Record viewership for the Canada-USA women’s hockey Olympics gold medal game is prompting calls for a larger, more sustainable professional women’s hockey league.
For Prince Albert Northern Bears coach Steve Young, having somewhere to play after college is important for the girls.
“Typically they go from Triple A to university, and there’s that gap for the Hockey Canada program, so if you can get a professional league in there, that obviously would help these girls that want to move on.”
Young says the girls look up to their national team heroes as catalysts for growing the game.
“I think the Olympic team is obviously the big step. If you look now, there’s more and more female teams from the younger ages all the way up.”
Bears forward Sophia Zuck says a professional league is the next step.
“Males have the NHL and I think females should eventually, one day, I hope, have a professional league and get the same attention the males do, so it’s really important.”
A six team league called the Premier Hockey Federation exists with five teams in the US and one in Toronto.
The league recently announced an increase to its salary cap and plans to expand from six to eight teams. However, many say the salaries are not high enough for players to make it a full-time professional career.
A bulk of women’s players, many who played in the Olympics, belong to the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), an organization who is holding out for a more financially sustainable league across North America.
Defender Paige Dawson recognizes the value of playing college hockey in the meantime.
“There’s tons of opportunities whether you want to play at a high level or low. There’s the United States, there’s so many schools in Canada, and pretty much everybody has an opportunity to go to post-secondary and play hockey as well.”
Dawson says the conversation around women’s hockey has shifted in the past few years, thanks to the exposure the game has been getting.
“I think we have a stereotype on women’s hockey, it’s not as competitive as men’s. But I think as time goes on, people are starting to realize that women’s hockey is just as important or equal to.”