What women's hockey in Quebec can learn from Ontario

Women and girls' hockey in Quebec has grown more and more popular since the 1990s, but the province is still playing catch up when compared to Ontario.

A recent Hockey Canada report shows eight times as many girls signed up to play hockey in Ontario than in Quebec last year. During the 2019-2020 season, 6,618 girls registered to hit the ice in Quebec, while Ontario saw over 51,465 girls register to play during that same period. 

At the last world championships, Ontario women outnumbered their Quebec counterparts seven to one on the national team.

Daniel Taillon, head of Hockey Montréal Féminin, says Quebec's tendency to push female players to play on male teams isn't helping.

"There's a myth in Quebec that if girls play with guys they're going to get better. If that was the case, Ontario players wouldn't be so strong," he said.

Taillon says Quebec needs to create more all-female teams and leagues and let more girls play with other girls to boost registration numbers and keep more female players in the minor hockey system.

Danièle Sauvageau, the head coach of Canada's national women's hockey team agrees and says practically every arena in Ontario offers the opportunity to play on an all-girls' team.

"Unfortunately in Quebec, the offer isn't there yet in all regions," she said. "So there are girls who have to register with the boys, and sometimes they end up being the only girl on the team."

Keeping girls in the game

Sauvageau says when girls play hockey together, they usually stay in the sport longer than when they play on teams made up of mostly boys.

"At a young age, there's no difference between boys and girls on the ice, but growing up, girls will often look for a female team, and if they don't find one, they'll turn to another sport, or stop playing sports," she said.

Sauvageau says "sport dropout" is a big problem among Quebec teenagers and the last provincial study on physical activity found 15 per cent of teenage girls consider themselves active, in contrast to 23 per cent of teenage boys.

Young girls looking to play on a women's team in Montreal have to register with Hockey Montréal Féminin, where they're placed in a group of players who come from all over the city. The hockey program is independent from the minor hockey associations in different neighbourhoods, cities and boroughs, which aren't obliged to promote female teams.

"When I signed my daughter up to play hockey at the arena a few years ago, they never mentioned the existence of girls' teams," said Chloé Deraiche, a volunteer dedicated to the development of women's hockey.

Deraiche says she feels minor hockey associations should publicize the existence of female teams, adding that she found out about them by searching online.

Her daughter Charlie started out playing with the boys, but now she plays in a girls' league.

"It's worth it because the girls really have fun together. I've really seen a renewed motivation for hockey in my daughter and a sense of belonging that I didn't see before," said Deraiche.

Marcel Patenaude, the director of Hockey Quebec, says minor hockey associations shouldn't be forced to bring up women's hockey during registration, but recognizes the importance of promoting it. 

"Some associations want girls to play with girls, but it's not the case for all of them," he said, "and in the end it's up to the girl to decide."

"If all the girls played with each other, it would create an even stronger model for us and make it easier to watch and recruit different players when they're all together."

Sauvageau says it's taken a long time for women's hockey in Quebec to get organized.

"It's all up to volunteers and a lot of times you start to see some equity, but people show more interest in men's hockey, supposedly because there are more career opportunity for boys who compete."

Access to arenas and quality ice time are also obstacles faced by certain women's teams in Quebec. 

Patenaude says Hockey Quebec "is developing clear guidelines for the different associations" to establish more equity between boys' and girls' teams.

Elite development

At last year's Women's World Hockey Championship, 15 of Team Canada's players were from Ontario and only two — Marie-Philip Poulin and Mélodie Daoust — were from Quebec.

Sauvageau led the Canadian women's Olympic team to a gold medal in Salt Lake City in 2002 with six Quebecers and nine Ontarians on the team. She believes there needs to be high-level opportunities outside of the national team in order to motivate more young Quebec girls to eventually crack the roster.

"After university, there's nothing out there for elite [female] players in Quebec," she said. "We need a professional league."

Sauvageau is also the general manager of the hockey program at the Université de Montréal and offers training for Quebec's top talent. She's been running 21.02, a high-performance hockey centre based out of the Verdun Auditorium.

Elite female players can get personalized training, receive medical services and work out in facilities that meet international standards. Quebec recently invested $375,000 in the the centre to encourage the development of positive role models for young women and to promote more Quebec representation on Team Canada.

Last summer, the 21.02 Centre organized the Women's Hockey Summit, which aimed to compile a report on "all the observations, challenges and findings related to women's hockey" in Quebec.

This report, which will notably mention "the insufficiency of resources granted to women's hockey, the need to establish a common action plan and to unify the offer of services," is currently being written and will be published soon.