Grassroots participation in Canadian hockey slowly beginning to rebound from pandemic, scandal
As of 2023, minor hockey registration among boys nearly back to pre-pandemic level
Jesse Wang is already thinking about tomorrow's playoff game.
"Kind of nervous," said the 10-year-old who plays in the Whitby Minor Hockey Association (WMHA). "We won last week's playoff. Now we're in this week's game. We have to win in order to get into the semi-finals."
His team was the best in the league midway through the regular season, Wang explains, but it eventually fell to third place and now its championship hopes teeter one game at a time.
Asked about his scoring prowess, Wang pauses — he has three goals this season, he thinks.
"Hockey builds good relationships," he says later when asked about his favourite part of the sport. "It's not just about you being good. It's about the whole team's progress and skills. If you are the only good one, [but] rest of the team is bad, you still can't win a game."
Wang started playing hockey two years ago through First Shift, a program run by the NHL and NHLPA which endeavours to remove barriers by providing equipment, ice time and skill development at affordable rates.
His sister Evelyn, 6, just began skating in a learn-to-play program called Hockey For All, which was developed by the WMHA and provided free head-to-toe equipment and on-ice sessions.
Both Wang siblings have taken a swift liking to hockey. They plan to continue playing hockey next season and their favourite team is the Edmonton Oilers thanks to Connor McDavid.
Beginning Wednesday, they'll be able to watch McDavid suit up for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal. The tournament should make an interesting test for Canada, which failed to medal at either of the past two world juniors and owns just one bronze to show for the past two Olympic men's tournaments.
A small, yet vital, element toward a return to consistent podium finishes lies in the grassroots.
WATCH | Montreal readies to play 4 Nations Face-Off host as tournament begins:
The early success story of the Wang siblings represents a mindset shift among minor-hockey administrators that took place in the wake of the pandemic and has led to increasing registration numbers in five years since that have restored the sport to pre-pandemic totals.
The high-water mark for nationwide minor-hockey registration was 2011 — perhaps due in part to the Vancouver Olympics the year prior. The numbers, according to Ontario Minor Hockey Association executive director Ian Taylor, then went flat before plummeting in 2020.
"For the first time ever, we, as minor hockey, had to promote our sport — and I'll go so far as to say sell our sport. For years and years and years, [a] local minor hockey association says 'registration time' and everyone lines up and it's just an automatic rite of passage," Taylor said.
"But for the first time we had to talk about our sport, talk about the benefits of being in sport in general, but then in hockey specifically, and also reach out to different communities."
Registration rebounding slowly since pandemic
In 2019, more than 500,000 boys were registered for minor hockey in Canada. One year later, the number dropped under 375,000. In the years since, registration has slowly risen once again, and in 2023 it was nearly back to the pre-pandemic level.
The numbers in Ontario follow a similar pattern, but there is one outlier — the number of self-identifying ethnic players in 2024 is nearly double that of 2020, and has risen at a faster rate than the general population.
Taylor credits the OMHA's 'Hockey is Fun' campaign — which was distributed in Punjabi and Mandarin as well as English, and borne of the need to rethink how minor hockey is marketed — for the successful reintegration of hockey.
Wei Wang, Jesse and Evelyn's mother, didn't know how to answer Jesse when he came home from school one day asking about playing hockey.
Coming from a Chinese background, Wei said she had no experience in winter sports.
"And then I think, we have [a] nice neighbour Rahim and so Jesse, maybe we can ask Rahim because we saw his son has a big hockey bag," she said.
Turns out Rahim Karmali is the coordinator of hockey development for the WMHA and the coach of his son's rep team.
"As a minority myself, I moved to Whitby a while ago and it wasn't as multicultural as it is now. So I think growth of the game is gonna happen with investing in families that are new to the country, right? So we're happy to provide this opportunity to families like them," Karmali said.
Still, the OMHA, WMHA and other organizations across Canada cannot simply sit back, count the past few years as a win and move back into complacency.
"I would argue that we're going in the right direction, but we're not growing, especially at a time when our population base, our denominator, is really growing so much faster too," said Jessica Fraser-Thomas, an associate professor at York University whose work focuses on youth development through sport.
Fraser-Thomas said four main factors affected registration numbers over the past 15 years: the Vancouver Olympics, Sidney Crosby's concussion issues, the pandemic and the recent Hockey Canada scandal.
Another constant has been increasing cost, especially as the pandemic drove up the price of living.
She said the 'Hockey is Fun' campaign addresses most of those issues.
"I think all of those things really hit on some of the issues that we've seen in the past, whether it's too time consuming, it's too costly, it's not safe. So sort of addressing those fears and anxieties of parents," she said.
One thing that is clearly laid out in the parents guide is where fees are distributed — a topic that became relevant when it was revealed that Hockey Canada was keeping a slush fund to handle sexual assault claims.
'We'll never go back to the old process'
"We'll never go back to the old process where we just expect people to show up. It's going to be a continual effort. But I think that communication is a big part of it. People want to know where their money goes and what's involved. And certainly in today's day and age, there's an expectation of that," Taylor said.
As for cost, Taylor said the high expense is somewhat inherent given the OMHA does not own rinks and must rent ice time.
"Is the next Sidney Crosby not able to play because of cost? Maybe," Taylor said.
Fraser-Thomas said publicizing some costs — even if they are averages, which can be misleading depending on your specific location — can help keep organizations accountable.
"There are always averages and norms when they are published, but that sort of challenges sport organizations to say maybe we're not as accessible as we pitch ourselves to be and how can we do better?"
The cost barrier may disproportionately affect some communities more than others.
Fraser-Thomas said the Punjabi and Mandarin translations are a step in the right direction, though the organization could still go further in representation among girls, disabled persons and other ethnic minorities.
"I think we need to do better at not patting ourselves on the back when we have a small program that is built for a specific group, but do better at doing inclusion right across our normative sport organizations," Fraser-Thomas said.
The goal is to have fun
Now, the goal is to ensure players return to the ice season after season.
"It sounds very cliche but all the studies tell us the No. 1 reason why people participate is to have fun, No. 1 reason they leave it's because they weren't having fun," Taylor said.
Fraser-Thomas agreed with the assessment, naming competence, motivation and social enjoyment as three key areas for retention.
One element of that is the volunteers and coaches who set the tone from the bench or during on-ice skills sessions.
"That's kind of my mantra right now, have a great time, come back. And when everyone at the end of the year is talking about wins and losses, one of the metrics we want to talk about is how many kids came back," Taylor said.
In that case, Jesse and Evelyn Wang represent two victories.
"We do not have any background about hockey, but after we joined the program we learned a lot and I think it's a good opportunity for newcomers," Wei Wang said.
"And it's a good time for them to join the community and build better relationships, and make more new friends for the family and also for the kids.
