Her Hockey

Most of us don’t get to go to the Olympics, me included. But I got a taste of Olympic excitement last night in Ottawa, Canada, when I watched Team Canada and Team USA battle through overtime and a shootout at Scotiabank Place in front of a record-breaking crowd of 16,347.

Canada continued their six-game winning streak against the USA with a 3-2 win, thanks to Jayna Hefford’s shootout goal.

USA started the game with intense pressure and it seemed the first three or four shifts were all in Canada’s end, with Canada unable to clear it out of the zone.

But Canada’s doggedness paid off and they managed to create some good chances in the first period, including one in which Sarah Vaillancourt roofed it over US goaltender Jessie Vetter’s shoulder. Team USA answered shortly after with a gritty, crease crashing effort, jamming it past Kim St. Pierre.

The score remained 1-1 through the second period. Canada had some pretty moments — especially when Vaillancourt and Hayley Wickenheiser played on the same line — but their passes just weren’t connecting when it counted.

There was plenty of body contact and Canada was called for roughing several times. When it looked like a fight was brewing, however, the players turned and skated away — a testament to their emotional control.

At the beginning of the third period, Meghan Agosta picked up a loose puck in the slot and found the back of the net to make the score 2-1. In the final minute, Canada took a penalty and Team USA pulled the goaltender for a six-on-four attack. With only 17.2 seconds left on the clock, Team USA’s Julie Chu tied the game with a point shot.

A five-minute four-on-four overtime yielded no change on the scoreboard and it went to a shootout. The third shooter, Jayna Hefford finished off the game with a sweet move in which she took Vetter to one side of the net and tucked it in the other.

It looked like the recent release of veteran defencemen Gillian Ferrari from the Olympic roster has taken its toll on Team Canada, though, as the D struggled to clear the puck and gave it away too many times. Despite winning seven of the last 10 games they’ve played against the US, Team Canada will need to tighten its defence if we hope to continue to fend off Team USA, who came too close for comfort last night.

While Team Canada coach Melody Davidson probably didn’t think a shootout was the best way to win this game, for a fan it was unforgettable.

photo by Kevin Allen

Finishing a St. Lawrence University career last year with 103 points wouldn’t be as remarkable if Annie Guay were a forward. But the Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec native plays defense. And she has a slapshot that knows how to find the net.

That shot is something her Montreal Stars teammates are thankful for. Guay helped the Stars win the first-ever Clarkson Cup national women’s hockey championship last year.

“Annie has a strong slapshot. She is great at supporting the attack,” says teammate and Stars captain Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux. “I love playing with Annie. She brings intensity to the game and in the room.”

Guay’s intensity developed early on. When she was barely out of toddlerhood, she started playing hockey in the streets with her older brother. She played organized hockey at only four years old.

Participating in minor hockey from such a young age and with such talent and intensity led Guay to a spot on Team Quebec in 2001 at the age of 16. She played in the Canadian Championship in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and again in 2003 at the Canada Winter Games.

“A coach once told me that being confident in my abilities would take me a long way,” she says.

He was right. When Guay was 19, she made Team Canada’s Under-22 team and began a scholarship to St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. At St. Lawrence, Guay played with Team Canada teammate Sabrina Harbec and the two managed to transfer their chemistry from one team to the other. The U22s won the MLP Cup in Germany in 2005 and Guay took home honours as the best defensemen of the tournament. In 2007, Guay found herself scoring her first international goal with the senior national team against the USA at the Four Nations Cup in Kitchener, Ontario. She played on Team Canada until 2008.

“Making Team Canada was a great moment — it propelled my career to a whole new level,” says Guay. “I started training every day and became a full-time committed player. Wearing the maple leaf on my jersey was very special.”

For a full profile of Annie Guay, visit www.cwhl.ca.

photo by Kevin Allen

Any parents who doubt that hockey teaches values should meet former Olympian Sami Jo Small.

They’ll sign their children up, guaranteed.

You can sense her warmth, grace and leadership from the first handshake and smile. The Mississauga Chiefs’ goaltender is grounded, committed and inspirational.

“Sami Jo Small is a person who works very hard at whatever she is doing,” says Sommer West, Small’s teammate and the Chiefs’ captain. “Sami is a good-hearted and kind person to all. She always takes the time to talk with kids and any fans waiting around to see her. She’s a great ambassador for the sport.”

At 33, Small is one of the generation of hockey players that had no choice but to play with the boys. She started skating at the age of two in her hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated to organized boys’ hockey at five years old, eventually ending up on the Winnipeg Warriors Midget AAA team. She also played men’s varsity hockey at Stanford University.

