No longer a far-fetched notion, the Professional Women’s Hockey League is approaching reality and Sarah Nurse can’t help but pinch herself.
On Monday, the 28-year-old Canadian national team forward will be on the ice in Toronto when her yet-to-be nicknamed team faces off against New York to open the new year and the PWHL’s inaugural 72-game season.
“It means so much to me. It’s something that I had dreamed of and envisioned all those years ago, but I didn’t know it would actually come to fruition,” Nurse said. “It’s hard when you think of all the places that we’ve been over the last four years. And to be able to get here, with my Toronto team, has blown my expectations out of the water.”
It wasn’t easy. It took time and patience for the moment to arrive after past start-up leagues lurched from one crisis to another before ultimately folding because they lacked money, vision and foundational support.
Finally, the world’s best players have one place to showcase their talents outside the four-year Olympic cycle and enjoying what it’s like to have their voices heard.
“Seen and heard,” Minnesota general manager and former U.S. national team captain Natalie Darwitz said.
“So often, it would be could we just get a seat at the table, right? And then, can we speak up at the table?” she said. “And now, you feel good about the table, and how do we grow that table, is kind of the path we’re down.”
Not lost on this generation of players is crediting those who preceded them, such as Darwitz and PWHL executive Jayna Hefford, never mind the help of one of women’s sports most influential gender-breakers in former tennis star Billie Jean King, a PWHL board member.
“It’s a long time in coming, and we’re standing on the shoulders of players from past generations,” Ottawa’s Brianne Jenner said. “But I think our generation that kind of carried that balance of being grateful for every opportunity, but also not being happy with the crumbs is the attitude that’s got us here.”
Ultimately, the PWHL would not have been possible without King’s influence and connections, and the deep pockets of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his wife, Kimbra.
The Walters, who remain strictly behind the scenes, have committed to spending tens of millions of dollars to finance a centralized league that has a collective bargaining agreement with its players in place through 2031. And there’s the heavy lifting that’s already been done in six short months in which six markets have been established, (Boston, New York/Connecticut, St. Paul, Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa), more than 150 employees hired, dedicated locker rooms and training facilities built or renovated, and tens of thousands of tickets sold.
Toronto’s 12 home games are essentially sold out, and Montreal was close. The lower bowl of St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center is expected to be filled for Minnesota’s opener, and Ottawa’ had sold about 8,000 tickets for its opener.
This is but a start, said PWHL board member Stan Kasten. He has played an influential role in getting the league off the ground in such a short period rather than put it off until next year even if it meant going without logos, nicknames and with a hastily reached broadcast deal finally announced on Friday.
“We have a long time to get them to where they need to be,” Kasten said. “I’m cognizant we’re going to make mistakes. But every mistake you see, ask if we’re still at that mistake a year from now.”
For all the iterations of women’s hockey leagues past, be it the Canadian-based National Women’s Hockey League that launched in 1999 and eventually became the Canadian Women’s Hockey League that folded in 2019, or the U.S.-based NWHL that launched in 2015 and eventually became the Premier Hockey Federation before being bought out by Walter in June, the PWHL is regarded as having the best chance to succeed.
Boston forward Shiann Darkangelo has experienced nearly every step. Her stops included CWHL Toronto and Kunlun, China, and three NHWL/PHF teams ending with Toronto, where Darkangelo became the PHF’s last captain to raise the Isobel Cup after the Six won the title in March.
“Absolutely, it’s totally been worth it. I get to do what I love and get paid to do that,” the 30-year-old Darkangelo said.
Hours after coaching Canada to a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Games, Troy Ryan urged business people and sponsors to come together in launching a pro women’s hockey league because he believed it was viable.
It’s now a reality for Ryan, who is coaching PWHL Toronto.
“It’s amazing and, to be honest, it’s a little bit surreal because it’s happened so quickly,” Ryan said. “A lot of people took a little leap of faith to join this journey.”
What impressed Minnesota’s Darwitz was seeing and interacting with so many women in positions of power while attending the PWHL’s evaluation camp in Utica, New York, in early December. The PWHL features four female GMs, three female head coaches and, of the 34 board members and employees listed on the league’s website, 20 are women.
“It’s emotional. It’s long overdue,” she said. “We’re used to walking into a room and it’s usually one or two of us.”
Darwitz spoke the same week the University of Delaware announced it was launching a women’s hockey program — another indication of the sport’s growth.
“That’s amazing,” she said, before adding, “we still don’t have Michigan” in noting the Big Ten school lacks a program.
“We’re not there,” Darwitz said. “But hopefully, one day, we are there.”
