Women’s hockey takes one more step forward
All-star game draws 8,000 in Toronto
Forecheck, backcheck, paycheque?
The Canadian Women’s Hockey League is solid on the first two, but players in the five-team loop aren’t making a living on the ice right now. Still, each year puts another brick in the foundation.
When an announced crowd of 8,000 came to the 10th CWHL allstar game Saturday, the third held at the Air Canada Centre and the second where organizers were confident enough to charge admission, it was another reason for optimism.
The crowd was largely made up of young girls and women from burgeoning teams in the Toronto area and followers of the two local clubs, the Toronto Furies and Brampton Thunder.
“When we were young and at that age, there just wasn’t that attention for female hockey,” said Halifax-born forward Jill Saulnier, who had a hat trick and assist in the White all-star team’s 9-5 win over the Blues. “I’ve heard ticket sales were up 25 per cent today over last year’s game, and you could tell that from the bench.”
All-star games are notoriously light on hits and intensity at the NHL level, but Saturday’s showcase was played with skill and hustle.
“Carlee Campbell (of the Furies) was saying she was born in the wrong generation,” said Sasky Stewart, director of marketing and communications for the league. “Twenty years from now, we’ll see girls play on stages like this all the time and these girls will lead the way.
“The idea of the league is not that we build it for this year or next, or for this group of players. It’s for 20 years from now. These next players can play for a living — they don’t have to make that choice.”
While some incentives, awards and sponsorships help with finances, “some of these girls work at Costco until 4 in the morning,” Stewart said.
“We pride ourselves on treating our players as professional as we can, but we can’t give them this every week,” she added.
The league ends its regular season this weekend. The Calgary Inferno and Montreal have secured playoff berths and will wait to see if they play Brampton or Toronto.
The Clarkson Cup title game is in Ottawa on March 5.