In mid-December, future top PWHL draft candidates competed against each other in a tournament final in an arena in Tampere, Finland.
In the Women’s Euro Hockey Tour (or Six Nations Tournament), the Canadians faced an American squad full of talented senior national team players, including Lacey Eden, Abbey Murphy, Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards.
A Canadian team with less international experience stayed in the game until the final minutes, when the Americans took the lead on a Murphy goal and eventually won 5-3. Canadian goalkeeper Ève Gascon made 33 saves in the defeat, putting in a performance her coach described as “phenomenal”.
“Not necessarily the results against the USA that we were hoping for, but we are very proud of our team’s performances over the course of the tournament,” said Alison Domenico, head coach of the Canadian National Development Team, in an interview with CBC Sports.
“Just in that last game where I came back, it could have been easy to win the whole thing with a two-point deficit.”
While several players on both sides of this final will likely be among the PWHL’s top draft picks in the next few years, the tournament was not broadcast in Canada or streamed by Hockey Canada.
While many Canadians will be watching the NHL’s top prospects at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship for men under 20, which begins Dec. 26, there is no world championship for women of the same age.
There will be a World Cup for women under 18 in Finland in January, which will be broadcast nationally on TSN.
However, there are few international opportunities between this tournament and the senior national team, creating a development gap as women strive to reach the highest level of the sport.
For fans, it also means fewer opportunities to see and get excited about future PWHL stars. Most will move from the U18 tournament to the NCAA, but even in Canada such games are not always easy to find.
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Earlier this year, the IIHF said a women’s junior world championship was on the horizon, but that it would likely not take place for several years, the Canadian Press reported.
Increase the player pool
The problem in Europe is that there aren’t enough players to fill teams at the U18 level, the senior team and a wider age group in between, said Mike Helber, the ice hockey director of the Swedish Ice Hockey Club.
“In the end, our best players will play in at least two of the tournaments, maybe even all three,” Helber said in an interview with CBC Sports.
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On the other hand, it is difficult for players to develop if they do not have the opportunity to compete against top players. Helber’s goal is to increase the number of Swedish players between the ages of 19 and 24 and bring more of these players to North America for college.
These players develop when they play against top Canadian and American prospects and bring what they’ve learned with them to Sweden when they return to their national team, Helber said.
“We need to bring more players to North America to see how good the players actually are,” said Helber, an American who played college hockey at the University of Michigan. “Sometimes they’re shocked.”
Once the player pool grows, Helber would be open to a World Cup for college-age players.
In the meantime, he still wants Swedish players to have the opportunity to compete against other countries.
He liked the format of the Six Nations tournament and is also looking for opportunities for the Swedish team to compete against American college teams.
“You have to see what level the North American athletes are playing at,” he said. “The best way to do that is to find ways to play against them.”
Spotlight on future PWHL talent
Countries were not restricted to sending players of a certain age to the Six Nations tournament. The PWHL took a break during the tournament, but most European PWHL players chose to remain with their club teams, with a few exceptions, such as Boston Fleet goalkeeper Emma Söderberg (Sweden).
Like the United States, Canada has sent its development team, which only has a handful of competitive opportunities each year. The team also played a three-game series against the Americans last summer, which the U.S. won by two games to one.
Several development team players could be an important part of Canada’s senior national team at the 2030 Olympics and beyond, including defender Nicole Gosling, who won a World Championship with the senior national team in April, and Caitlin Kraemer, Canada’s all-time leading scorer at the U18 Women’s World Cup.
With no World Cup for these players in between, it’s important to find ways to give them continued international experience, Domenico said.
“We can definitely get them to play in other countries and even get used to going abroad and getting the jet lag plan,” she said. “Having all these experiences is really important when you get to the next level.”
There could be some advantages for the PWHL in having the best young college-age players compete against each other.
It could help teams discover prospects. It could also help introduce a player like Kraemer to more fans before she gets drafted into the PWHL, just as a world junior tournament did for top young players like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
“The PWHL supports the development of women’s hockey at all levels, including events that provide greater opportunities for player development and continue to grow the game worldwide,” Jayna Hefford, the league’s senior vice president of hockey operations, told CBC Sport.
