MILAN, Feb 4 : Milano Cortina is set to showcase the best and most competitive women’s ice hockey the Olympics has ever seen, according to four-times gold medallist Jayna Hefford, driven in large part by the professional league the Canadian helped establish.
Hefford experienced the introduction of women’s hockey to the Games when winning silver in 1998 in Nagano, then claiming gold with Canada at the next four editions. North America’s first fully professional league began just two years ago.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is now in its third season, drawing huge crowds and giving players a long-awaited platform, with Hefford part of the league’s management.
“Hockey has been around for well over 100 years on the men’s side, but the women’s game is just much younger,” Hefford, 48, told Reuters.
“I think we’re seeing this rapid growth, the game is so good, it feels like it should have been around longer. But we’re still growing participation around the world.”
Like the NHL on the men’s side, the PWHL attracts top players not only from North America but from around the globe.
“We’ve said since the league launch that we want this to be the place that the best players in the world play, regardless of where they’re from,” Hefford said.
“At the beginning of season three, we had 25 non-North American players. We want to continue to grow that.”
One criticism often levelled at women’s Olympic hockey is the lack of parity, with Canada and the U.S. having won all seven gold medals and six of the seven silvers to date.
That gap could begin to narrow in Milan.
“I think that the level of play at these Olympic Games is going to be better than it’s ever been as a result of the resources and support that so many of these women have had through the PWHL,” Hefford said.
“We have 61 players competing in the Games for almost every country involved, so that impact is going to be felt.”
MORE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
Hefford has her eye on one team in particular that could disrupt North American dominance.
The Czech Republic are competing at only their second Olympics but have reached the semi-finals at the last four World Championships, winning bronze twice.
“They have eight members of the PWHL on their roster,” Hefford said.
“I think we’ve already seen the improvement in a team like that as a result of the players training at the highest level, playing with and against the best players in the world day in, day out.
“I think they’re the team that’s going to challenge and the beauty of the Olympics is when it comes down to a single game, anything can happen.”
DREAMS CAN COME TRUE
When Hefford began playing hockey as a girl, neither the Olympics nor a career in hockey were possibilities.
“I thought maybe I’d get to play in the NHL and win a Stanley Cup,” Hefford said.
“It wasn’t all that long before I realised that wasn’t possible simply because I was a girl. That’s a tough thing as a young girl to realise something you want to do is just not possible based on something like gender.”
Hefford remembers watching the first women’s World Championship in 1990 and discovering Canada had a women’s national team.
“From there, they announced it would be an Olympic sport,” Hefford said. “So my dream sort of evolved from being in the NHL to playing for Team Canada to becoming an Olympian.
“Now, when I think about how young girls can not only dream of the Olympics, but they can also dream to play in the PWHL, that’s pretty amazing.”
