The IX: Hockey Friday with Erica L. Ayala, August 16, 2019

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#FörFramtiden

Forty three players invited to the Swedish Women’s National Team Camp ahead of the 5 Nations Tournament have opted not to report for training. The players made a statement on Wednesday via social media. The tweet of the week is the original statement, below is a translated excerpt (has now been circulated on social media). I highly suggest following Meredith Foster (@FosterWrites) for more nuance and background on this topic.

“We have many reasons for our decision. Big and small. Some of them are endowed in resources, others in hospitality. It is a deep burden that one of the first reactions for us as we are given this incredible opportunity to represent our country is answering repetitive question, is it feasible, how much of an economic setback will it be … we do not ask for excessive demands, we only wish that we players would feel like a team together with the federation. That all time and effort we dedicate from our lives to the sport we have played since [we were] little kids is respected and met from the external world with a professional approach to our athletics, with a burning desire to make Sweden a stronger nation within women’s hockey.

Since April 2019 the Swedish Women’s National Team is no longer associated to a competitive team in the top division. That is not hwo we inspire upcoming young girls who start playing ice hockey. That is not how we install a grounded value to expand future conditions. That is not how we want … nor should have it.

We players are prepared to take our responsibility and do everything in our power to take us back to where we belong. However, only with us as professional athletes. *Until the men in charge inside the Swedish Hockey Federation show us this, the Swedish Women’s Hockey National Team will have an empty roster.”

#ForTheFuture

#FörFramtiden

*Emphasis offered by me for the newsletter

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This Week in Women’s Hockey

Reminder: First, the underlined words are the links. Second. CLICK these, even if you’ve already read them. Clicks = Attention from editors, producers and webmasters. Third, if you want to push out stuff you’ve written or read, email me! erica@ericalayala.com

More on Swedish National Team and #ForTheFuture

Updates on the Buffalo Beauts trademark.

Ivo Mocek named Riveters head coach.

A great piece on Bulbul Kartanbay, a Team Kazakhstan member hoping to play in the NWHL.

Seems like Bulbul will suit up for the Riveters!

Lots of NWHL signings, including Kelsey Neumann, Stephanie Anderson, Kimberly Brown, and more.

The Ice Garden is keeping us all up to date with their Free Agent Tracker.

Canada.com catches up with Cammi Granato.

“We’re a group of high-quality, elite talented players that have platforms off the ice, have tremendous success on the ice, and we just want something that’s sustainable and viable.” Hilary Knight speaks to SportsPro Media

Tara Sullivan with more on The Aurora Games. Here is a breakdown of the hockey events. I’ll be covering the event live, so keep up with The IX on social media next week!

NWHL announces Chipwich as new partner, VEDA returns to sponsor Player of the Week.

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Tweet of the Week

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Five at The IX: Lauren Dahm

Lauren is a former member of the Boston/Worchester Blades in the CWHL. Since the league folded in May, the Clarkson alumna has become a member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. Dahm will be present for The Aurora Games in Albany next week.

Erica L. Ayala: You’ll have a chance to do some of that with The Aurora Games, which is something that’s kind of a cool concept. It’s multiple women’s sports, for essentially a sports festival, women’s sports festival in Albany, New York. So how did you get involved in this? What are you looking forward to the most?

Lauren Nicole Dahm: I was living in Rhode Island with my cousins and Digit Murphy was also back in Rhode Island after coaching in China. She came to one of our games against Calgary … we were talking in the lobby before our game against Calgary and like she was trying to get to know me more like outside of hockey and things like that, and was like, send me a resume, like, let’s see what we can do.

I had left my job in Syracuse to do the hockey thing and I was substitute teaching down in Rhode Island during the season. We ended up meeting up once or twice a month throughout the year, just kind of like brainstorming ideas of like the one to do cam for what I want to do career wise … Digit is such a self-made person that it’s inspiring just talking to her. She’s accomplished [so much] in her life and [she’s] definitely a great resource for me to have.

