Women’s hockey honouring its past helps it move clearly to the future
There are a few moments in my life that have struck me as incredibly poignant and historic in the world of sports.
On Feb. 16 I attended the PWHL’s Battle on Bay Street and sat in the press box as more than 19,000 people filled Scotiabank Arena. I watched as Toronto delighted an arena full of fans as it emerged victorious in a game with so much enthusiasm and flair that it was hard not to feel emotional. The music, the violet lights and atmosphere made me tear up.
I recall the thousands of little girls wearing their own hockey jerseys as a nod to the possibilities and power of the women’s game, and their identity.
It was arguably one of the most profound moments in my career as a sports journalist. I have covered women’s hockey since the days of the Toronto Furies playing at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke. To see the PWHL be realized is so important. Equally important is what it took to get there and how previous iterations of professional or semi-professional leagues contributed to that moment and to that success.
I asked Dr. Courtney Szto, hockey scholar and kinesiology professor at Queen’s University, about why we should care about histories in women’s hockey.
“Some might say that we need to know our history so we don’t repeat it,” Szto told me over text. “I am starting to feel more like we need to know our history so we understand how much it takes to create any movement of the needle, and how easily that can be undone.
“I think history is about connecting struggles across time, geography, and political contexts so that we have bigger pools of hope from which to draw.”
Six days after that game, I was seated at a golf club among some of the same people who were at Scotiabank Arena but instead of an excited beginning, it was to mark the end of a different chapter of women’s hockey in Toronto. The Toronto Six were celebrating their Isobel Cup win last year and finally receiving the championship rings earned from the now-shuttered Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
When I received the invitation I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It had been almost a year since they won and the league was since bought out. Many players, including 12 from the Toronto Six championship team, moved on to play in the PWHL. But others, like Elaine Chuli, Carly Jackson, Emma Greco and Saroya Tinker, began new careers doing broadcast commentary with the new league.
Former Toronto Six president Sami Jo Small was the emcee and took all the attendees on a lovely journey through the memories of packed arenas, passion and dedication from players and the drive to never give up on what hockey could be. There were so many memories of joys and disappointments.
“There are stories and lessons from our shared past that have helped bring us to where hockey is today,” she said.
Small, an Olympian, started with mentioning players of note, past coaches, staff and other women involved in the now-defunct Central Ontario Women’s Hockey League (COWHL) that operated from 1992 until 1998. Those women never gave up, pushing and advancing women’s hockey. She asked that those present from those leagues and associations stand up and be recognized. It was very moving. Too seldom are women’s vanguards of sport given the credit they richly deserve.
WATCH: Latest edition of Hockey North, with Rob Pizzo and Hailey Salvian:
Host Rob Pizzo is joined by Hailey Salvian to break down the biggest stories from Week 10 of the inaugural PWHL season.
Small went on to explain that the COWHL was renamed the National Women’s Hockey League and it played from 1999 until 2007, eventually expanding to include teams from Quebec as well.
Two scoring champions from that league are HHOFers Jayna Hefford and Angela James. Hefford is currently senior vice-president of hockey operations for the PWHL, while James once served as the GM of the Toronto Six before becoming a co-owner with a group of Black and Indigenous people that included former NHL coach Ted Nolan, former NHLer Anthony Stewart and Bernice Carnegie, the widow of Herb Carnegie, a pioneer for Black hockey players.
The NWHL morphed into the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) from 2007 until 2019. The CWHL started paying its players in the 2017-2018 season. When it shut down, most of its players started the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, and showcased games all over Canada and the U.S. It boasted players from each country’s national and Olympic teams.
In the U.S., a different National Women’s Hockey League formed in 2015, eventually becoming the PHF.
The Toronto Six was one of the PHF Canadian expansion teams along with Montreal Force. The Six seemed to be thriving. In fact, CBC Sports did a video report of the facilities of the team less than one year ago.
WATCH: Inside the Toronto Six with Sami Jo Small, Daryl Watts:
CBC Sports looks at the growth of the PHF’s Toronto Six franchise, led by president Sami Jo Small and their newest record-signing Daryl Watts.
When the PHF was bought out it felt surreal. I had just written about the team and their win a few weeks before. This was a move that no one expected and reminded me of when the CWHL ceased operations. It was a terrible feeling. Again.
Goaltender Elaine Chuli, now playing with PWHL Montreal, was at the Toronto Six ring ceremony and couldn’t help but feel emotional.
“We were such a close group and are still such good friends,” she said, noting that playing for the Toronto Six sharpened her as a pro athlete. “You can’t beat game action, and big-game pressure situations like playoff runs with the Toronto Six.”
Chuli added that seeing faces from the former organization was “super special.”
Jackson told me that she drove in with Brittany Howard and they both got chills when they saw the sign for the event.
“It feels like a family reunion,” Jackson said with a grin. “Winning a championship together ties you together for life. This is just the icing on the cake.”
Giving the players the celebration they deserve and some closure was paramount.
“It is such a meaningful evening,” said Justin Levine, the former media relations manager for the team. “We kind of became a family at the end of it.
“Knowing that some of these girls are no longer playing hockey is unfortunate. For those playing in the PWHL, I am so happy to see them thriving and getting paid what they deserve.”
I asked Levine about the oft-used narrative that the PWHL is the first professional women’s league in Toronto and he disputes that claim.
“It kind of hurts to hear that,” he said. “It [PHF] didn’t start at its best but as it continued to grow it became that league. And at the end of it, it was promising. It was a professional league. It was paying its players. It was giving those opportunities to girls who didn’t have opportunities in the PWHPA. They worked hard and were at the rink almost all day, every day.”
The erasure of women’s sporting accomplishments is a danger to sport as a whole. Knowing what the battles were, who fought them, and how their combined effort help hold up new successes is key. No league will ever be perfect. Women’s sport still faces barriers and players have challenges.
I kept thinking about Dr. Szto’s words and I realized why this event was so important to chronicle. As the PWHL continues to grow the game and inspire so many future players on new fans, I will always remember that night at a golf club where former teammates met each other with joy and gratitude and were presented with their hard-earned championship rings.
I am grateful I was there to see it, and am now writing about it. It weaves in the media as part of that history and helps us continue to tell the stories of women’s hockey in Canada. A life celebration is as important to recognize as the birth of something with no limits and endless possibilities.
