget teams.

If just the concept of women's hockey being treated the same as men's midget hockey sounds strange to you, well the way in which this works out practically isn't going to disabuse you of that conception. The big rule that Mayor Fennell mentioned was the import restrictions. Apparently men's midget teams can only have one "import" per team. Now here's the best part, "import" players aren't just players from outside of Canada, they're also players transferring membership from another province! So if a girl was playing in Brampton and then moved to Quebec, she'd take up the Quebec team's import spot if she wanted to play there!

Anyway, apparently the NWHL tried to lobby to get an exemption from the import rule, so that they could move towards being more like the NHL, which brings in the best players from all over the world, but all they managed was a concession for two import players. Woohoo. (Excuse me if I'm getting my timeline wrong; it's possible that they were allowed two players some time before the request for the removal of the restriction was rejected.)

Can you imagine the life of an international player before that rule change? It was incredibly difficult, the way Mayor Fennell described it. I mean, you come from a different country, possibly not speaking much English, and the season isn't all that short, you aren't getting paid while you're here so you have to have some source of funds, and it's especially tough around the holidays because chances are you're not going to be able to afford to fly home. Can you imagine how lonely it would be?

And that brings up another point. Did you know, that until Mayor Fennell started up this league, women had to pay for everything? Their own equipment, travel expenses, etc.? I mean, just think, we've got our 1998 silver medal Olympians and they're having to find ways to work jobs or raise money to keep in training to play? I knew Canada had a really horrible system for dealing with the development of athletes, but I didn't realize that Hockey Canada invests $0 in the National Women's Hockey teams that train up our Olympians. It's totally ludicrous. Meanwhile they're paying the NHLers to play for the men's teams.

You know, before the NWHL got started, women hockey players basically had no where to develop? They came back from the Olympics and had to join rec leagues or something to keep in shape, there was nothing for them like men have in terms of a development program. And even now the women's program is fully funded by the communities of the NWHL teams. It absolutely boggles the mind.

I'm making a hash of it, I know--probably everything I've written up to now has been completely incomprehensible. My basic point is that women who want to play in elite levels of hockey have to make enormous sacrifices in order to play, and even though "Canada" is happy to take the credit for their international sucesses, really the people, apart from the players themselves and their families, who deserve all the credit are their communities which sponsored their training and expenses and such. Most of the women have full time jobs because they don't earn anything from playing hockey. Then you think about NHLers, even guys in the the minors, who haven't had to worry about paying for their equipment, travel expenses and theings like that (although thanks to the NWHL the women no longer have to worry about these things either), AND get paid to play, and the disparity is just so huge.

Sure part of that is due to the fact that women's hockey programs are pretty young, but at the same time, you've got to wonder why Hockey Canada and the OHF isn't acknowledging the special circumstances of women hockey players and instead is putting them at the same level as men's midget teams. Imagine that, our Olympic-calibre women hockey players are governed by the same rules as men's midget teams. You'd think someone would acknowledge some sort of difference in circumstances and needs and such, wouldn't you?

I recognize that I've got a very one-sided view of the story, but I'd say that hearing the other side wouldn't really do much to make the situation seem better. And I guess another thing I've come to see more of through not just this week's class, but throughout the course is how big a role politicking plays in hockey. I mean, it's nice to think of hockey as Canada's soul, an integral part of Canada's national identity, a unifying agent in an incredibly diverse country, but of course there's always the politics working behind the scenes, from the choice of music played in rinks during games to the claim to the title of the "birthplace of hockey."