The decision to shutter the Canadian Women’s Hockey League has sent shockwaves through the hockey world.
The decision was announced by the league early Sunday during a league-wide conference call, with the CWHL later releasing a news release citing a “business model (that) has proven to be economically unsustainable” as the reason the league will cease operations May 1.
On Monday morning, members of the Calgary Inferno met with media, saying that while the decision is a hit to women’s hockey, they have plenty of hope for the future of the game.
“We know from our experience in (women’s hockey) that there’s a lot to be excited about — the hockey is incredible and there’s a lot of excitement around it right now,” said Kristen Hagg, who served as the Inferno’s general manager. “The players are very intelligent and they’re going to collectively help move this is in the right direction. I have a great deal of confidence in them being able to find out the right direction to go.
“In terms of the growth here in Calgary, we’ve seen it. I was here through the establishment of a relationship with Girls Hockey Calgary … and there’s 40 teams, it’s pretty incredible to see the number of (young female) players … with smiles on their faces when they come into our dressing room.”
Hagg said that discussions on moving the league forward were being held last week around the time of the Clarkson Cup — the CWHL’s championship title, which was won by the Inferno.
With those discussions, she said, came no indication the league would announce, only a week later, that it is disbanding.
“From the general manager’s perspective, working with the personnel at the league we work with … it was business as usual,” she said. “(This news) was certainly not something we anticipated.
“At the end of the day, we still don’t know a great deal, we don’t know all the specifics. I think as more time passes, those things will become more public, or we’ll be aware of those things. All of us that have been involved with the league for some time know the different potential options or directions this could go. I think in general, what we’ve been saying is ‘yeah, the door is closed, but it’s opened the window to a number of different things.'”
This year’s Clarkson Cup was watched by 175,000 fans who tuned in to watch the game between the Inferno and Les Canadiennes de Montreal.
Now, the league will shutter after a 12-year run that has six fully rostered teams in North America and China — along with staff — looking for answers.
“It’s really hard to say what is actually going to come out of this,” said Dakota Woodworth, who was a forward for the Inferno and was the team’s CWHL players representative. “I do think the option we have to kind of create something better and move forward as a sport is really unique.
“I think that it’s a far better option to look at this as an opportunity than a setback. It’s devastating news, you can’t really sugarcoat it but … we’re choosing to view this at this as an opportunity. We’re going to be positive and optimistic and we’re going to come out the other side that was better than we were before.”
Discussions have been held in the past on a merger between the CWHL and the United States-based National Women’s Hockey League. However, it’s too soon to tell if there would be any more steps towards completion.
Woodworth said that winning a championship one weekend, only to hear the next weekend that the league is disbanding was “really crazy.”
“We had such an amazing reception with the trophy coming back to Calgary, we got to go to the Flames game and I can’t even tell you the support we felt from the city,” she said, adding the CWHL’s demise hasn’t stopped her desire to have professional women’s hockey in Calgary come next fall.
“As a player and someone who has been speaking with other players and staff members through the last day, I’m really confident we can get something done, just because we have to get something done. There has to be professional hockey in Calgary.”
The Calgary Inferno finished their last season as the top team in the six-team league in the regular season winning 23 of the teams 28 games.
The club joined the league in the 2011-12 season, then known as Team Alberta before the team chose the Inferno name it held to the end.
In the 2015-16 season, the Inferno won their first Clarkson Cup title, beating the Les Canadiennes de Montreal 8-3. Since that season that saw them place first in the league, the Inferno had been a dominant force in the CWHL.
The team finished atop the league in the 2016-17 season, as well as this past year.
