HONOURING HAYLEY
Wickenheiser gets degree
As women’s hockey sprouted and grew, Hayley Wickenheiser was right there with a watering can, helping it along.
Wickenheiser, one of the best female players to ever strike a puck with a stick, was awarded an honourary doctor of laws at the University of Saskatchewan Thursday morning. The game, she noted later, has changed so much since her own formative days.
“It’s not abnormal to see a little girl walk into any rink in Saskatoon with a hockey bag and a hockey stick,” Wickenheiser — a Shaunavon native — said after the ceremony. “It makes me smile. It was a lot of tough go for me when I was that age, and it’s definitely not like that anymore.”
Wickenheiser won four Olympic gold medals and seven world titles while playing 23 seasons on the national team. Wayne Gretzky recently called her “the Gordie Howe of women’s hockey.”
Olympic gold-medal trampolinist Rosie MacLennan told CBC this week that she’s had two role models through her career: Fellow trampolinist Karen Cockburn, and Wickenheiser.
“I didn’t really have a female athlete (as a role model),” Wickenheiser said when asked about her own inspirations. “That’s probably how far we’ve come in sport in general. My dad always talked about (pentathlete) Diane JonesKonihowski, and what a great athlete she was. She was the only athlete I really identified with as a female. The others were Gretzky and Messier and the Oilers of the ’80s, and I wanted to play in the NHL. Now, young girls growing up could probably name four or five female athletes that they say, ‘Yeah, I want to be like her, or do that,’ and that’s pretty cool.”
Wickenheiser said the sport, which she exited in January after announcing her retirement at age 38, is “in good hands.”
She publicly supported the U.S.A. women’s hockey program earlier this year when they threatened to boycott the world championship unless they received greater financial support. American captain Meghan Duggan contacted Wickenheiser, as the dispute moved along, to thank her for that backing.
The final settlement, arrived at just before worlds, included improved working conditions and a living wage of around $70,000 per year — a huge boost to the previously meagre player-support package.
“I think it helped women’s sport, and women’s hockey. I think it was very bold of them, very brave, but they obviously had a case,” Wickenheiser said.
“This isn’t just a ‘we deserve more.’ There’s actually an economic reason why you should support women in sport. If you look at U.S. women’s hockey, it grew by six per cent last year, whereas U.S. male hockey enrolment was only up by one per cent. There’s an economic reason to support the women’s national team and women in sport. I don’t think it’s a hard case to make anymore, as it once was.”
And that growth, naturally, makes her happy.
“There was a long time before me where women had to fight just to play the game, and it was hard, growing up in Shaunavon, to play the game,” she said.
“But at least I had that opportunity. And now, it’s just so mainstream and there’s so many opportunities. I’m proud of how far it’s come. It’s way easier for a little girl to play the game today.”