Toronto Star

#ONELEAGUE

Players hope combining CWHL and NWHL would advance sport

- STEPHEN WHYNO AND JOHN WAWROW

Interest in women’s hockey in U.S. after Olympic breakthrou­gh sparks fresh push for leagues to join forces.

Liz Knox didn’t get a chance to rest.

A day after making 24 saves to backstop her team to a road win and then flying home from Boston, the goaltender for the Markham Thunder worked her day job as a carpenter from 6 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, took a 10-minute nap, went for a six-kilometre run and squeezed in a workout before dinner.

“If we were making a living wage, it’s not a big deal because I can sleep in today and go to the gym when I’m ready and have the facilities there to train,” Knox said. “If it’s your full-time job, then that’s your full-time job and you can pay for your rent and everything else on top of that.”

For now, playing women’s hockey profession­ally in North America isn’t lucrative enough to be a full-time job, save for the U.S. and Canadian Olympians who earn money from their national federation­s. In the aftermath of the U.S. winning gold at the Winter Games, several players have used their platform on a whirlwind victory tour to make the case for one profession­al league where there are currently two competitor­s: the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and National Women’s Hockey League.

“I don’t play in the CWHL or the NWHL so I have no personal preference,” U.S. shootout hero Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said. “For women’s hockey to continue its traction is to have one league, whether that’s a merger or an entirely new league that supports both the U.S. and Canada in one league, I think is going to be really important in the next season to somehow make that happen.”

Current and former players have taken to social media to promote the concept of #OneLeague that could pay long- term dividends for the sport. It’s a complicate­d issue muddled in the uncertaint­y between the CWHL, NHWL and NHL with, so far, no obvious path forward.

The compelling journey of the U.S. team from its fight for a better contract from USA Hockey to its thrilling victory against Canada at the Olympics brought positive attention to women’s hockey that is now in danger of being cut short.

“After the Olympics, all the conversati­on was: ‘Why can’t I watch this on a day-to-day basis? Why can’t I watch this every weekend?’ Well, you can’t because the talent is split right now between two leagues,” said Knox, one of the co-chairs of the CWHL Players Associatio­n. “Merging is probably never going to work. There’s just too many difference­s between the two leagues and that’s been evident from the very beginning.”

The CWHL, now in its 11th season, has seven teams split between the U.S., Canada and China. The NWHL began in 2015 and has four U.S.-based teams.

What also divides the two are salary and bonus structures.

The NWHL has paid its play- ers a salary from its inception: Between $10,000 and $26,000 in its first season to between $5,000 and $7,000 now. The CWHL previously focused on paying staff and player travel costs before committing to paying players starting this past year — anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000, with a team salary cap of $100,000.

“Our framework has allowed for us to maintain sustainabi­lity and measured growth, and that trend will continue,” said Brenda Andress, commission­er of the non-profit CWHL, which has partnered with NHL teams in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Partnershi­ps can include financial assistance, marketing and promotions, ice time and office space.

Neither league would address any notion of specific merger talks.

Knox and others would love for the NHL to step in and run a league like the NBA has with the WNBA. NHL commission­er Gary Bettman’s stance on women’s pro hockey hasn’t changed since the NWHL was establishe­d. It’s a position he recently reiterated on Calgary’s 960-Radio by saying the two leagues must first sort out their situations.

“Having two leagues makes it more difficult for us to get involved,” Bettman said. “If there were no leagues, we’d probably start one under the NHL umbrella, and I’ve told both leagues that. But I have no interest in competing with the existing leagues. I think that would be counterpro­ductive.”

U.S. forward Hilary Knight, who is back in the CWHL playing for Les Canadienne­s in Montreal after two seasons with the NWHL’s Boston Pride, said whatever it looks like, it’s vital for the growth of the game to have a single league that pays a living wage.

“A lot of people only discover women’s hockey every four years at the Olympics,” Knight said.

“We’re here every single year, every single day training and there’s places that you can come see us, but we just don’t have those marketing dollars, those resources behind us to really bridge the gap between a product and the consumer. Hopefully combining efforts would help take care of that and we can get some big names on board to help fix that problem.”

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 ?? BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES ?? U.S. forward Hilary Knight says it’s vital for the growth of women’s hockey to have a single league that pays a living wage. She has played in both the CWHL and the NWHL.
BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES U.S. forward Hilary Knight says it’s vital for the growth of women’s hockey to have a single league that pays a living wage. She has played in both the CWHL and the NWHL.

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