Five Ideas To Take U SPORTS Women's Hockey To The Next Level

U SPORTS women's hockey has an identity problem. In general, the belief is that all of the best prospects go to NCAA hockey, while the rest stay in U SPORTS. It's a false narrative in many ways as there are a number of strong U SPORTS programs who could compete in NCAA hockey, and there are some NCAA conferences who have a number of teams that would conversely, not be competitive in Canada.

Last season there were eight U SPORTS alumni in the PWHL, and four more were drafted this season, with a number also heading to training camps and many more going to Europe to play professionally. There were also several U SPORTS alumni who competed in the Olympics. On the other side, NEWHA has yet to advance a player to the PWHL, although former Stonehill forward Alexis Petford who moved to Colgate will likely change that this season. Similarly there are dozens of NCAA programs without a single alum in the PWHL, and very few overseas. 

But Canadian university programs, even the best, are vastly underfunded compared to the best in the NCAA in terms of athletics, and the level of play across the board is inconsistent. As well, the league has been unable to shift the movement keeping more players in Canada or attracting more from outside of the country. And U SPORTS has been unable to promote their own players in a meaningful way to showcase just how talented the system's pool remains.

Here are five ideas to help take U SPORTS women's hockey to the next level.

PWHL teams just don't put resources into scouting U SPORTS the way they scout the NCAA. PWHL scouting overall is lacking and not befitting of a truly professional league, and with the need to expand the PWHL's talent pool, the league is missing out on quality players from Canada. Hosting an annual U SPORTS Top Prospects game bringing together the best graduating players looking to turn pro. This season 39 U SPORTS athletes declared for the PWHL Draft with British Columbia's Grace Elliott and Concodia's Emilie Lavoie hearing their names called in the draft. Others like Broderick Trophy winner Jessymaude Drapeau will attend PWHL training camps. Rotating an event like this between the PWHL's four Canadian markets, or coupling it with a Takeover Tour game in a Canadian market would make the game accessible for PWHL scouts, who would likely be seeing almost every player on the ice for the first time in person. Hosting it midseason would perhaps give teams reason to follow players down the stretch and bring a larger PWHL representation to the Canadian national championships. 

Whether it's the Women's Euro Hockey Tour against national teams or a showcase tour against clubs, U SPORTS athletes need more exposure. Many top U SPORTS players have signed in the SDHL, EWHL, DFEL, and PostFinance Women's League. Getting them to Europe to showcase their skill to top teams would be a major boost in that pipeline. Two years ago, Canada sent their national development team to Europe for a leg in the Women's Euro Hockey Tour, but perhaps in order to improve their system from top to bottom, the best possible option for Hockey Canada would be to send an All-Star team from U SPORTS, similar to the team built for Universaide competitions. They'd be competitive against national teams, and would again be a highly scouted group overseas. 

There's no better way to prepare U SPORTS players for the professional ranks, and to set the league apart as a development loop than bringing body checking, and aligning U SPORTS rules with the PWHL to the system. Nations like Sweden and Norway have implemented body checking, as have European leagues, and the results on ice are obvious already. The developmental step and competitiveness has climbed.  Adding body checking to U SPORTS would make it even more valuable for players who need to take a physical step in their maturity to be pros, and would prepare U SPORTS athletes to thrive at the professional ranks giving them a leg up on the competition. Altering U SPORTS rules to mimic the differences in the PWHL, like adding the jailbreak and other simple rule innovations would also give the league an interesting edge.

It might be too much to ask for a super conference due to travel restrictions, but it's not too much to ask for a midseason event that mimics the national championships. The best programs in U SPORTS need to face the best more often. Perhaps it could be an opportunity to create cross-border competition with NCAA programs for an annual tournament as well. U SPORTS and NCAA sometimes cross in preseason competition, but showcasing programs against each other mid-year would generate more interest for media, and more respect for programs. Building out the U SPORTS calendar would be a huge boost to the visibility of the national system. 

Women's hockey has got to the point where you can turn on your television, or open your device and stream PWHL, NCAA, and SDHL games, as well as international competition, with ease. But it's not to the point where you can easily find a U SPORTS game. You can't even find U SPORTS highlights. Whether there's commentary or not, whether there's good cameras or not, getting U SPORTS games into the public eye is crucial. CBC has started broadcasting the national tournament which is a huge advancement, but it showcases only eight of 35 programs. Get the games online, make it free, and watch the interest climb.