The PWHL has forced a change in the way things are done for Team Canada ahead of the Olympics. Instead of centralization, the team has been training in blocks, with their final training block well underway in Montreal. It's different, but as Pat Laprade writes, positive.
The 2026 Olympic Games will be the first ones to be held since the inception of the PWHL. And if one thing had to change, it was centralization.
For those not familiar with the concept, starting with the 1998 Olympics, players invited to Canada's camp would stay in Calgary for an extended period of time and practice on and off the ice, usually from August to February minus a few weeks off here and there.
During centralization, when players didn’t practise twice a day at the Father David Bauer Arena, they were either in the gym or participating in activities aimed at developing team spirit, six days a week. Training days off were rare, and when there were any, there were often sports psychology sessions, video reviews, and nutrition sessions.
In groups of four, players would also live together in small apartments, in order to mature as human beings, and develop their autonomy. For example, in 2002, it was the first time that Caroline Ouellette was living outside of her parents’ house.
Canada’s squad would be playing Midget and Junior-level men’s teams, and for a number of years, there was also the 3-or-4-Nations Cup where Canada would play the US, Finland and Sweden in a tournament format.
And then, there were the boot camps, a thing of the past that would put players out of their comfort zones, pushing their limits like never before. Boot camp stories are legendary within the women’s national hockey team.
The first one was held in June of 2002. For three weeks, thanks to head coach Daniele Sauvageau's contacts, the team was located at the Valcartier military base, near Quebec City. Training took place from sunrise to sunset, and it was not uncommon for players to do a 70-kilometre bike ride. In addition, every morning to get to the arena, the players had to bike seven kilometres. Coaches were hired to work on skating skills and strength. In the afternoon, players had to train off the ice, while in the evening, they would practise martial arts and yoga. It was a time when the team felt the need to make the players suffer together so that they would build team spirit. The team's motto was also fitting: "We Are Responsible" or "WAR" if you will. They weren't at a military base for nothing. The team felt like they were at war with the United States, who had won the gold medal in 1998, and were on a mission to bring the gold medal back home. In any case, it was a necessary evil in order to get to the 2002 Olympic Games.
And the crazy thing is that it actually worked. Team Canada won the next four Olympic gold medals. At the last Olympics, there wasn’t a boot camp though, as it was replaced by a team-building activity.
All of those things had one objective: create a bond between players because since there was no league uniting the best players in the world, allowing them to compete at an elite level, the bonding and extreme team building was the only way the coaching staff thought these teams could differentiate themselves from the pack, especially the US teams.
Reinventing the Training Camps
But with the creation of the PWHL, centralization needed to disappear. There was no way 30 players could be held together in one city from August to February.
The training camp had to be reimagined and that’s when the multiple training blocks idea came to life. The first block was in late August in Calgary. The second started at the end of September in Toronto, and the last leg of that camp began in Montreal last Monday.
“They are different,” said Team Canada GM Gina Kingsbury, after the team’s practice on Wednesday. “These old centralizations brought all those elements of team camaraderie and building, and we played a lot more games so we were constantly being tested. Those were a little bit easier from a coaching perspective because you can already measure yourself against the game. This one you’re going a little more blindly because you don’t have the measuring stick every weekend to figure out where you at. But I felt like our coaches and our athletes have done a phenomenal job.”
To have a smoother transition between the old system and the new one, Team Canada had decided that players would live again in groups of four, like in the old centralization, but this time n AirBnBs.
“They’re connecting on different levels,” explained Kingsbury. “The kids are getting to know the veterans better. It’s just been a positive experience so far.”
Different but Positive
On the ice, the new system seems to have passed the test as well.
“It’s been an interesting process,” said Kingsbury. “Every camp was very different. Very purposeful and intentional about what we’re doing. And I really love all three of them, especially the combination of them. The skills that we worked in the first block and the orientation of bringing the athletes along, last camp we worked a little bit more on systems and concepts, a little bit more on back-and-forth play, and game-like situations. And now we’re diving in in some more concepts. The combination of all three camps, I think we’re really pleased with.”
It's a change for everyone, including the players, of course. Forward Emma Maltais was in her first centralization back in 2021-22, and she takes that transformation with positiveness.
“It’s different, but we all are navigating it together, and I think that’s the cool part about it,” Maltais said. “It’s the same type of vibe, the same angle and we’re trying to build this culture and build this team while working on our team tactics. So, I think overall, the general idea of it is very similar and that’s the purpose of it.”
Veteran goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens will participate in her third Olympics and she also thinks this type of training camp has a lot of upsides.
“It feels good, we can see that the level of play is higher than in previous years. In February, I used to go on vacation, now we’re going to keep playing. It's a good way to stay mentally ready for the long season.”
PWHL Above All
But perhaps head coach Troy Ryan has the best answer to explain the comparison between both systems, and it resides in the evolution of women’s hockey rather than to Team Canada’s preparation.
“It's tough to say. I mean, I would take the professional women's hockey league any day,” Ryan said. “The one thing about the old centralization, I think, you know, even during Covid, we had 35 or so games and in the 2018 Olympic Games, I think we played like 50 plus games. So that is so valuable for your systems, your concepts. Now, you got to give up a little bit of that control and you got to trust that they're getting valuable coaching and good opportunities and meaningful games in the PWHL. So, I don't know if it's better or worse for me from a national team perspective. I think as a whole for women's hockey, it's much better to have the PWHL.”