Parents in Antigonish say no to new female hockey association

Plans to overhaul women's hockey in Nova Scotia have hit a bit of a snag, after parents in Antigonish voted overwhelmingly against joining a new female hockey association in that part of the province.

Hockey Nova Scotia is in the process of restructuring how female hockey is governed, saying it hopes the changes will boost registration.

The province was carved up into six zones in 2015, with the idea that female teams would be formed within regional areas instead of within Nova Scotia's 33 individual minor hockey associations.

One advantage to the zones is that they offer a larger pool of players that can be more easily grouped into similar skills levels.

As part of this restructuring effort, the Antigonish Minor Hockey Association held a meeting Thursday about whether members wanted to join the nascent Fundy Highland Female Hockey Association.

They voted 77-2 against the proposal, said Martin McLaren, president of the Antigonish association.

Paying more, playing less

Jennifer Connors, a volunteer with Antigonish minor hockey who has several children who play the sport, said moving to Fundy Highland would mean significantly higher fees.

"To join this new association, we are essentially going to be paying more and we're going to be playing less," she said prior to the vote.

Part of the reason for the difference in fees, McLaren said, is that the Antigonish league has a popular 50-50 draw that raises funds and helps to reduce costs.

Frank Isherwood, a longtime minor hockey coach who helped established the first female program in the community more than 20 years ago, echoed Connors's concerns.

"Their plan was just ... unbelievable compared to what our female players get from being part of the Antigonish Bulldog hockey association," Isherwood said in an interview earlier this week.

"We would have had, in Antigonish, female players with much less ice time than boy players of the same age and same level of ability."

Provincewide changes

The new zones for female hockey in Nova Scotia are:

• Cape Breton
• Fundy Highland (Antigonish, Pictou, Colchester)
• Dartmouth (Dartmouth, East Hants, Eastern Shore, Cole Harbour)
• Halifax (Halifax, Sackville, Bedford and TASA)
• Nova (Clare, Digby, Western Valley, West Hants and Acadia)
• Western (South Shore, Chester, Shelburne and Yarmouth) 

Hockey Nova Scotia said in March the first, full-fledged female hockey association — the Metro West Force Female Hockey Association — will be in place for the upcoming 2017-2018 season.

It will be responsible for the administration of female hockey in Halifax-area communities that were previously overseen by the Halifax, Sackville, Chebucto, TASA and Bedford minor hockey associations.

Isherwood said those changes make sense in Halifax, but he doesn't think they'll work in his community.

"To think that they can just come in and say, 'Whatever works in Halifax, we're going to put it upon you, too,' well people in Antigonish are not going to take it," he said.

'Challenges in the Antigonish area'

Sueann Musick, an official with the Fundy Highland Female Hockey Association, said in an email they have been partnering with the Antigonish Minor Hockey Association for the past two years to get girls playing in female leagues in that county, as well as in Pictou and Colchester counties.

They're hoping in September 2018 to become a fully formed association, similar to the one in Halifax.

That means the new association would collect its own fees, pay its own bills and create its own development programs, Musick said.

However, she said "there are challenges in the Antigonish area in regards to ice availability and registration fees," and that Fundy Highland officials "decided to focus on Antigonish during the past few months to see how we can find a solution to these issues."

Musick said an information session was held last week about the upcoming hockey season "to promote our program, but also clear up any confusion in regards to what we offer," she said. 

"It was clear that some people in the room didn't want change."

Long-term goal

Garreth MacDonald, director of communications and special events at Hockey Nova Scotia, said the long-term goal is to have fully formed female associations up and running across the province, but that the process will be gradual.

"It's not going to be rushed. It's not going to be forced on any particular area. It won't be until those communities are ready. And when they are, certainly Hockey Nova Scotia will be there to kind of grant that female hockey association approval," he said.

Isherwood said he doesn't see that happening any time soon in Antigonish.

There are about 2,000 hockey players on female-only teams in the province, according to Hockey Nova Scotia executive director Darren Cossar, and that number has risen by about 500 over the last five years.