Men, these girls would like a word with you

They're each 14 years old and fiercely committed to being the best hockey players they can be — practising two evenings a week, strength conditioning on a third evening, playing games Saturdays and Sundays.

So, they're asking guys of all ages to at least watch some women's hockey before dismissing their sport as "just girls' hockey."

It's a comment they hear too often and this week, they're not having it.

Alejandra Molina, Arianna Colasurdo, Juliana Vieira Pirollo and Amy Havlena are friends and teammates, playing for Les Amazones, a Laval-Montreal Bantam AAA team. It's been a week of raw emotion since finding out the Canadian Women's Hockey League is folding May 1.

"I'm working so hard to go to the Olympics, play in the CWHL, and now that it's not existing anymore it's like all my hard work was for nothing," said Alejandra, a goalie, who also won a scholarship to play hockey for Kuper Academy High School.

"It's just heartbreaking," she said.

The CWHL says its business model is economically unsustainable.

• Women's hockey stars prepared to fight for league they want
• CWHL ceasing operations due to 'economically unsustainable' business model

Players on Les Amazones say this is about gender and a lack of support for women's hockey — specifically from men.

Amy Havlena, who plays defence, says boys playing at a lower level often dismiss her skills.

"Guys just think that because we're girls, we're not as strong," she said.

Juliana Vieira Pirollo, a forward, attends a different high school but says she hears the same comments.

"They say boys' triple A is not equal to girls' triple A or stuff like that," Juliana said.

The teammates say these comments come from boys who've never seen them play.

Amy says it's not just boys who need to be more supportive, she's calling out men too.

She says more men — not just dads of girls who play hockey — need to buy tickets and show up at professional women's hockey games.

"I feel like if they do go watch, their whole mindset is going to change. It's absolutely incredible what [Les Canadiennes] can do," she said.

The teens' head coach, Joey Brandone, notices a mindset change when he brings his friends to Les Amazones' practices.

"More of my guy friends are looking at the game a little differently these days because I'm so involved," said Brandone, who is coaching girls for the first time after several years with elite boys' teams.

"Their reaction is 'Oh my god! They're just as fast!'" he said.

Arianna Colasurdo, who plays defence, says her skills have improved significantly since she started playing with girls, about four years ago.

From ages five to 10, she played on a boys' team, where she says she felt she "had less space," both on the ice and in terms of talking.

When she switched to girls' teams, things changed, Arianna said.

"We got to do these plays together," she said. "So I started developing my skills, like skating and shooting, and right now I'm doing really good."

The whole team has come a long way after a rough start this season, said Brandone.

It's been a learning process for him as well.

Going into this first season coaching girls, Brandone received advice that steered him in the wrong direction.

"I was being coached to 'watch your tongue' a little bit," he said.

But Brandone quickly realized the girls use the same strong language as any boys, on the ice and in the locker room.

In fact, the girls had some feedback for him that he didn't see coming.

"At one point the girls felt like I was being a little bit too soft on them," he said.

Brandone offered to treat them the same way he's always treated boys' teams, for one month. The girls agreed.

In the end, to his surprise, they told him the difference was "like day and night," Brandone said.

"And sure enough we did start going, getting a couple of wins and we did start to pick up."

A key motivation for the girls has been their dreams of one day playing professional hockey for Les Canadiennes.

"I want to be like them when I'm older. There's nothing else I want to be," Amy said.

Amy and her teammates say more men need to support professional women's hockey in order for those teams to thrive and for young girls — players — to have those role models.

After the CWHL announced it is folding, its American counterpart, the National Women's Hockey League, announced plans to expand to Montreal and Toronto.

It's not clear what that might mean for Les Canadiennes.

Alejandra says two teams is not enough.

"It really really has to be like everywhere, like the NHL," she said.

The girls want more men to help boost the popularity of women's hockey and make sure that professional players get paid, like men.

"It's not only a little boy's dream to get paid playing hockey. It's also a girl's dream and it's mine," Alejandra said.

Close up on Gender is a CBC Montreal series for radio, web and television. You'll hear from Montrealers who are sharing their stories, or thinking and acting differently when it comes to gender in 2019.

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