Closing Out 2023

It's New Year's Eve and there will be some communities who celebrate with fireworks while others will dance the past year away while welcoming a new year. Frankly, fireworks feel very old-school after some of the laser displays seen in the sky at various times, but it seems old habits die hard. One of my habits for this night is getting a good night's sleep since I'm not big on parties and I don't really care for a fireworks display. If there's one thing of which I have done more over the last week, it's heading to bed at times long before any ball drops in the Big Apple or fireworks displays can be seen.

My quiet life aside, 2023 was another fun year. I'm not doing any recaps here, but you can read through all the blog entries if you like. Normally, Sundays are for The Rundown, but I decided to take one Sunday off and get HBIC Headquarters in order by reorganizing and discarding some older stuff I no longer can use. Most of this stuff can be recycled so I was dropping off a pile of recycling at one of the city's depots today, but the end result is that things are neater and cleaner at HBIC HQ.

I am excited to see the PWHL get their season underway tomorrow after months of build-up, and this is the U SPORTS tie-in because I honestly hope that there's a significant effort made by U SPORTS and the four conferences to really start promoting women's hockey on this side of the border. While Kaitlin Willoughby will skate for Toronto and Sarah Bujold will suit up for Montreal, there simply aren't enough U SPORTS players suiting up in the professional league. That's not the PWHL's fault nor is it the players' faults.

Brigitte Laganière, Jade Downey-Landry, Alexandra Labelle, Lindsey Post, and Erica Howe make up the remainder of rostered players who have U SPORTS ties, and those women should be proud to have earned professional hockey contracts. However, there are a number of women who previously played U SPORTS hockey who could join the rosters of the six PWHL teams. On top of that, there's likely 15-20 more women who, off the top of my head, should be on the radars of those six teams once the school year ends. Of course, that takes marketing and establishing a relationship with the league, and who knows if U SPORTS has even attempted to do that.

What I do know is this: U SPORTS schools and the conferences should be pouring money into their women's hockey programs in order to establish the same sort of deal that developmental leagues have with the NHL. There's money to be had when it comes to this new professional league, and someone needs to sit down with the PWHL and hammer out a deal. The schools who spend their scholarship monies educating and training these women shouldn't be left out in the cold when it comes to helping the women have a future in professional hockey.

With the inaugural draft done and the league flush with players, the next wave of women drafted should mean there's some kickback to the schools who got them into a position to be drafted. After all, if the University of Montreal or Concordia or Alberta recruit, train, and help these women get to a professional team, what motivation will they have to continue to do that if they aren't being benefitted in some way from the PWHL?

However, I might be laughed at by the powers-that-be at the university level for this type of forward thinking, and I wouldn't be surprised if they see this and chuckle. After all, the U SPORTS Women's National Hockey Championship is coming up in two-and-a-half short months, and there's hardly been hype, advertising, chatter, or any other word-of-mouth promotion done by the very organization throwing the tournament - U SPORTS - and none of the conferences seem all that interested in hyping their teams and players either. In other words, it's completely status quo for the highest amateur level of hockey in Canada despite the history being made tomorrow.

Maybe all of what I wrote above has already happened. You would think there would be a news release regarding a deal like what I described if there was one struck, but we've seen U SPORTS operate in secrecy before. Whatever has or hasn't happened already, I'd be pushing hard for an agreement if I was an athletic director at one of the U SPORTS schools. Of course, I'd also be making every effort to connect with the three Canadian teams to start and speaking when possible with both Carla MacLeod and Howie Draper, but I seem to care more than others about seeing the women who play in U SPORTS getting a shot at the professional level.

I'm excited to see Kaitlin Willoughby skating with Toronto tomorrow, and I hope that Lindsey Post is dressed for New York. I just wish there were more players about whom I could say, "I had the privilege of watching her play". Maybe one day with a little effort, that will be a reality for U SPORTS women's hockey fans.

Until next time, Happy New Year, folks!