This week, I took my son to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and as PWHL fans, we were shocked to see how little room the women have in the Hall...
Like any hockey fan who visits Toronto, my family went to the Hockey Hall of Fame this week. For my son, it was going to be a first. We were looking forward to seeing the PWHL section, but we were sorely disappointed, as there is no such thing.
The women’s game is mentioned in various sections, mainly when it comes to Olympic hockey, but there is no PWHL-dedicated section. It’s been three years now since the most successful professional women's hockey league in history started its operation. Granted, it’s not the first league of its kind, but it’s the first one that has major financial backing, and that is slowly but surely making the women’s game a mainstream sport.
A lot has been accomplished over its three years of play, and there needs to be a dedicated exhibit relating these women’s fight to get a proper professional league, one with substantial salaries and proper marketing and exposure. The PWHL is not perfect, but it’s as close as it’s gotten so far. I’m told the Walter Cup is displayed at the Hall, but try as I may, I couldn’t find it. Granted, it was a particularly packed day, but I should still have been able to find that major trophy through the crowd.
In the Hall of Fame's Great Hall, only the Stanley Cup and NHL trophies are on display as the centrepiece of the Hall's displays.
The tipping point of my visit, though, came when I had to make a pit stop in the bathroom. As I walked into the women’s restroom, a sign caught my eye; it read: Hockey invented by men, perfected by women. It felt like a recognition of what women brought to the game, but one that the Hall didn’t wish to make in an exhibition for all to see. Is there a similar sign in the men’s room? I don’t know; I couldn’t very well go in there, but to see that in the women’s restroom made me wonder if the Hall was, for lack of a better expression, taking the piss.
Anyone who has watched the PWHL will be able to tell you that it did perfect the sport; take the jailbreak rule, for instance. It has made power plays all the more exciting, and you can feel the penalty killers wanting to break away and get their teammate out of the box. Coaches may not like it, as it makes players take more risks when on the PK, but fans certainly love it.
Throughout our visit, we saw pictures of Marie-Phillip Poulin here and there, in a Team Canada jersey; there was a “Captain Clutch” autographed photo montage, but that was again playing for the national side. The Montreal Victoire fans still use the nickname, and it still fits her like a glove in the PWHL, as expected, after she played this last season’s playoffs on one leg because of a serious knee injury and still was named the MVP.
The PWHL has been around for long enough to deserve its own dedivated section in the Hall’s exhibition, not simply to be included in more wide spanning women's displays; what is the Hall waiting for?
It’s not the NHL Hall of Fame, it’s Hockey’s Hall of Fame. Overall, it’s a disappointing visit for PWHL fans, but at least the PWHL apparel is 40% off in the Spirit of Hockey (the Hall’s store); that’s definitely worth a stop if you’re in Toronto, but I’d give it some time before visiting the Hall, at least until it catches up with the times.
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