When the NHL kicked off the 2010-11 regular season Oct. 7, the eyes of the hockey world were upon it.
From overseas games in Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, to the opening of the new rink in Pittsburgh to the introduction of three budding young stars in Edmonton, there were storylines galore as hockey fans prepared themselves for another great year of NHL hockey.
Meanwhile, in a small rink in Regina, Saskatchewan, the best women’s hockey player in the world quietly made her CIS debut with the University of Calgary Dinos, scoring two goals and an assist in her first game as her team won 4-3 over host University of Regina Cougars. The following day Wickenheiser managed an assist in a 2-1 loss to the Cougars.
If you missed that news, you are forgiven. Women’s university hockey doesn’t get a whole lot of play, even in a hockey-mad country like Canada.
There’s a little adjustment period for a player of Wickenheiser’s stature, an international superstar, in the year following an Olympics when interest in her sport is at its highest.
"Coming off an Olympic year is a little bit of a letdown," said the 32-year-old Wickenheiser. "We were with the national team full time training for an Olympic Games and then you don’t have that for the next three years prior to the next Olympics. We’re in the beginning of that next four-year cycle and everybody is back with their university or club teams.
"There is a pretty dramatic change in the way we live our lives. I always get a little envious when the NHL season starts. I think about them being pro players and playing 82 games. It’s an adjustment for me, but at the same time the girls on our national team are used to playing club hockey or university hockey. It’s what we do."
Wickenheiser will get together with her Team Canada teammates for two international events this season; the Four Nations Cup in Newfoundland in November and the World Championship in Switzerland in April. Other than that, women’s hockey will basically take a backseat to the men’s game for most of the year.
In the meantime, talks continue about the formation of a significant professional league for women that would include the best players from around the globe, with NHL participation.
Wickenheiser loves the notion of a well-structured league for women, but wonders if she’ll still be playing when it comes to fruition.
"I do see it coming," she said. "I was at the World Hockey Summit and I was in the meeting with the NHL people along with about nine other stakeholders in women’s hockey and they have seriously taken a look at the women’s game to see if there is enough viability to have a women’s pro league.
"I think there is a plan that has been structured, but isn’t quite ready to be rolled out and needs some work. They’re looking at it from a business standpoint and want to make sure if they do it, it’s going to be really good for the NHL game and their product.
"I think it’s positive because never before has the (NHL) looked at women’s hockey that seriously and I think now they are. I think we’ll eventually see it. I don’t know if it’ll be while I am still playing…I hope so."
Wickenheiser believes NHL participation is huge if a legitimate women’s pro league is to be developed.
"Honestly, if we could just put together a good leadership group with the help of some key players and key names in the NHL that could help drive it forward, as well as some money behind it, I believe the product is there and it’s waiting," she said. "If we had five or six teams in a league with the best players from around the world and really play entertaining hockey in smaller junior rinks, or have it affiliated with NHL teams, it could work."
Wickenheiser, who briefly played pro hockey in Finland in 2003, admits the women’s game is different, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lesser product.
In fact, she says there’s lot to like about her sport.
"I would say from an entertainment standpoint you’re not going to see NHL hockey, which in some ways may be a good thing," Wickenheiser said. "You’re going to see more of a puck possession game. The players are smaller; there’s more room on the ice. It’s still very physical. The players are passionate and the games, at the highest level of women’s hockey, are very entertaining.
"These are just women playing at the highest level who aren’t millionaires making way more money than most people; I think people can relate to that and the fact these are just great athletes playing the sport at the highest level."
