'We haven't made as much progress as people think': Problems persist for N.S. women’s hockey

Morgan Shusterman and Leila Ludyka are members of the Cape Breton University women's hockey team who have been playing the game all their lives.

They're no strangers to some of the hurdles girls face to achieve equality at the rink.

"A lot of the boy’s teams have precedent over the ice times,” Shusterman said. “They have their set times every week, which is what we're craving."

"And it's really hard when you have to bounce back and forth between different rinks and different areas to get the ice time you deserve,” Ludyka said.

This week, Hockey Canada released its latest discussion paper on the state of women's hockey, aiming to identify some of the challenges it faces to have 170,000 women and girls playing the game by 2030.

Currently, they are more than 60,000 players short of that goal.

"I think the end goal, really, is a big one,” said Hockey Canada’s Gillian Apps. “It's, 'How do we fix girls and women's hockey in Canada right now?'"

Apps, who won three Olympic gold medals with Team Canada, said the discussion paper identified six key barriers, which include inequalities in ice time, funding, and resource allocation.

Another big issue is retention.

Hockey Canada says on average, women and girls play the game for nearly two-and-a-half years less than their male counterparts.

"We're seeing that people are sort of self-selecting out earlier, and trying to figure out why that is,” Apps said.

Christina Lamey, head of the Cape Breton Blizzard Female Hockey Association, said while they run one of the most successful girl’s programs in the country, they typically have to get a lot of their ice time at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre because they can’t find enough at municipally-owned rinks.

"A lot of the problems that have persisted for the women’s game still exist,” said Blizzard president Christina Lamey. “We haven't made as much progress as people think we have."

The strides made to grow the women's game on Cape Breton show in the Blizzard’s retention numbers.

"Our retention rates are spectacular,” Lamey said. “We have over 90 per cent retention out of Under-7 and Under-9 (divisions). Those numbers are more than double the national average for mostly mixed hockey."

Hockey Canada will be seeking public consultation and feedback from athletes, coaches, volunteers and fans.

"I very much believe that what we did here can be done anywhere in the country,” Lamey said of the Blizzard’s success. “The only thing standing in their way is good access to good ice time, and if you look at an arena in your neighbourhood or your community that has no girl’s hockey in it, they're part of the problem."

Lamey noted the Blizzard’s new rink – and the first all-female arena east of Montreal – is expected to open in January at the former Canada Games Complex at Cape Breton University.

She said the newly-renovated rink will host the largest girl’s hockey tournament Cape Breton has ever seen in April.

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