Cynthia Cheng

Since the day women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998, people have been criticizing it.  People believe that the game is only very developed in two countries: Canada and the United States, and therefore does not have a place in the Games because it lacks competition.  They say that it’s very likely going to be a Canada-US final (again).  But do they not remember Turin 2006?  Canada played Sweden in the finals, not the US. 

People really shouldn’t be criticizing Canada and the United States for being “so dominant” (and specifically Canada!  Apparently, we aren’t supposed to be aggressive like this.  It’s “not proper.”  Whatever).  These countries are just playing the game.  They shouldn’t have to dumb down their skills just so they could be “at level” with everyone else.  Instead, it’s really up to other countries to develop the sport.  Don’t people find it strange that other colder-climate countries, ones with very dominant men’s teams, have women’s teams which are considered lucky to have competitive final scores when they play either Canada or the US?  Why isn’t the game being developed, while other sports are?  What makes girls’ and women’s hockey so hard to focus on?   Before you say that it’s a cultural and gender thing, you have to remember that years ago, Canadian and American girls didn’t play hockey either.  It was something that only boys did.  Then things changed, or more specifically, the perception changed. Hockey is now being perceived as a sport that woman is also capable of doing, women’s hockey started gaining popularity.

But should women’s hockey remain part of the Olympics?  Sure.  Why not?  If you got the guys, you should have the gals in too (got that, ski jumping?).  However, it’s also important for people to realize that it requires more than funding and development by cultural groups in a country to promote women’s hockey.  It requires changing the minds of people, too. On that note, it is interesting to see that in this year’s Olympics, China entered a women’s team, but not a men’s.  It could very well mean that eventually, people could find that aside from Canada and the United States, women’s hockey powerhouses could very well be outside of countries which one historically has perceived to be “hockey nations.”