MONTREAL — NHL players don’t typically bring their "A" game to all-star weekend. It’s a chance to relax, have fun and take part in some light competition.
But it's not that way for the women's hockey players who'll be taking part in the all-star festivities this weekend.
No time to take their foot off the gas. They'll be on the ice proving themselves under the NHL's spotlight.
"The reality is you have to," Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin said earlier this month. "We can't take it off, because at the end of the day, people will always have the opinion that if we don't give our best, women's hockey isn't good."
Poulin and 23 other players from the new Professional Women's Hockey League will compete in a 20-minute three-on-three showcase Thursday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto to kick off the three-day NHL all-star festivities.
Montreal defender Erin Ambrose is excited to take the ice and enjoy some three-on-three action, but isn’t losing sight of the fact the players are there to grow the women’s game and promote the PWHL in its inaugural season.
"Any time that our game kind of gets put out there, we're still trying to prove ourselves,” Ambrose said. “It's a frustrating thing as a female athlete, but it's kind of where we're at right now in the world.
"So we'll enjoy it, we'll have a ton of fun with it, but we also know why we're there."
The PWHL is off to a record-setting start since opening Jan. 1.
The league’s first game between New York and Toronto at Mattamy Athletic Centre on New Year’s Day reached 2.9 million Canadian viewers.
During its inaugural week, the PWHL set attendance records for women's professional hockey games twice as 8,318 fans filled TD Place Arena in Ottawa on Jan. 2 before 13,316 spectators gathered at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 7.
The league will aim even higher when Montreal meets Toronto at 19,000-capacity Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 16.
For that reason, Montreal forward Laura Stacey views PWHL player participation in NHL all-star weekend as a chance to build on the league’s early momentum — and take advantage of the extra eyeballs they’re bound to draw.
“Any time there's a big spotlight, there's a big game, a lot of eyes on women's hockey, I think we want to show our best,” Stacey said. “We're just going to have that little added sense of 'let's do this for the next little girl watching, let's prove to the world that our sport is great, that women's hockey is growing and is special.’
“There is something really important down the line that we're still fighting for."
Women’s hockey players have participated in four consecutive NHL all-star weekends dating back to 2019, when American star Kendall Coyne Schofield — who currently plays for Minnesota — became the first woman to compete in the skills competition.
Coyne Schofield did more than just compete. She placed seventh out of eight in the fastest skater competition with a blistering 14.346-second lap around SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., less than one second behind winner and Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.
"When she took off, I was like, Wow!’” McDavid said at the time. "I thought she might have won the way she was moving. She was a really good skater and that was an amazing thing for the game to see her participate like that in an event like this."
It still sticks out as a barrier-breaking moment for Poulin.
“I remember when Kendall Coyne really took off,” Poulin said. “She did a lap fast enough to really open a lot of eyes in that moment.”
Although PWHL players hope they’ll be able to hold their own all-star games in the coming years, they’re determined to make the kind of impact Coyne Schofield did at NHL festivities for now.
“Every time you have a chance to step on the ice, it's just a way to showcase our sport,” Poulin said. “You want to play against the best, with the best, and the 3-on-3 is going to be able to promote women's hockey.”
WHERE’S THE LINE?
The PWHL has made waves and received widespread positive reviews for its physical play, but some coaches and players are beginning to wonder where to draw the line.
“I understand the shoulder-to-shoulder (hits)," Montreal coach Kori Cheverie said after a chippy 3-2 win over New York on Jan. 16. "But the full-on, what we call nose-to-nose hits, that's a penalty in women's hockey.
“There just needs to be some consistency with that.”
Poulin and Minnesota forward Taylor Heise had a couple unpenalized open-ice collisions during a game on Jan. 24. Meanwhile, Ambrose was penalized for bodychecking late in the third period on an arguably less physical play.
"There are definitely some questions we ask ourselves. Where is the line in those moments?” Poulin said. “But I think at the end of the day this is what we want, and the more we play, the more referees will understand what's fair."
The PWHL issued its first suspension Saturday. Boston forward Taylor Wenczkowski served a one-game ban over the weekend for a hit to the head of Ottawa defender Amanda Boulier on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2023.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