I remember her telling me about The Aurora Games … I ended up doing a couple of promo events like dropping the puck at ECHL game, delivering the football at an Arena Football game in Albany … I also gave a speech to a middle school, that was so outside of my comfort zone. But it was like, really cool.

Seeing more athletes that are going to be there like Katelyn Ohashi from UCLA … it’s gonna be such an exciting week. And I’m like, super excited to be a part of it, and especially the first one of its kind and then also to play with some of the players that I’ve had to play again, last couple of years. Really excited for that part too.

ELA: How did hockey come on to the scene? Did you play any other sports growing up?

LND: So I actually was playing tee-ball in kindergarten or first grade, I was super young, and my teammates were going to learn to play hockey clinic where they give you a helmet and the equipment that you need to try it. I begged my parents let me go with them, and they did.

I didn’t even really know their backgrounds at the time, obviously, because I’m so young. But my mom was a field hockey goalie in college, and then my dad (laughs) can’t even skate to this day, but supposedly he played intramural hockey and was a goalie. He would just stand out there and fall and let the puck hit him. So hopefully I really honed my skills a little bit more than that.

They always say that wanting to be a goalie and stuff is like in your blood. So I guess I found out afterwards, but it definitely made sense. But I wasn’t a goalie until like my third year. I think I played defense for two years. And then my third year, like everybody on the team got to play goalie once and it was my turn, like during the very last game of the year. And from then on, I was a goalie so …

ELA: Throughout your entire CWHL career, I think one thing that was certainly a constant was how well received you were by fans in particular, and the media. Sometimes it seemed like there is a little bit of controversy about Goalie of the Week. Do you and your colleagues ever talk about that? What do you make of these awards? I’m just curious, your thoughts.

LND: I think like, it got to be kind of obvious that it was just whoever had more people on social media that were a fan of either their team or was just as a player, that they were going to win. I mean, it didn’t even matter. Like, if, you know, say your favorite goalie was on Montreal, and you guys played, I don’t know, if your goalie had like 10 saves, they were just gonna blindly vote for their team or their goalie, no matter what. It was, you know, a very surface level award. So we didn’t really, I personally, I didn’t really pay that much attention to it. I mean, it was always nice to see the support from people that would say, ‘Oh, Damn, deserve this, she stood on her head.’

As a goalie, you know whether you played well enough to earn something like that or not. So, I just always tried to show appreciation for people on social media that were supportive, just in general with their words, because … you could tell when people respected you for what you were putting in despite maybe not the results that we wanted.

Lauren and I talked about her involvement with the PWHPA for several minutes, then I asked the following question:

ELA: I’ll let you have the last word on this topic. What are the things that you would like to set the record straight on regarding the Players Association, or your decision to push to make women’s hockey better in this particular way?

LND: I think like, the big thing is, I don’t agree with the fact that it’s like, anti-NWHL or something like that. Personally, I commend both the CWHL and the NWHL for what they were trying to do like for women’s hockey. But I think just seeing the potential and the plans for the PA, and the people that are involved, that’s where I would stay standing on the issue.

And I think that it’s the better track for getting women’s hockey to where it needs to be. Just like soccer, the World Cup … it should be like seamless. So many people watch World Cup and followed that. And then all those players to come back and they’re playing in the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League). And the fans are coming out, and people are following the league and stuff like that. And I think that was the hope for the Olympics or hockey this year. And I know we gained some momentum, but I think like it could have been better. And I think like, once the right, people are involved in right steps are taken, like it’s just going to skyrocket like we know that it should. And I’m, I’m just excited to be a part of that kind of happening.

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Mondays: Soccer

By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson AP Women’s Soccer

Tuesdays: Tennis

By Lindsay Gibbs, @Linzsports ThinkProgress

Wednesdays: Basketball

By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal High Post Hoops

Thursdays: Golf

By Carly Grenfell, @Carlygren PGA.com

Fridays: Hockey

By: Erica Ayala, @ELindsay08 NWHL Broadcaster

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