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Inside an arena in Tampere, Finland in mid-December, the PWHL’s future top draft prospects faced off in the finals of the tournament.
On the Women’s Euro Hockey Tour (or Six Nations Tournament), the Canadian women faced an American roster loaded with senior national team talent, including Lacey Eden, Abbey Murphy, Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards.
A Canadian team with less international experience was stuck in the game until the final minutes, when the Americans took the lead on a Murphy goal for the eventual 5-3 win. Canadian goalkeeper Ève Gascon made 33 saves in the loss, which her coach described as “phenomenal”.
“Not necessarily the results against the USA that we were hoping for, but we’re very proud of our team’s performances throughout the tournament,” Canadian National Development Team head coach Alison Domenico said in an interview with CBC Sports.
“Just in that last game if I kind of came back, being down a couple, it could have been easy to pack it in.”
While several players on either side of that final will likely be high draft picks in the PWHL over the next few years, the tournament was not televised in Canada, nor was it broadcast by Hockey Canada.
While many Canadians will watch the NHL’s top players at the men’s under-20 world junior hockey championship, which begins Dec. 26, there is no women’s world championship of the same age.
There is an under-18 women’s world championship that will be held in Finland in January and it will be televised nationally by TSN.
But there are few international opportunities between that tournament and the senior national team, creating a development gap as women seek to reach the highest level of the sport.
For fans, it also means fewer opportunities to see and get excited about future PWHL stars. Most will move from the U18 tournament to the NCAA, but those games aren’t always easy to find in Canada either.
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Earlier this year, the IIHF said the women’s world junior championship was on the horizon but wouldn’t happen for several years, the Canadian Press reported.
Increasing player pool
In Europe, the problem is that there aren’t enough female players to fill the under-18 teams, the senior national team and other age groups in between, according to Mike Helber, director of hockey operations for the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
“What will end up happening is our best players will play at least two tournaments, maybe even all three,” Helber said in an interview with CBC Sports.
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On the other hand, it is difficult for players to develop without the opportunity to play against top players. Helber’s goal is to increase the number of Swedish players between the ages of 19 and 24, and to have more of those players come to North America for college.
Those players grow playing against top Canadian and American players and bring what they learn back to Sweden when they return to their national team, Helber said.
“We need to bring more players to North America to see how good the players really are,” said Helber, an American who played college hockey at the University of Michigan. – Sometimes they are shocked.
Once the number of players increases, Helber would be willing to see a world championship for college-age players.
In the meantime, he still wants to see Swedish players get a chance to compete against other countries.
He liked the format of the Six Nations tournament and is also looking for opportunities for the Swedish team to compete against American college teams.
“They need to see the level North American athletes are playing at,” he said. “The best way to do that is to find ways to play against them.”
Future PWHL talent in the spotlight
Countries were not limited to sending players of a certain age to the Six Nations tournament. The PWHL took a break during the tournament, but most European PWHL players decided to stay with their clubs, with a few exceptions, such as Boston Fleet goaltender Emma Söderberg (Sweden).
Like the United States, Canada sent its own development team, which only gets a few opportunities to compete each year. The team also played a three-game series against the Americans last summer, in which the USA won two games to one.
Some players on the development team could be a big part of Canada’s senior Olympic team in 2030 and beyond, including defender Nicole Gosling, who won a world championship with the senior team in April, and Caitlin Kraemer, Canada’s all-time leading scorer at the U18 Women’s World Cup.
With no World Cups in between for these players, it’s important to find ways to continue to gain international experience for them, Domenico said.
“Any way we can get them to play other countries, and even just get them used to going abroad, to get a jet lag plan,” she said. “Going through all those experiences is really important when you get to the next level.”
For the PWHL, there could be several advantages when the best up-and-coming and college-aged players compete against each other.
It could help teams scout potential players. It could also help introduce a player like Kraemer to more fans before she’s drafted into the PWHL, just like the world junior tournament did for top young players like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
“The PWHL supports the development of women’s hockey at all levels, including events that would provide greater opportunities for the development of female players and continue to grow the game globally,” said the league’s senior vice president of hockey operations, Jayna Hefford. CBC Sports.