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — No. 1 Texas will start Arch Manning at quarterback Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe while regular starter Quinn Ewers continues to recover from a strained muscle in his abdomen, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
It will be the first career start for Manning, a second year freshman. He relieved Ewers in the second quarter last week against UTSA, and passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 56-7 Texas victory.
Manning is the son of Cooper Manning, the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.
Ewers missed several games over the previous two seasons with shoulder and sternum injuries.
The Longhorns are No. 1 for the first time since 2008 and Saturday’s matchup with the Warhawks is Texas’ last game before the program starts its first SEC schedule against Mississippi State on Sept. 28.
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Making 104 senior appearances for Canada over a 20-year span, Atiba Hutchinson embodied quiet professionalism and leadership.
“He’s very humble but his influence is as strong as I’ve ever seen on men,” said former national team coach John Herdman.
“For me it was just a privilege, because I’ve had the honour to work with people like (former Canada women’s captain Christine) Sinclair. And Atiba, he’s just been a gift to Canada,” he added.
Hutchinson documents his journey on and off the field in an entertaining, refreshingly honest memoir called “The Beautiful Dream,” written with Dan Robson.
The former Canada captain, who played for 10 national team coaches, shares the pain of veteran players watching their World Cup dream slip away over the years.
Hutchinson experienced Canada’s lows himself, playing for a team ranked No. 122 in the world and 16th in CONCACAF (sandwiched between St. Kitts and Nevis and Aruba) back in October 2014.
Then there was the high of leading his country out at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after a 36-year absence by the Canadian men.
And while he doesn’t throw anyone under the bus — for example, he notes the missed penalty kick in Canada’s World Cup opener in Qatar against Belgium without mentioning the taker (Alphonso Davies, whom he is very complimentary to) — he shares stories that paint a picture.
He describes the years of frustration the Canadian men experienced, with European club teammates ridiculing his commitment to the national team. In one telling story about a key World Cup qualifier in Honduras in October 2012, he relates learning in the dressing room before the match that the opposition players had been promised “land or homes” by their federation if they won.
“Meanwhile an executive from the Canadian Soccer Association entered and told us that we’d each receive an iPad or an iPod if we won,” Hutchinson writes.
Needing just a draw to advance to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, Canada was trounced 8-1. Another World Cup campaign ended prematurely.
Hutchinson writes about the turnaround in the program under Herdman, from marvelling “at how good our younger players were” as he joined the team for World Cup qualifying ahead of Qatar to Canada Soccer flying the team to a game in Costa Rica “in a private jet that was swankier than anything I’d ever seen the federation pay for.”
Canada still lost 1-0, “a reminder we weren’t there yet,” he notes.
And Hutchinson recalls being “teary-eyed” during Canada’s memorable World Cup 2-1 qualifying win over Mexico in frigid Edmonton in November 2021.
“For the first time we had the respect of the other countries … We knew we had been viewed as an easy win by opponents like Mexico. Not anymore,” he writes.
The Canadian men, currently ranked 38th in the world, have continued their rise under coach Jesse Marsch
“I’m extremely proud to see how far we’ve come along,” Hutchinson said in an interview.
“Just to see what’s happening now with the team and the players that have come through and the clubs they’re playing at — winning leagues in different parts of Europe and the world,” he added. “It’s something we’ve never had before.”
At club level, Hutchinson chose his teams wisely with an eye to ensuring he would get playing time — with Osters and Helsingborgs IF in Sweden, FC Copenhagen in Denmark, PSV in the Netherlands and Besiktas in Turkey, where he payed 10 seasons and captained the side before retiring in June 2023 at the age of 40.
Turkish fans dubbed him “The Octopus” for his ability to win the ball back and hold onto it in his midfield role.
But the book reveals many trials and tribulations, especially at the beginning of his career when he was trying to find a club in Europe.
Today, Hutchinson, wife Sarah and their four children — ranging in age from one to nine — still live in Istanbul, where he is routinely recognized on the street.
He expects to get back into football, possibly coaching, down the line, but for the moment wants to enjoy time with his young family. He has already tried his hand as a TV analyst with TSN.
Herdman, for one, thought Hutchinson might become his successor as Canada coach.
Hutchinson says he never thought about writing a book but was eventually persuaded to do so.
“I felt like I could help out maybe some of the younger kids growing up, inspire them a bit,” he said.
The book opens with a description of how a young Hutchinson and his friends would play soccer on a lumpy patchy sandlot behind Arnott Charlton Public School in his native Brampton, Ont.
In May, Hutchinson and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown celebrated the opening of the Atiba Hutchinson Soccer Court, an idea Hutchinson brought to Brampton city council in March 2022.
While Hutchinson’s playing days may be over, his influence continues.
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“The Beautiful Dream, A Memoir” by Atiba Hutchinson with Dan Robson, 303 pages, Penguin Random House, $36.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
