Quick Reaction: Women In Professional Hockey
(Photo via nhl.com)
This past Sunday marked a historic milestone for women hockey players.
The first women’s professional hockey game was played at Madison Square Garden, and although there weren’t any fans, the message was clear: women belong in hockey.
This game was one of many to take part of the 2021 Secret Dream Gap Tour, a women’s hockey showcase.
The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association was founded in 2019 with a mission “to promote, advance, and support a single, viable professional women’s ice hockey league in North American that showcases the greatest product of women’s professional ice hockey in the world,” according to the PWHPA website.
I was listening to the Blackhawks Talk Podcast after we hired Kendall Coyne Schofield to be a player development coach back in 2020. She mentioned how there isn’t a real and sustainable option for women hockey players to be professional. Also, how girls will come up to her asking how they can watch her play. I think it is important for girls to see that when they grow up there is a professional route.
When I was growing up, my two older brothers played hockey and I figured skated for a while because hockey was a “boy sport.” I was not exposed to real women representation in hockey, and it makes me wonder if I was a child now, if I would’ve thought differently. Even so, I am glad that girls growing up now have these role models to look up when realizing what sports they can play and be successful at.