Nagano 1998. First presence of women’s hockey at the Winter Olympic Games. Hockey is no longer just a matter of boys. We discover, with delight, the talent of Hayley Wickenheiser, France St-Louis, Danielle Goyette, Nancy Drolet, Cammi Granato and Laurie Baker. In the final, the Americans surprised the Canadians, 3 to 1, and won gold. A rivalry is born.
Salt Lake City 2002. It’s the start of the Kim St-Pierre era. The goalkeeper allows Canada to defeat the host country and climb to the top of the podium.
Turin 2006. The Canadians do it again, this time by beating the Swedes in the grand final. The very gifted Caroline Ouellette scores the winning goal.
Vancouver 2010. Our girls, carried by a delirious crowd, won a third gold medal in a row by beating the Americans 2 to 0. The two goals were the work of a young player playing on the fourth trio, Marie -Philip Poulin.
Sochi 2014. An unforgettable final. Less than four minutes to play, the USA leads by two goals. Canada manages to close the gap before the siren sounds. In overtime, Marie-Philip Poulin scores her second goal of the evening. And four for the Canadians!
PyeongChang 2018. Every good streak comes to an end. Another epic encounter, but bitterly unforgettable since we lost. The Americans win gold in the shootout. This is only a postponement.
Beijing 2022. The marvelous Marie-Philip Poulin covers Canada with gold by scoring twice in the final match. She became the only athlete, both men and women, to score the winning goal in three Olympic hockey finals.
So it’s been 26 years that women’s hockey has excited us, given us thrills and made us proud. Um… That’s not really how you should calculate it. It’s been more than seven times that women’s hockey has captivated us. Seven times in 26 years is not a lot.
Between two Olympic Games, the players disappear. Completely. Like February 29, they only exist once every four years. Between two Olympic Games, the best players in the world disperse into various networks. Far from our eyes, far from our hearts.
Fortunately, in 2024, times are changing! The Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF), created in collaboration with Billie Jean King, the Joan of Arc of women’s sport (she beat a man in tennis), is innovating. For the first time, there is a circuit bringing together the best players in the world. A counterpart to the guys’ NHL. We can appreciate them, encourage them, know them, become attached to them from season to season. Thousands of girls can identify with Poulin, Carpenter, Bettez and Nash, just as thousands of boys identify with Crosby, McDavid, Bedard and Caufield.
Not everything is perfect. The teams don’t have names yet, the jerseys are too similar, the league website is unilingual, but for now, that’s not what matters. What matters is the girls. And they count! And thousands of spectators scream when they count. Not just once every four years.
Hockey is our national sport. But there is nothing national that is not shared by men and women, by the entire nation.
Nothing here brings people together like hockey. The only common ground between the two solitudes is the ice rink. Remember when the Canadian is in the playoffs, how much it brings people together. Now, Montreal has twice the chance of being in the playoffs.
That’s the beauty of sport. Awaken the gregarious feeling. Unite people who live in the same place, but too often ignore each other. It’s not just twenty individuals versus another twenty individuals. It’s Montreal against Boston. It’s Toronto against Ottawa. It’s New York versus Minnesota. City dwellers who don’t skate, except on the sidewalks, are still part of the team, because it’s their city’s team.
There will perhaps never be equality in the salaries of players, but the LPHF will still serve equality between men and women, equality in minds, equality in perceptions, equality in achievements.
Hockey is too strong a symbol for its takeover by women not to change mentalities. It will help the male-female ratio. Reduce the distance between Mars and Venus. Make people realize that we all come from Earth.
Imagine if the next parade of a hockey championship, in the streets of Montreal, is that of the band of the club of the general director Danièle Sauvageau! A page would turn. A jubilant population in front of a team of girls. Wow! It’s about time! Of course, when you think about it, it’s just normal. But for a reaction to become normal, it has to happen at least once.
Besides all the considerations of diversity and inclusion, the main reason to watch women’s hockey is because it’s good! The Montreal-New York match on Tuesday at Place Bell was a lot more exciting than the Montreal-Ottawa match on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
In each skate given by the players, we feel their pleasure in playing, we feel their pride in not only playing for them, in playing for us. To finally be recognized. Like an artist who, after having struggled a lot, finds himself at Place des Arts or the Bell Centre. Good evening, Montreal!
Women are part of the show! Long live there hockey!