So You Want to Play Hockey?: a Podcast with Louise Mallory

So here it is: my first podcast! It was actually a lot of fun to put together. The main thing I’ve learned though is that it’s dangerous to ask Louise to tell you a story when you’ve got a time limit. Someday I might do another cut of this podcast which can include some of the questions we didn’t have time for, but in the meantime I’ve added some supplemental information (and links!!!) here.

This is an interview with Louise Mallory, which acts as a case study of some of the challenges women have and continue to face when trying to play hockey. She is one of the founding members of the first women’s hockey team at Ohio State University. She volunteered at the first Women’s World Hockey Championship in Ottawa in 1990. And she helped establish the Greater Kingston Girls Hockey Association.

The most important thing that I wanted to add here (which I was not able include in the podcast) was the names of the other women Louise mentioned over the course of the podcast. I feel all too often women are erased or ignored even from our own history, so I didn’t feel comfortable cutting them from my podcast without acknowledging their existence in some way. So here are some women who worked and played with Louise throughout her hockey playing and organizing career. After all, it’s a team sport.

Bev Mallory – Louise’s Mother. We do talk about her in the podcast, but her name is worth repeating here. She was a Board Member for the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA), and was part of setting up girls and women’s hockey organizations all over Ontario.

Women that Louise and Bev played with at Saltfleet Women’s Hockey – Stoney Creek, ON (1973): Marion Richardson (a goalie); Margaret Howatt and her sister Leslie Howatt; Paulette Melanson (a small, fast, French Canadian Forward); Carmen Parent (a fellow hockey-mum and neighbour to Bev and Louise who originally told them about the team)

Builders of the game of women’s hockey who Louise feels should get more recognition:

• Deb Adams – Program Developer for the OWHA and an excellent Referee
• Lynn Olson – from Minnesota, “the Hockey Mom of a generation” – She knew everyone in the time when you could know everyone. Was willing to spend hours on the phone with Louise giving advice and helping make connections when she was setting up the team at Ohio State.

Others who were involved with the Greater Kingston Girls Hockey Association (GKGHA – Ice Wolves):

• Sandra Hefford – a great coaching mentor for the league, perhaps best known as mother of Olympian Jayna Hefford.
• Mike and Elaine Krushowski – the parents of two small girls, who wanted to give them a good place to play hockey
  
• Paul Taylor

Louise’s Picks for the Hockey Hall of Fame:

• Lynn Olson – in the builder category.
  
• Bev Mallory – in the builder category. – “It’s not fair to say: ‘Pick my Mum!’ is it?” – yes Louise, it is fair.
• Shirley Cameron – of the Edmonton Chimos, first Captain of Team Canada in 1990 and a true player-coach who helped build the game.
• Deb Adams – for her role as a referee
• Jayna Hefford – as a player for Team Canada. (Incidentally she already has a trophy named after her in the CWHL)
• Vicki Sunohara – as a player for Team Canada and current coach of the University of Toronto Women’s Varsity team.
• Sami Jo Small – Goalie for Team Canada and one of the founders of the CWHL.

Some cool milestones for women’s hockey:

• 2016/2017 marked the tenth season of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL).
• The 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang is twenty years since Women’s Hockey became an Olympic Sport
• It’s been 25 years since Manon Rhéaume became the first (and only) woman to play in an NHL game on Sept 23rd, 1992.

If you’re interested in watching more women’s hockey, there are two professional leagues in North America:

• the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL)
• the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL)

Both of which stream their games online. There are also leagues in Sweden, Russia, and Australia (I know!). And of course the schedule for the 2018 Olympics is now available.

Do you have any stories about playing (or building) women’s hockey? Please add them in the comments! How did you get introduced to the game? Who helped along the way?

 

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