Fran Rider is the Hockey Hall of Fame's Most Glaring Omission

The Hockey Hall of Fame has largely ignored women over the past 65 years. There is perhaps no greater omission however, than that of Fran Rider.

The Hockey Hall of Fame has actively excluded women for decades. It wasn't until 2010 that women were first allowed into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and since then, only 10 women have been inducted, despite the fact the Hall could now include as many as 26 women. Four times, the Hall completely ignored women in their induction classes.

These omissions are in the players category, not to mention coaches and builders. It's in this final area, the builders, that the Hall of Fame's most glaring omission exists.

Fran Rider has contributed more to the growth of hockey in Canada, North America, and globally, than entire walls of members enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Without Rider, women would not be competing at the international level, whether that be the World Championships or the Olympic Games. Without the exposure of women's hockey at those events, the current developments for professional women's hockey would not be possible.

In 1987, Fran Rider single handedly organized the first unofficial international women's event, the Women's World Hockey Tournament. At the event, Rider brought together teams from across the globe including USA, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, Netherlands, and one from Ontario. West Germany was also planning to attend, but pulled out when they found there would be no body checking in the tournament.

Prior to that tournament, Rider had been working in women's hockey, and playing herself for decades. She founded the Canadian national championships in 1982, then known as the Esso Women's Hockey Nationals, and would also become the Ontario Women's Hockey Association's Executive Director in 1982, a role she's held since. 

Rider's 1987 tournament, and the growth she fought for across Ontario, Canada, and North America, led to the first official 1990 women's World Championships in Ottawa, which Rider also helped coordinate and plan. 

Since then, Rider has chaired four IIHF World Championships, multiple U-18 World Championships, and was a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

Her impact has reached far beyond borders, as Rider's efforts brought the world of women's hockey together, and gave women of future generations hope to play internationally. She was a key voice in getting women's hockey included in the 1998 Olympic Games as well.

For her work, Rider is already a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame, inducted in 2015, and received the Order of Canada that year, and the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2017.

Fran Rider belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame's builder category. Her impact on the sport far outweighs that of the majority of men in the Hall today, and the Hall of Fame would signal a significant shift in their subjugation of women by inducting the woman who helped pave the way for each woman currently enshrined, by inducting Fran Rider.