The IX: Hockey Friday with Erica L. Ayala, March 6, 2020
“Mediocrity is maybe accepted” - interview with Corinne Buie - must-click WoHo links
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“Mediocrity is maybe accepted”
As I sat down to compile today’s newsletter, one article from The Daily Orange stood out to me. Assistant sports editor Mitchell Bannon wrote about a coaching double standard in college ice hockey.
In the article, Bannon follows a 2016 column by Mark McGuire (no, not that one St. Louis) that expresses distaste for Union College bringing back coach Claudia Asano Barcomb after a 9-year record of 36-236-32. McGuire committed his thoughts to the page in February, Asano Barcomb left Union three months later.
Both McGuire and Bannon highlight what they believe to be an issue in women’s college ice hockey. That being, women’s team coaches in the sport are given a longer leash than their peers.
In 2016, McGuire suggests no men’s coach with a losing record would been given nine years. McGuire also makes the argument that keeping a women’s coach with a losing record is bad for the sport, that it’s an equality issue. Bannon picks up from there.
“Would a coach of a men’s hockey team keep his job with this record?” -Mark McGuire
The Daily Orange reports 18.64% of women’s college coaches have reached 100-games with a sub-30 win percentage. In men’s hockey, only 6.3% of coaches have a sub-30 percent win percentage. The conversation then goes into the false security of Title IX.
Both Bannon and McGuire allude to women’s college hockey falling victim to unequal resources, less pay for coaches, and other presumably gender-based biases.
“If you feel that the program is being slighted then it does affect some of the kids.” –Paul Flanagan, Syracuse women’s hockey head coach
Can I imagine a college program not losing sleep over a poor performing women’s team? Yes.
Can I imagine a well-performing women’s team having less resources than their male counterpart (even as the women’s team continues to be more successful)? Yes.
However, I want to learn more about coaching trends in women’s hockey before coming to my own opinion. What do you think about this topic? Have you read other reports or articles on this topic?
Feel free to email me your thoughts, or articles you’ve come across. I look forward to hearing from you!
Countdown to Worlds!
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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
Coaching double standards plague women’s hockey, writes Mitchell Bannon.
PODCAST: The Original Eight series kicks off with Kiira Dosdall-Arena.
PWHPA looks to grow the pro game beyond the NWHL
Brooke Wolejko deserves your attention!
Beauts new rookies Léa-Kristine Demers and Mikyla Grant-Mentis make an immediate impact, Melissa Burgess tells WBFO.
This weekend, Arizona Coyotes to bring elite hockey talent to Valley for Dream Gap Tour.
“Celebrating the history, culture, and accomplishments of a community is never meant to be passive. Instead, it must be active.” Kim Davis on the importance of celebrating Black History Month.
Connecticut Whale ready to shock the NWHL, writes Jared Clinton.
Hilary Knight to serve as the inside-the-glass analyst for an upcoming Caps game.
Penn State holds Mercyhurst scoreless in home finale.
Buffalo Beauts rookie Mikyla Grant-Mentis shines in pro debut!
Princeton outlasts Quinnipiac, advances to ECAC semifinals.
Maine sweeps Boston University to advance to Hockey East semifinals.
Tweet of the Week
Five at The IX: Corinne Buie, Buffalo Beauts
Corinne Buie is one of the eight players to compete in all five NWHL season. She is also one of two players ever to win consecutive Isobel Cup titles (the other being the retired Harrison Browne). She is one of three (Browne and Amanda Leveille) to have two Izzy Cup titles.
Buie has also been to the Isobel Cup Final each of her five seasons. Can she return to the last game of the season once again? We find out TONIGHT as the Buffalo Beauts host the Connecticut Whale for the NWHL play-in game. Winner faces the first place Boston Pride on Sunday. Photo credit Mike Hetzel/NWHL
This year with the Buffalo Beauts has had its ups & downs, but that has allowed lots of players to step up. How are you feeling about the ability of this team to weather the storm this year, and what do you expect come Friday for the play-in game?
I think we had a pretty good start, and then we had a bit of a rocky road. You’d look at our record (and say) we struggled, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been growing and getting better as a team. Especially this past weekend!
Getting that win before the play-in game on Friday, that was huge for us. And, having those two new additions come in (Léa-Kristine Demers & Mikyla Grant-Mentis) and make an impact right away, it was just a big weekend for us and we needed that momentum going into Friday.
What do you do as a veteran, as a captain, to prepare the team and those rookies for the Beauts version of ‘playoff hockey”?
The new girls, they just came straight out of college (co-captains at Merrimack), they don’t have very much time at all to become a part of the team. I was talking to Bucky, that’s Miklya’s nickname, she was asking me some questions about (the role of) our center and D-zone.
I was like, “You know how to play center, so play center the way you know how to play.” I told her to play her game and that we can’t be overthinking it. Anything can happen in these playoff games and we’ve seen that before, so we’re excited to play at home on Friday.
Well, Bucky —I gotta get the new nicknames committed to memory — centered a line with you and Taylor Accursi. You both have been key elements to this roster. What was it like having Grant-Mentis join your line?
I was really pleased (to be) playing on a line with both of them. They’re both so skilled at everything and just seeing Bucky and what she can do right off the bat. I mean, not only did she contribute on the scoresheet, but I felt confident having her at center and I though there was chemistry with our line … I’m excited to play another game with them.
Yeah, the rookies will get a tase of the home crowd and #FortBeaut!
Yes! I do want to give a shoutout. We had a traveling Beauts crew this weekend. I don’t know if you could hear them (on the Twitch stream), but they were chanting!
The (Riveters) fans had a drummer and we had a group of Beauts fans travel all the way to New Jersey and were cheering us on. It was huge! I know they’ll be there on Friday too, but shoutout to them for making it to New Jersey.
As you head into the playoffs, how much do you reflect on being in the Final game of the NWHL season for four consecutive years and winning two titles?
Well, I try not to think about it too much because I’ve been fortunate enough to make it to the final game every year. So, I just take it one game at a time. We’ve got to make it past Friday to make it to the semifinal round, so I’m just focusing on that Friday game.
March is always an exciting time of year for me, my birthday is on March 7th, so it always comes up right around playoffs. I’m really excited, there’s nothing like playoff hockey and I’m super pumped!
