Women's Hockey
Two years before the first Stanley Cup championship was ever played, the era of women's hockey began. It was on a sunny cold day in Barrie, Ontario, some sixty miles north of Toronto, in 1892, when the first women's hockey game was documented. Clad in their long skirts and plain cotton sweaters, the women eagerly hit the ice. The long skirts gave them a certain advantage due to the fact that the women were able to hide the puck under their skirt and skate up the ice without being recognised as the puck carrier. One of the first well known women's hockey players was Fanny 'Bobbie' Rosenfeld. Born in Russia in 1905, this all around athlete was famous for her competitive flare and for her 'give everything, save nothing' attitude. Bobbie was one of the first athletes who earned respect for herself and who helped earn respect for the game.
The sport has come a long way since that first game in 1892. By 1983, just over one hundred years after the beginning of women's hockey, there were just 5000 players registered in Canada and only a fraction of that number in the United States. At the time almost 15000 girls and women were registered for ringette. After the first Women's World Championship of hockey, in 1990, the number of girls playing the sport suddenly shot up. At the time of the championship, there were 8100 female players in Canada and 5600 in the U.S. Five years later, the Canadian figure had almost tripled, nearing the 24000 mark while the American figure showed amazing increase to 20000. When women's hockey was played for the first time as an Olympic sport in 1998 in Nagano, the enrolment drastically increased once again. The increase of females playing the sport continues to make it more competitive all the time and this will definitely enrich the competition for the future.
In every sport, people have their favourite athletes. I follow women's hockey very closely and I would like to share my two favourite players with you. Hayley Wickenheiser made her first appearance as a rookie on Team Canada in the 1994 World Championships when she was only 15. A determined rookie, Wickenheiser made a great first impression for herself on the team. Now, five years later, Wickenheiser is considered by many the best Canadian player. At 5'9" and 170lbs, this Shaunavon, Saskatchewan native has the strongest slap shot in women¼s hockey. The U.S.A. captain, Cammi Granato, is often paired against Wickenheiser as one of the two best players in the sport. I have been watching Cammi play since she was at Concordia when she won M.V.P. of the league. Granato was a major factor on the U.S.A. Olympic gold medal team.
So what does the future have in store for women's hockey? Just like the WNBA, will there be a WNHL? These are good questions which have yet to be answered. In my opinion, I think that there will some day be a WNLH. However, I don't think that they will rush it like they did the WNBA which, didn't work out as well as expected. No matter what decision is taken about a WNHL, the sport can only improve and rise to a higher level from where it is now.
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Created & last updated November 23, 1999 by Elana August