The other day, I was helping a friend with his ball hockey league as a scorekeeper. When I asked a player about his hockey background — as he was heavily invested in defensive pairings for a men's league game — he said he grew up in Canada. But he didn't stop there. He then explained, in detail, how big hockey is in Canada and that every kid suits up at a young age.
Yep, I know.
The assumption that a woman doesn't know the ins and outs of hockey is nothing new. But hopefully, following the Maple Leafs' hiring of Hayley Wickenheiser as the assistant director of player development and Noelle Needham as an amateur scout, this misguided thought process will disappear.
"Research shows that the more diverse your organization the better your decision-making, the better your operation, in general," Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas noted Thursday during a conference call with reporters announcing the hires. "I think that if you're only hiring white males — and I'm saying that as a white male — you're probably leaving a lot on the table in terms of where your organization (is going) and ... how it can evolve and develop."
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Wickenheiser is an exceptional hire for the Leafs. She brings a resume littered with gold medals at world championships and the Olympics for Team Canada. She's skated in Europe with multiple men's professional teams and has attended NHL rookie camps as a player.
But, while Wickenheiser's name carries star influence, the addition of Needham as a scout is far greater an advancement for women in hockey. There hasn't been a woman hired to evaluate amateur talent as a scout in the NHL since Deborah Wright was hired part time by the Sharks in 1992. Needham, a former player at Minnesota State, will scout in the midwestern U.S. and has spent the last nine years running the elite training facility, Legend Hockey in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Kyle Dubas on bringing in Hayley Wickenheiser to Leafs player development: "It’s not about a diverse hire, it's about (hiring) the best person."
— Lance Hornby (@sunhornby) August 23, 2018
The NHL significantly lags behind other professional leagues in regard to hiring women in operations. MLB, the NFL and the NBA all have women serving as assistant general managers, coaches or in player development roles.
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Most notably, the NBA's Becky Hammon was the first woman hired as an assistant coach back in 2014. Many are speculating she will be the league's first-ever woman head coach within the next few seasons. In baseball, Kim Ng blazed a trail as an assistant general manager and is now MLB's senior vice president of baseball operations. And in football, the Arizona Cardinals' Jennifer Welter was the first of many women to coach at an NFL training camp.
As for hockey, currently, there are a handful in the ranks. In addition to skating coaches over the years, Rachel Doerrie and Kate Madigan work in the player information/video department of the Devils and Alexandra Mandrycky is a hockey operations analyst for the Wild. But that's it, and they were hired within the last year or two.
Always did love a maple leaf on my chest! Big honour to work for @MapleLeafs ! pic.twitter.com/Nlm5thAEQR
— Hayley Wickenheiser (@wick_22) August 23, 2018
Doerrie has been vocal about her desire to be a general manager in the NHL. More than 20 years ago, I personally had aspirations of joining a front office and one day reaching the level of general manager. I wrote letters to all 26 general managers asking for insight into what the position does, how they personally became a GM and advice for reaching that role. Nine wrote back.
While the majority of them were insightful and positive, the one that continues to stand out to this day is the response that said "he" throughout when describing what a general manager does — hinting it's a role only a man could do.
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This usage of the word "he" is unfortunately not only indicative of the culture of hockey, but of how women are treated in sports. Just last year the U.S. women's national team had to fight for equal rights from USA Hockey. National soccer programs in Europe have had to do the same, and it was recently disclosed that players for Sky Blue of the NWSL do not have proper fields to train on, among other things professionals should have.
In late June, Wickenheiser spoke to the media at the Maple Leafs development camp where she was a guest coach. When asked about the possibility of a woman behind the NHL one day, she said it'll happen one day. But, she added, "It's more getting around the tradition and sort of the culture that exists in hockey, which is not easy at this level for a woman to break into."
Despite the internet trolls who have questioned the hiring, hopefully, the additions of Wickenheiser and Needham prove hockey is moving in a positive direction in regard to inclusion. The stellar records of both showcase the fact that women know the sport, know it well, and are fully capable of doing the job.
Back in June, Wickenheiser noted that the organization to make these moves has to be "progressive" in it's thinking — and Dubas and Leafs' president Brendan Shanahan have definitely established that this is how Toronto will be moving forward.
"I don't think we've gone out and said that we want to hire females only, males only - anything like that," Dubas said on Thursday. "We're looking for the best candidates and we're not pushing anybody aside. And I think sports, in general, are moving well in that direction. It's been great to see ... I just think that it's going to make sports and how they operate that much better as we all progress and move along."