Former Governor General Sad To See Clarkson Cup Ignored By PWHL

Former Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, who commissioned the Clarkson Cup, was sad to see the naming of the PWHL's Walter Cup, and the omission of women's hockey history, specifically the Clarkson Cup.

Canada's former Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson has followed the PWHL closely this season, including attending the inaugural game. The long time advocate for women in sport however, was also upset to see the trophy she commissioned, the Clarkson Cup, overlooked in favor of the PWHL's Walter Cup.

Earlier this year the PWHL announced the Walter Cup as the league's championship trophy. The Cup is named for Mark and Kimbra Walter, the owners of the PWHL. Clarkson, who was the 26th Governor General of Canada, serving in the role from 1999 to 2005 was upset the league did not consider the Clarkson Cup in their decision, a trophy she commissioned in 2006. 

"I'm very sad about the Clarkson Cup, just very sad about it," Clarkson told The Hockey News.

For Clarkson, it was more than the simple omission of the Clarkson Cup, which now resides in the Hockey Hall of Fame, it was also a missed opportunity to showcase the history of women's hockey, and an exclusion of women who have given their lives to growing the game. That included the naming of league awards for former tennis players Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss.

"Nobody did ask me whether they could ever use the (Clarkson) Cup or do anything with the Cup, I have not heard anything from them," said Madame Clarkson. "I guess if you'e going to tennis players to talk about hockey, then you're not very interested in talking to Canadian women about hockey."

Clarkson commissioned, paid for, and donated the Clarkson Cup in 2006, and the trophy was awarded 11 times, primarily to the champion of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). In the CWHL, the trophy was hoisted by many current PWHL players including Blayre Turnbull and Brianne Jenner with the Calgary Inferno in 2019, Laura Stacey, Jamie Lee Rattray, and Jocelyne Larocque with the Markham Thunder in 2018, and Erin Ambrose, Hilary Knight, Marie-Philip Poulin, and Emerance Maschmeyer with the Montreal Canadiennes in 2017. 

Madame Clarkson saw the financial issues that eventually doomed the CWHL first hand, and knows the struggles women's hockey has had in finding investors. She felt former iterations of professional hockey leagues for women, particularly in Canada, were let down by men in Canada who could have invested, but didn't, despite the market, past and present, for women's hockey.

"There's people clambering to get in, I hope they'll be able to keep prices of tickets down, tickets are so incredibly expensive for all sports things, and you really want to be able to have people see the best and bring people to live games where you can feel the ice and you feel the crowd and you can feel all of that, there's nothing like going to an arena to see that and of course women play wonderful hockey," Clarkson said of the PWHL's early success. "We know that already, we know how much it's watched, the Olympics, we know how much it was watched, it's just never had any kind of funding. As a feminist, really from the 1970s, been fighting the feminist battle all my life, and these guys who have all this dough, all this money for spots teams in Canada, you think they'd ever come up and support women's hockey for Canada? No they didn't did they? No they did not and I feel really really badly about that."

Instead, it was American billionaire Mark Walter who purchased the now defunct PHF and put up the money for the new league, with the support of Billie Jean King Enterprises. While Clarkson knows how important that investment is, she still believes trophies, not only the championship trophy, but the awards for individual achievements, should be named for hockey's pioneering women.

"[U]nless the big money comes in, and sports is big money now and people see that, it's not going to work," she said. "But I'm so saddened to see that it would be about that, and that we don't have it named, that we don't have a Hefford Cup for most valuable player...all the women we know who have been the pioneers in playing the game, and it's our game, it's hockey."

Clarkson first got the idea for the Clarkson Cup when the 2004-2005 NHL lockout occurred. She proposed that if the NHL was not going to play for the Stanley Cup, then the trophy should be contested for by the top women's teams in North America.

"They said 'oh no, only men can play for the Stanley Cup.' It was really quite interesting to see that uproar. Then I thought after that had happened and everyone went back to playing hockey normally, 'why shouldn't there be a Cup for women's hockey.'"

And so there was. Clarkson commissioned the Cup, which was made by Inuit silver artists in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Despite the Clarkson Cup now sitting in the Hockey Hall of Fame instead of being hoisted by champions, Adrienne Clarkson says the trophy and what it stands for, the empowerment of women in sport, is "something that I am always, and always will be proud of." She urges those who visit the Hockey Hall of Fame to look at the names engraved on the "beautiful" trophy, which to Clarkson is a "symbol of where hockey began and where hockey was continued to be played and where the best hockey players have always come out of historically."

While she's disappointed the Clarkson Cup is not currently in use, Clarkson is thrilled by the success she sees in the PWHL this season, and the impact the league has had on inspiring young girls and fans. 

"You can see that it has revitalized a lot of people's love for hockey," said Clarkson.

"I went to the opening game, I was very interested and really enjoyed it and thought it was terrific hockey and was so thrilled to see so many people there, little girls there, and the idea that hockey was open to them and they could just normally think about it as something they could do."