(Calgary) Hockey Canada has identified certain challenges that prevent it from reaching its goal of having more than 170,000 young girls and women playing hockey in Canada by 2030.
Published at 11:39 a.m.
This is a significant increase compared to the total of 100,000 young girls and women who registered with Hockey Canada this season to play in organized programs.
However, a discussion document released Tuesday lists certain obstacles, identified through an investigation by Hockey Canada, its members and Canadian Women and Sport, which affect its development and the potential of women’s hockey in the country.
The discussion document identifies six areas of major deficiency that hinder the growth and potential of women’s hockey: structure, equitable allocation of resources, policies and governance, training, data, and visibility and celebration.
“We hope that the day will come when all girls who want to can play hockey because gender barriers will be removed, but we know that there is still much to be done to ensure the future of women’s hockey,” could -we read in the discussion document entitled Building the future of women’s hockey.
“To achieve this, we will need to ensure that the Canadian hockey system is ready to support this unprecedented growth. However, as things currently stand, this is not the case. But that does not mean that the situation is immutable,” we added.
In the 2023-24 hockey season, there were 108,313 players registered in Hockey Canada’s various organized programs, representing 19.9% of all participants – the highest proportion in the country’s hockey history.
However, the data reveals that, compared to boys and men, girls and women play hockey for less time. Additionally, women’s hockey has a lower season-to-season retention rate than men’s hockey.
On average, girls and women play hockey for 7.24 years, 2.4 years less than boys and men. In 2023-2024, the retention rate for women’s hockey was 84.9%, or 2.9% less than that for men’s hockey.
In May, Hockey Canada announced the establishment of a committee, chaired by former national team player Gillian Apps, “to oversee a discussion document that will lead to formal recommendations to guide the hockey’s next strategic plan.” “organization in matters of women’s hockey”.
This 15-person committee includes former players Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Kim St-Pierre, Jayna Hefford, Angela James and Therese Brisson, Hockey Canada President and Director of Operations Katherine Henderson, U-Sports President of Operations Pierre Arsenault, NHL vice-president Rob Knesaurek, Bauer Hockey vice-president Mary-Kay Messier, and Own the Podium president of operations Anne Merklinger, among others.
Apps is on the Hockey Canada Board of Directors.
Over the coming months, IMI International will launch a formal quantitative and qualitative research process. It will survey athletes, coaches, referees, administrators, volunteers, fans, and other Canadians on these issues, among others.
The committee will use the data collected to make official recommendations, which are expected to be made public “in the spring of 2025.”
