Ian Kennedy rounds up this week's news about Henri Richard posthumously diagnosed with CTE and the PWHPA being close to finalizing their own league. He also discusses if the Hockey Hall of Fame will open the door to more women this year.
Growing the Game is Ian Kennedy’s weekly feature examining the global game, how social issues impact the sport, and how hockey’s important cultural shift continues to evolve.
Henri Richard Posthumously Diagnosed With CTE, Study Finds
Hockey Hall of Famer and Montreal Canadiens legend Henri Richard was posthumously diagnosed with stage 3 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), his family and a researcher announced on Wednesday.
The announcement came through the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) Canada. Richard, who passed away in 2020 at age 84, is the 16th NHL player diagnosed with CTE through the foundation’s study. Despite increasing evidence, the NHL, including commissioner Gary Bettman, continues to deny a link between head trauma in the sport and CTE, a degenerative brain disease.
“I hope my father’s brain donation and diagnosis will lead to more prevention efforts, research, and eventually a CTE treatment,” said Denis Richard in a news release from CLF Canada. “I want people to understand this is a disease that impacts athletes far beyond football.”
The study and findings have been used to push increased safety efforts and education within the sport to make it safe for all. Despite the fact most players studied were enforcers, Richard was a gifted scorer, and still, his brain suffered from participating in the sport.
“Henri Richard was not an enforcer, and CTE still ravaged his brain,” said Tim Fleiszer, executive director of CLF Canada and a four-time Grey Cup Champion. “It is far past time for all of us in the Canadian sports community to acknowledge the long-term effects of repetitive impacts on the brain.
“We are grateful to the Richard family for their decision to share Henri’s diagnosis publicly to help others and are hopeful it will inspire change.”
PWHPA Says It's 'At The Finish Line' for New League
According to an email obtained by The Hockey News sent by the PWHPA to members, the group said it’s “at the finish line” in terms of the work to form its own professional women’s hockey league.
The email, sent by the PWHPA’s lead consultant Jayna Hefford to current and prospective players, said the group is finishing completion on negotiations related to a collective bargaining agreement, standard player agreement and group commercial licensing agreement. Hefford also told players the league and ownership are “conducting arena visits” in American and Canadian markets.
The PWHPA formed following the dissolution of the CWHL in 2019. Since then, it has been planning to launch a new professional women’s hockey league. The group promised players a new league would be launched last winter, although that deadline was missed, and the PWHPA reverted to playing another edition of their Dream Gap Tour.
Hefford’s message to players, sent June 11, said the group is again targeting a league this coming season.
Any league formed by the PWHPA would now serve as direct competition for North America’s current women’s professional hockey league, the PHF. The PHF is entering its ninth year of operation, although only its third as the PHF (previously named the NWHL). This season, the PHF doubled its salary cap to $1.5 million per team, with several players making more than $100,000 to play in the league this season.
Will the Hall of Fame Open the Door to More Women?
Since 2010, women have been eligible to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame. In that time, 57 men have entered the Hall of Fame and only nine women. The Hall of Fame gave women two spots per year for inclusion but only used those two spots once, in the inaugural class to induct Cammi Granato and Angela James.
Since then, only one woman has been inducted at a time, if any. On four occasions, the Hall of Fame excluded women altogether, despite a growing list of women who are overqualified for induction.
“Exclusion from halls of fame is just one way women’s accomplishments are overlooked,” wrote scholar Carly Adams for the Sport History Review in an article titled “Queens of the Ice.”
Or as Bruce Kidd, a sport historian and professor at the University of Toronto, wrote about the absence of women in Halls of Fame: “the dearth of women in so many halls and exhibits… contributes to the ‘symbolic annihilation’ of women throughout the public discourse.”
Last year, the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted the first European woman, selecting Finland’s Riikka Sallinen. The Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee meets on June 21 to choose the class of 2024.