Like all those who experienced the many attempts to bring women’s professional hockey to life in the 2000s and 2010s, Caroline Ouellette says she is “super happy” to see a new league see the light of day.
Former national team star and current associate coach with the Concordia Stingers, the Montrealer is delighted at the idea that the best players in the world will finally be united on the same circuit.
“It’s been years since we had a scoring championship between Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight, since the best goalkeepers in the world have not been compared. It had to happen,” Ouellette said on the sidelines of the KR Classic last weekend.
“I’m a little heartbroken for the PHF girls who just renewed their contract. It has to be mentioned, because these girls have prepared, they have trained hard, they have signed contracts and some of them have moved. »
That said, “overall, it had to happen,” believes the one who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame next fall. “With six teams, the caliber will be fascinating. It will work. »
Ouellette played nine seasons in the defunct Canadian League (CWHL), with the Stars and then the Montreal Canadiens. She knew the years during which the players were little or not paid.
The quality of working conditions has always been the pebble in the shoes of women’s hockey. For lack of financial resources, the various circuits paid starving salaries to their players.
The defunct National Women’s League — or NWHL, now the PHF — has long been talked about for the outdated facilities and limited resources it provided for its athletes. Only in recent years have some PHF players received monies that allowed them to earn a living from their sport.
According to the few information made public on the future league which will be born in January, this issue should be settled. It was also a non-negotiable for members of the Professional Women Players Association (PWHPA): acceptable working conditions or nothing.
Caroline Ouellette is hopeful that this time will be the right one. “I think we’ve reached the stage where there are enough investors who have the financial means to make the league viable,” she said. It will be necessary to invest a few years, the time that the league makes a profit, but I believe that it will happen one day. With the new owners and the involvement of the former owners of the PHF, I think the financial support will be sufficient to move forward. »
She expects the inaugural season, in the winter of 2024, to be a transitional season, when European players risk meeting their commitments on the Old Continent.
However, in 2024-2025, she predicts that many European women will cross the Atlantic.
Would Ouellette like to be behind the bench of a possible franchise in Montreal? To this question, the coach stresses that she is “looking forward to seeing the league take shape”, but that she is fulfilled by her position at Concordia, where she co-leads one of the best programs in the country. “It would be hard to leave, honestly. »
But will she answer if her phone rings?
“He’s already rung for a lot of things. I always answered,” she drops with a smile.