“I had an older brother and wanted to do everything he did, from skating on the outdoor rinks to street hockey to organized ‘real’ hockey,” says Small. “Women’s hockey wasn’t even on my radar because I rarely saw another girl playing and when I was growing up women’s hockey wasn’t an Olympic Sport.”

Her first time on the ice with other girls was when Small played in the Canada Winter Games for Team Manitoba. But she never envisioned playing women’s hockey at an elite level until 1997, when she decided to try out for the National team.

Small played with the Olympic team in 1998 and went on to win two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada in 2002 and 2006 as well as five world championships.

Now, she’s involved with Team Canada in a different way: Small is engaged to Billy Bridges of Canada’s Olympic sledge hockey team.

For more about Sami Jo Small, check out her full profile at www.cwhl.ca.

At 5’4”, assistant captain Lindsay Vine is one of the smaller players on the Burlington Barracudas. But the 28-year-old league veteran is not a small presence.

She’s a grinder, a playmaker and an encourager on the Barracudas, using positive talk to motivate her teammates. She steps up with effort and attitude when her team is down.

Pat Cocklin, the Barracuda’s head coach, says that Vine sets the tone for the rest of the team.

“She is a great leader who plays on both sides and has great offensive skills,” says Cocklin. “She is a very important part of the puzzle. She leads by example, doesn’t miss practices, works hard and plays within the system.”

Vine has grown into her leadership style. She’s always been a valuable member of her team; in the 1999-2000 season, Vine played for the Mississauga Chiefs (NWHL) and was awarded Rookie of the Year. The following year she was offered a scholarship at Niagara University, where she continued to grow as a player.

Along the way, Vine learned valuable lessons. For one thing, she learned that when other players look up to you, you can speak up and generate energy for the team. As a natural playmaker, she also had to learn to pull the trigger.

“When I was younger, often times I would give up the shot to pass the puck. As I have gotten older, I’ve realized that I need to take my opportunities and shoot to score,” she says.

Battling on the boards and coming out with the puck is another strength Vine brings to the Barracudas — and she may have learned it playing boy’s hockey growing up. In her hometown of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, minor hockey numbers were small. Vine’s father’s friend Jacques Lajeunesse was lacking players on his Junior Tyke team. Vine’s father suggested that his daughters join the team to boost numbers. So Vine, her older sister, Carla and twin sister, Morgan all strapped on skates and joined the team. She was only four years old that year but she attributes much of her love of the game and early skill development to her first coach, Lajeunesse.

To read more about Lindsay Vine and the Burlington Barracudas, go to www.cwhl.ca.

This past week, the Leaside Girls’ Hockey Association blew the whistle on the City of Toronto, claiming that the city is leaving girls’ hockey out in the cold.

The association is accusing the city of discrimination against girls’ hockey by giving prime ice time to men instead of girls. The city is supposed to make youth hockey — both boys’ and girls’ teams — a priority over adult leagues.

I decided to check out if this phenomenon exists in my own city of Guelph, Ontario. I spoke with the Judy Dezell, the houseleague convenor for the Guelph Girls’ Hockey Association (GGHA). Here’s what  she had to say:

“[The City of] Guelph is getting better, but I will be honest — the University [of Guelph] is far better,” said Dezell. “Boys’ hockey is a business and a lot more organized and influential…our ice scheduler consistently reminds the city that equal opportunity is required.”

Dezell went on to explain that the University of Guelph offers good ice times to girls’ hockey because the head coach of the women’s varsity team, Rachel Flanagan, advocates for girls’ hockey with university administration.

Guelph, like many other cities, faces an overall shortage of available ice time. There was a new recreational centre with twin ice pads slated for development in the city’s growing south end but it has been postponed. Meanwhile, the city of Guelph’s brand new, state-of-the-art City Hall cost the city a cool $42,890,635.

Maybe the real problem is the way cities choose to spend their money. It’s not right for arenas to give ice to men and boys over girls, but they’re caught in a difficult position. There’s not enough ice to go around. I can’t blame the men for not wanting to give up ice time; I would be disappointed if I had to give up my women’s league ice time to kids, even girls. If the numbers of women and girls playing hockey are at an unprecedented 75,000 and climbing, it’s time to build more arenas… for everyone.

Photo: Tannis Toohey, Toronto Star

From Cassie Campbell-Pascall’s CBC blog post Oct. 29:

“Last Saturday night, a dinner was hosted at the Calgary home of Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson. Guests included the 26 current members of the national women’s hockey team, who are training full-time in Calgary and vying for a position on the final roster of this year’s women’s Olympic team…

The team was surprised this particular evening by Tom Bitove and Pat McEleney, who represented the other board members from the Telus Going For Gold golf tournament…Every year it has tremendous support and the familiar faces of some of the key executives from Boston Pizza, Kinross Gold, GMP Securities, The Keg, Cara Restaurants, MLSE, Red Bull Canada and others.

