In May 2019, around 200 of North America’s best women hockey players decided they wouldn’t play for another league until there was a serious and sustainable one, with the “resources that professional hockey demands and deserves”. Previous leagues, like the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, had either folded, or in the case of the Premier Hockey Federation, were cash-strapped and offered subpar working conditions. The players wanted decent pay, for one. They also felt they deserved the same kind of protections, like health insurance, that other professionals – athletes or otherwise – are usually unquestionably afforded. They wanted more than just a new place to play. They needed, and needed for others to have, a destination.
Some of those breakaway players were at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto on Friday night at ‘the Battle on Bay Street’, a midseason marquee matchup between Montreal and Toronto’s new Professional Women’s Hockey League teams. The PWHL, which launched in January, is a product of their 2019 decision. And the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association, formed in that boycott, is now a union with a collective bargaining agreement with the PWHL. The CBA runs through 2031, ensuring salaries of up to USD$80,000, competition bonuses, life and health insurance, workers’ compensation and parental leave. In other words, the same kind of deal the men have had for ages. On Friday, the two women’s teams had something else usually only afforded their male peers: a crowd of 19,285, the highest-ever attendance at a women’s hockey game.
A significant proportion of those fans were young girls wearing their own team jerseys, the seats a sea of local minor hockey crests vying for a spot on the massive screens above centre ice. They watched as third-place Toronto and second-place Montreal began nervously, before settling into a tight physical game, in which Toronto took the majority of penalties. The second period drew no goals, but five minutes into the third, Toronto’s Jesse Compher scored her first of the season to make it 1-0. The roof blew off, all the pent-up energy released. A second Toronto goal from Hannah Miller with four minutes remaining, followed by an empty-net tally from Victoria Bach, sealed it for the home side 3-0.
All night, the atmosphere inside Scotiabank was concert-like. No business-drunk seriousness of the Maple Leafs’ crowds, the building’s usual tenants. Comparisons to the men are well-worn, but they remain for now an inescapable part of these inaugural PWHL games. Friday’s event was foremost an effort to build and secure a healthy fanbase, but it was also a necessary statement.
In 2010, then-IOC president Jacques Rogge considered dumping women’s hockey from the Winter Games if the talent gap couldn’t be closed between the North American teams and those from the rest of the world. That summer, Hayley Wickenheiser, Canada’s team captain, explained why the disparity existed. Funding was part of it – Canada and the US had more. But there was also the question of career pathways. “We have to keep players in the game,” Wickenheiser said. “So many women, after they graduate and have nowhere to play, simply leave the game.” Needless to say, that is not what happens to the men. They have development tracks, cultural and social support, and access to education and jobs via hockey. The men have infrastructure – not just a place to go, but ways to get there. All of which is ultimately downstream from one thing: the NHL.
Before Friday’s puck drop, Lindsay McLelland of Rockwood, Ontario, stood on the second-level concourse. Asked what the PWHL’s existence meant to her and her daughter, Brynn, a young hockey player, she said it meant quite simply “a future in the sport”. Downstairs, 9-year-old Victoria from Brantford, Ontario echoed that idea. “It’s not just about the boys playing hockey, it’s about the girls, too. I’m glad they have a league.” Nearby, a woman named Jennifer, from Kitchener, Ontario (who did not give her surname) recalled her own experience. “I played as far as I could and chose not to pursue it … because I knew there wasn’t that future opportunity for myself,” she said.
“You saw the crowd today. It’s just super exciting to hear the fans and give them something to watch,” Compher said after the game. “We’ve been working for this for a long time and to see people support us and give us what we deserve is something really special.”
It has indeed taken a while. One evening a long time ago, there was another women’s hockey game played in downtown Toronto. At the Mutual Street Rink – later the site of the Mutual Street Arena, home of the Toronto Arenas, St Patricks and, later still, the Maple Leafs – the Wellington ladies’ hockey team of Toronto defended their championship against nearby Waterloo. It was Thursday 14 February 1907 – this week, 117 years ago. Toronto won 6-0 but, “while the better team won, the score is not quite a criterion of the night’s play,” the Toronto Daily Star reported the next morning. “The girls were very much in earnest all the way, and, considering the handicap afforded by three-quarter skirts, put up a very good exhibition of Canada’s national winter pastime.” A larger crowd than usual had turned up that night. They were unexpectedly impressed. The Daily Star reporter admitted: “Many came to laugh, but remained to admire.”
Here’s the thing: you can’t be serious about a sport unless the sport takes itself seriously, which is what professional leagues are for. Of the multiple disparities that have persisted between men and women’s hockey in North America, the eagerness to professionalize one but not the other has been most damaging. Beyond restricting practical things like financial support for the women’s game at all levels, it has also unfairly meant that for decades a girl’s hockey dreams for stardom were less credible than a boy’s. Because, without a serious and sustainable pro league, the perception of women’s hockey was allowed to remain unchanged since the turn of the last century: a bit of a joke. Even though everyone has known the whole time that it was anything but.
Friday was good hockey. As good a professional exhibition of Canada’s national winter pastime as it gets. It belongs in this place, it always has.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
