Hockey Canada unveils blueprint to grow game for women and girls

Hockey Canada has laid out the first steps toward its goal of having more than 170,000 girls and women playing hockey in Canada by 2030. Canada goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer and Erin Ambrose celebrate after defeating the United States in Rivalry Series women's hockey action in Regina, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards (Liam Richards)

EDMONTON — Hockey Canada has unveiled a blueprint to get more oomph behind girls and women in the sport.

Registration of female players, coaches and officials has increased, but the organization states that still represents less than 20 per cent of its programming.

“We don’t want to just be content with ‘our sport is growing and we’re just going to continue as is,’” said three-time Olympic gold medal forward Gillian Apps, who chaired a subcommittee seeking to amplify and guide growth for women and girls.

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“If we’re going to do something big, if we want to be aspirational, where do we think we can push this to?”

Female hockey registration in Canada has risen year over year to 115,000 last season. Hockey Canada’s goal is 170,000 by 2030.

“If we did nothing, we wouldn’t be able to accommodate the growth,” Hockey Canada board chair Jonathan Goldbloom said Saturday.

Apps, Goldbloom and Hockey Canada’s women and girls vice-president Marin Hickox unveiled 14 recommendations at Rogers Place before Canada’s women faced the United States in the fourth and final game of the Rivalry Series.

Included in the recommendations was each provincial and territorial association having a salaried employee devoted to women and girls hockey. About half of them do right now.

“What we’re hoping is that we can get that to 100 per cent over the next three years to make sure that there is somebody . . . taking all the calls, that they’re not having to be a doctor during the day and then be a volunteer administrator at night,” Hickox said.

More equitable access to ice and facilities and helping girls and women start playing hockey regardless of age or ability was also in the blueprint entitled “Rise As One.” Canada’s players wore stickers on their helmets Saturday night bearing that slogan.

Apps, who works in Toronto in management consulting, says she made it clear from the outset she was interested in leading a committee if Hockey Canada was serious about implementing changes.

“There are a lot of people on steering committee that when asked (to participate) said ‘is this for real? I don’t want to put all this time into something that is just going to check a box and go on a shelf and nothing’s ever going to come of it,’” Apps said.

“I’ve found that the women’s and girls game sometimes plays second fiddle in a lot of conversations.

“There’s a commitment from Hockey Canada to say ‘these are the things that we think can help improve women and girls hockey in Canada.’”

Apps, who won Olympic gold with Canada in 2006, 2010 and 2014, is married to former U.S. team captain Meghan Duggan.

“I have a four-year-old daughter and a one-year-old daughter, so for me, thinking about the two of them playing hockey in Canada and if I can have any part in making their experience better, even better than mine was, that makes me so happy,” Apps said.

Among the elements Hockey Canada wants accelerated in the next one to two years was enhancing leadership and coaching positions for women and driving the visibility of women’s hockey.

Increasing revenue from events such as the 2027 women’s world championship in Quebec City was also in the blueprint to help pay for more women and girls programming.

Canada’s first Rivalry Series game in Edmonton — the third of the series — was attended by just over 3,000 people.

“Certainly the crowd was disappointing to us on Wednesday night, but we again are confident that we’ve got 10,000 that are coming into the building today,” Hickox said. “We’re going to continue to show up. We’re going to continue to the reward the communities that really are growing the game right across the country and want to work with partners all across the country to make sure that we’re really driving that top revenue.”

Hockey Canada issued a survey for its research hoping for a minimum 600 respondents over an 11-day window, and said it ended up with over 6,000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2025.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press