Female hockey registration in Canada hit record high in 2023-24, but system changes needed to meet demand

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Hockey Canada reported its highest-ever number of female registrations in the 2023-24 season, plus increases in women coaching and officiating. But the Canadian hockey system is not currently set up to facilitate the surge in participation by girls and women expected in coming years, says one of its committees.

That’s according to a discussion paper on the status of girls and women’s hockey in Canada, released by the sport’s national body on Tuesday. It’s written by a committee of 15 experts in women’s hockey and sport, chaired by Hockey Canada board member and three-time Olympic gold medalist Gillian Apps.

Hockey Canada formed the committee to develop recommendations to inform its next strategic plan on girls and women. The report says 108,313 women and girls were registered as players in Hockey Canada-sanctioned programs last season – 19.9 per cent of all participants, the highest percentage in Canadian hockey history.

The paper projects the number will increase to 170,000 by 2030 but warns that the system must improve how it prioritizes girls and women to support that kind of growth.

The 12-page paper describes numerous systematic barriers which have permeated for decades in the women’s game. They include inequities in ice times and resources for female teams, inconsistencies in the governance of girls and women’s hockey across the country, stereotypes about his competitiveness, a lack of education, training and injury prevention modules specific to female players, and a shortage of diversity on boards.

Other key statistics in the report gleaned from the 2023-24 season:

• Nearly 45 per cent of the 108,313 women and girls were registered with the Ontario Hockey Federation and its member organization, the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association; Hockey Alberta was second (12 per cent) and B.C. Hockey third (10 per cent)
• At the under-18 level and younger, there were 99,561 registered players across Canada, of which 65 per cent played on girls-only teams, and 35 per cent on mixed teams.
• Girls and women coaches experienced a retention rate 12.8 per cent lower than boys and men for that season, with negative interactions and criticism cited as two of the main reasons for not returning behind the bench.
• There was a 16-per-cent increase in female coaches (6,052) and 28 per cent in female officials (4,066) over the previous year
• Nearly 33 per cent of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players were Canadian, some 400 student-athletes
• Every player on last year’s Canada’s national women’s team and its national development team played her university hockey in the NCAA
• 35 teams competed in U Sports women’s hockey, rostering some 800 players, the majority of whom were Canadian
• The average length of time spent in hockey for girls and women is 7.24 years, more than 2.4 years less than boys and men

“We want to have as many Canadians as possible read this paper,” Apps said. “Then in the next phase we want to talk to Canadians from coast to coast and understand their experience and their pain points and what they feel like are gaps or good things in women’s hockey.”

The committee is made up of several former women’s national team stars, including Jayna Hefford and Cassie Campbell-Pascall, plus Hockey Canada board members, executives, business minds from Bauer, the NHL and Canadian Tire, plus Hockey Canada’s president and CEO Katherine Henderson.

Next, the committee will survey Canadians from parents to players and officials about their experiences in women’s and girls’ hockey, with the help of research firm IMI International.

This report did not provide a full breakdown by province, but Hockey Canada’s annual report for 2023-24 does. It divides the 589,012 total registered participants for that season, by age, member provincial associations and gender (male, female, non-binary and those who preferred not to say).

Most provincial associations listed in the annual report showed increases in girls and women’s registration in 2023-24 over the previous season. But it’s tough to get a true national picture about girls and women’s hockey, since it is administered differently across the regions. In some places, females have their own associations. In others, they are playing on co-ed teams. There are also unsanctioned programs that operate outside Hockey Canada.

Fran Rider, the long-time Ontario Women’s Hockey Association president, confirms that her association has experienced a big upswing in registrations, from 35,210 players in 2022-23, up to 37,728 the next year. Rider says preliminary numbers for the 2024-25 season indicates the OWHA already has over 40,000 players.

Rider relishes the growth and acknowledges that securing ice time is still a challenge. She’d like to see historic allocation of ice times revisited to give out ice times more equitably. She credits local girls and women’s hockey associations for being creative – lobbying municipalities, shortening games to facilitate more girls, or simply paying more for private ice.

“When I started playing in the sixties, the players were amazing, but nobody saw them, yet today we see world champions, Olympic medalists and PWHL players, and girls can see it and be it,” Rider said. “The growth just drives us harder to find solutions and make things happen.”