What is so special about this golf event and this dinner last Saturday was that Pat and Tom proudly announced that 100 per cent of all money raised was being donated directly to all 26 players …

Each player was presented with a cheque for $10,000… It was an emotional moment for all involved.”

It’s so refreshing to hear about these industry and business leaders stepping up to support women’s hockey financially.

I just wish it weren’t only Olympic team support.

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) and the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL) are the homes of these same female Olympians in non-Olympic years. The eastern Canada-based, player-owned CWHL and the privately owned WWHL host the most elite women’s hockey in North America.

The CWHL doesn’t pay its players. The league struggles for adequate sponsorships. It’s the female NHL. It holds a female Stanley Cup — called the Clarkson Cup — that pits the CWHL champs against the WWHL top teams. It’s stellar hockey. And it needs more money.

What? In Canada? There’s something wrong here. This is a country that spends loads of money on hockey, and the “pro” female league is mainly run by volunteers. The players are volunteers. There are a few sponsors such as Scotiabank, Molson and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, but it’s not enough.

It’s a chicken-or-egg marketing problem. Most female hockey fans barely know the league exists. The CWHL doesn’t have the budget to do a large-scale marketing initiative, so it can’t get decent financial backing. It can’t get decent financial backing, so it can’t do a large-scale marketing initiative.

What’s so unfortunate is that it’s such a great product. It’s near Olympic-level hockey. While you can’t beg, borrow or steal a ticket for Vancouver 2010, you can park right by the door at Icelands Arena in Mississauga, Ontario and watch gold medalist Sami Jo Small play for $7.

C’mon Canadian businesses, step up.

As I write profiles of young female hockey stars, I notice that the majority of them played with boys when they were young.

Meanwhile, over the last 15 years, girls’ hockey associations have been growing to the point where most have houseleague, B, A and sometimes even AAA options for girls. These are unprecedented times for girls’ hockey.

Yet I’ve spoken with several elite private school and university coaches who say that players coming out of girls’ programs lack the aggression and scoring prowess that players in previous generations had. They recommend that girls play with boys — provided they’re in the top 50 per cent of the team — until size becomes a factor. One coach told me that coaches in girls’ hockey associations are too easy on young players and the prevalence of girls’ leagues in Canada is why we don’t stand out as much against Team USA anymore. He said we won’t have any more Wickenheisers if we don’t sign up our daughters to play with the boys.

I have two daughters, one who plays with the boys and one with the girls. What I see supports these views. My daughter who plays with the boys has to fight pretty hard to get and keep the puck. She’s learning to stand up to more physical play. The shots are harder from a very young age. On the girls’ teams, they tend to give each other more room and they’re softer on the puck. I notice differences in the coaching, too. The boys’ team coaches are more focused and intense. The girls’ coaches seem to stress cooperation, fun and life values.

And each of my daughters is having a wonderful experience.

I’m so glad they both have the opportunity to play in leagues that meet their individual preferences. I’m grateful that we live in a time when little girls can sing Miley Cyrus with other girls in the dressing room and wear pink laces in their skates. Or they can choose to pit their skills against boys the same age to push themselves to the limits of their skills and competitive spirit.

My daughter who plays in a girls’ league is quite clear that although hockey is her favourite activity, she doesn’t want to play rep; she wants to play for fun.

My daughter who plays with the boys asked for hockey equipment when she was three years old, decided to play with the boys because in her words, it’s “faster hockey,” and told me she wants to play varsity when she grows up. So I think I’ll listen to what the elite coaches are saying and keep her with the boys as long as she wants to be there.

And for the best interest of elite women’s hockey in Canada, perhaps other parents of competitive little girls should do the same.

She has earned the right to captain the deep bench of the Brampton Canadette-Thunder. As a veteran who played on Team Canada for 10 years and earned Olympic gold, Lori Dupuis is a serious competitor.

At 5’9” Dupuis holds her own in the corners and doesn’t like to come out without rubber on her stick. Her efforts often impact the scoreboard since Lori’s regular linemate is Jayna Hefford, one of the CWHL’s leading scorers and another Olympic gold medalist. Although Hefford is currently centralized in Calgary with Team Canada, Dupuis doesn’t plan to back off on setting up her teammates to score.

“I often play with players who are scorers, because my role is to play big, work hard in the corners and get them the puck,” says Dupuis. “I hate to lose and I will do what I can to help the team accomplish the win.”

Dupuis’ ability to control the play combined with her intensity and competitive spirit has served her well. She captained her varsity team for three years of a 1991 to 1997 stretch with the University of Toronto. Meanwhile, Dupuis joined Team Canada in 1995.

