Women's hockey is growing, but junior athletes play fewer competitive years on average. A new league aims to change that

CTV National News: Women's hockey in St. John's A new league in St. John's, N.L., is hoping to fill a gap for young women in hockey. Garrett Barry has more.

Teams are facing off in a new eastern Newfoundland hockey league aiming to bring competitive play — and a few extra years on the ice — for young women in the province.

The Women’s Junior A Hockey League drafted players earlier in October and is now playing a short exhibition series to determine which of its three teams will take part in the official league opening game next month.

Organizers say it’s an attempt to fill a long-running gap for young women in the province, who often have no competitive play left when they finish high school.

“No one has really had anywhere to go after minor hockey,” said Molly Gill, who serves as captain as one of the league’s first three teams.

“But now there’s that extra level, and it’s not just something else to play. It’s a higher level.”

Gill, like many of her new teammates and competitors, has plenty of competitive experience. She’s played at the Atlantic Challenge Cup, and at the Canada Games in 2023.

But local hockey pathways in Newfoundland and Labrador stopped at age 18 for women — until now.

“We started to lay the foundation for a program, (and we were) completely overwhelmed by the interest we received,” said Jeff Brown, who serves on the league’s executive.

More than 120 players signed up for tryouts, and the league created three teams of 15 players each.

“The dedication showed by everyone, the coaches — honestly, it’s just crazy how professionally they’re treating this,” said Mackenzie Cahill, the first woman to be picked in the league draft.

“It’s nice to see that there’s actually something there for us to be able to transfer to.”

The league has some impressive amenities: coaches, trainers, physiotherapists. The league executive is also considering a video recording system, to give players some game-day tape they can review for practice.

For an exhibition game on a Wednesday night in St. John’s, the players drew about 100 people to the Mary Brown’s Centre, the biggest arena in the province.

The gap that Brown and his fellow league co-founders identified exists across the country.

Junior hockey’s gender gap

According to Hockey Canada’s 2023-2024 annual report, just 908 young women played in Hockey Canada-affiliated junior leagues last year. To contrast, 18,396 men in that age bracket played during the same period.

On Tuesday, Hockey Canada’s Women’s and Girl’s Hockey Steering Committee released a discussion paper pondering the future of women’s sport.

It showed that on average, women played two and a half fewer years than men, even though the number of women who’ve signed up for hockey programs continues to grow.

That committee found that unfair attitudes — that women’s hockey is not equally competitive — has been holding the sport back, along with unclear guidelines across the country about how provincial associations should manage girls’ hockey.

“The sport is often not allocated the same resources as men’s and boys’ teams, including ice time, funding, staffing, equipment and coverage,” the committee wrote.

The new Women’s Junior A Hockey League in Newfoundland and Labrador is one local answer to those challenges. League executives are soliciting sponsorships, trying to funnel money into the women’s game.

“One of our core goals, objectives was to build a quality program both on and off the ice for these young athletes,” Brown said. “That wasn’t just the product, the competition, but having good quality coaches. We have physiotherapists.”

Some of the biggest names in hockey in Newfoundland and Labrador are women. Maggie Connors is entering her second year playing professionally for the Toronto Sceptres of the PWHL, and Abby Newhook — sister of Alex Newhook with the Montreal Canadiens — has been named one of the captains of Boston College.

While Newfoundland’s new league aims to build a stronger women’s hockey base in the province, it also hopes to retain some of the province’s athletes, by offering them a chance to pursue sport and education in their hometown.

“I wanted to get the best education possible while still progressing my game,” said Connors. “Girls back in Newfoundland, I know they wanted to make that same decision. They wanted to play for Team N.L or go to the Canada Winter Games, and still obviously be in school.”

Brown says he’s arranged with staff at the Mary Brown’s Centre to have concessions running during games, and have the building staffed with ushers.

The women say they’re excited to play regularly against some of their best competitors from years past.

“After a couple of games, the compete level is definitely going to go up,” said Cassie Drover, one of the team captains. “We got a lot of elite players from around the province.”