She played in the 1998 Olympics, the first-ever for women’s hockey, when Canada came away with a silver medal. Dupuis also won three world championships with Team Canada in 1997, 1999 and 2000. But the experience that’s permanently etched in her memory is being part of the 2002 Olympic team that captured gold in Salt Lake City.

“It was an experience I will never forget. When I see clips of the final game of 2002 or see something Olympic, I get goose bumps,” she says. “Playing for Canada was an honour, something I didn’t ever want to end. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, standing listening to our National Anthem after winning gold.”

For more on Lori Dupuis, visit the Canadian Women’s Hockey League website.

When I first talked to Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux, I was writing a story on playoff predictions for the CWHL website last year. I was struck by her gracious manner. Her warmth radiated through the phone lines.

That’s why I was a bit surprised a few weeks later to see the Montreal Stars captain use her physical strength so aggressively to help her team clinch the first-ever Clarkson Cup at the inaugural Canadian Women’s National Hockey Championships.

But that’s the paradox of Breton-Lebreux. She’s one of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet off the ice. On the ice, not so much. At least not if you consider penalty minutes.

At 5’3”, she’s not tall but weight lifting makes her a powerful force. As the strength and conditioning coach at Concordia University, she specializes in the kind of workouts that enable her to fight for the puck and win.

“I love the physical play — sometimes too much as I am usually one of the leading players in penalty minutes on my team. But I get my penalties because of too much intensity, so they’re not a bad thing. They set the tone for the game,” says Breton-Lebreux.

She certainly set the tone at last year’s Clarkson Cup.

Breton-Lebreux isn’t just the captain, she’s also the general manger and public relations coordinator for the Montreal Stars. Given her work ethic, passion and leadership in the sport, it was only fitting that her team’s name was the first engraved on the cup.

“After working so hard all these years in the weight room, on the ice, practicing the same thing for hours and hours, helping to make the CWHL work and the Montreal Stars survive, I finally felt complete,” says Breton-Lebreux.

“I felt that all this work had a purpose and final destination.”

For a full profile on Breton-Lebreux, visit www.cwhl.ca.

Photo by Esther Bernard.

She’s known as the  funniest player in the Team Canada dressing room. But the humble, gracious player I interviewed  takes her hockey career very seriously.

Unlike some of the young girls on Team Canada, the 29-year-old remembers when her parents tried to sign her up for hockey and the community centre insisted she take figure skating. The year she finally started hockey was the year after Justine Blainey won a court case allowing girls to play on boys’ hockey teams. And she remembers the verbal abuse she took for playing.

“I can actually remember one time playing in a game and a mother came down from the stands and said ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this, you’re an embarrassment,’” says Ferrari.

Ferrari remembers watching historical events for women’s hockey such as  the famous 1990 National game in Ottawa, known as the “pink jersey” game and the first Four Nations Cup (then the Three Nations Cup) in 1996. When she watched these early games, she began to think that a future in women’s hockey might be a possibility for her.

She remembers idolizing the likes of Angela James and Cheryl Pounder, not knowing that some day she would play on the same team as her hockey heroes.

“I always wanted to put on the jersey. But I never thought I would go to the Olympics,” says Ferrari. “The more I got to see how good the girls were the less of a chance I thought I had to make the team.”

But her strengths as a gritty, level-headed, experienced defenceman with a great shot from the point earned her a spot. Her trophy case includes a gold medal from the 2006 Olympics and two golds and two silvers from four world championships. While she’s centralized with the Olympic team this year, she normally plays for the Calgary Oval X-Treme. Still, with all that experience under her belt, she considers herself a “bubble” player.

“Every skill is a challenge for me,” she laughs. “I’m always working on something. I’m not one of those players that everything comes easy.”

“But I don’t get too nervous. I don’t really panic. I’m sure sometimes [Charline] Labonte thinks I should be panicking more.” Another laugh. “But I don’t usually get us into bad situations. And I’m a good teammate.”

Despite her  lighthearted manner, it’s clear that the day she was picked for her first Olympic team is no joking matter. Telling the story of when coach Melody Davidson called her in to give her the news, she gets choked up and wipes away a few tears.

It’s also clear she takes the significance of wearing the Team Canada jersey very seriously. Her solemn reflections on the history of women’s hockey reveal the respect she has for the pioneers of the game.

“I wish more young girls understood how far women’s hockey has come. Through my generation — not through my work — but through the work of people like Geraldine Heaney, Angela James,  Heather Ginzel, France Montour, Vicky Sunohara. All of those people broke down those barriers and now we have women’s hockey at the Olympics. You speak to young girls and they didn’t know it wasn’t an Olympic sport or there wasn’t a world championship.”

“I think it’s important we remember those people and what they did for women’s hockey.”

Interview photo: Bonnie Tice; headshot: hockeycanada.ca