Hockey Hall of Fame 2019

The class of 2019 Hockey Hall of Fame will be announced on Tuesday, and on the women's side Hayley Wickenheiser is expected to be inducted.

If inducted, she would be the seventh woman, joining Angela James and Cammi Granato (2010), Geraldine Heaney (2013), Angela Ruggiero (2015), Danielle Goyette (2017), and Jayna Hefford (2018), in the Hockey Hall of Fame. She would be the first female representative from western Canada, having been raised in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta.

If you ask me for additional players who ought to have someone make a case for them, Karyn Bye is one I'm interested in hearing about. Angela Ruggiero suggested on the ESPN on Ice podcast last fall that Bye is one from the original Olympic era that belongs. Nafio at Pension Plan Puppets suggested the same thing, in her HHOF post last week.

One of the standards that has fairly or unfairly been set so far is Olympic Gold (with one exception in Angela James). Not too sure how I feel about that one. I do think winners belong, but a Women's World Championship is winning right? Natalie Darwitz, being a part of that 2005 team that won that first WWC for the USA, plus she captained the US team for a few years, and is all over the record books for NCAA hockey, with a couple of NCAA Championships, has a pretty strong case to be in the HHOF, even without Olympic gold. Might be able to call her the best player of that 2nd era of US Olympians (she played in the 2002, '06, '10 Olympics).

It's kind of tragic that Finland didn't win a world championship this spring, because that would have likely punched multiple women's ticket into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Noora Raty being the one most known to me. A Finnish great will get in eventually, but with the current HHOF selection committee setup, it's hard to see a path to when.

With little suspense regarding Wickenheiser, and little expectation for a 2nd woman to be inducted as a player this year, the real suspense is when the first builder will be inducted on the women's side.

There are many names to consider. I asked on twitter yesterday and people suggested Cindy Curley, Fran Rider, and Manon Rheaume. I've also thought about Jack Brodt and Paul Kennedy and their contributions in the early aughts to now, in the USA.

The most likely candidates to get in are those who are connected to people on the voting committee (ie known among the governing bodies) and had a global contribution to the game. That would be a pretty small list of people, particularly because women's hockey grew out of such a grassroots effort. And yet, it just doesn't seem right, because the grassroots aspect of it all is kind of the magic of it all. The idea that in pockets across Canada, the US, Europe and beyond, individuals with modest power set about growing the game in their locality. And look where it is today.

If global impact is going to be the as yet unknown standard, the obvious person or people to induct is whoever the ring leader was that rounded up all these people around the world and made the World Championships a thing. My understanding is two people who were particularly responsible for that were Fran Rider and Hazel McCallion, both of Ontario. Surely there are others but these are the names that arise over and over. Rider founded the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, McCallion was also involved in OWHA, and as mayor of Mississauga was involved in numerous rink building projects (perhaps the most impactful thing a builder could do, in many parts of the world, including the US and Canada). If I recall from reading On The Edge (Elizabeth Etue and Megan Williams) there was endless challenges in getting the IIHF to sanction women's hockey, and the grassroots committee literally had to grow women's hockey around the world, to achieve IIHF status. An impressive feat.

Another builder is Melody Davidson. Davidson has been involved with Hockey Canada as a coach, GM, and scout since at least 1993, and surely was building girls and women's hockey before that. She has a drawer full of medals with Hockey Canada, most impressively perhaps, the gold medal as Head Coach at the Vancouver Olympics.

Perhaps Davidson's greatest legacy will be her vocal commitment to calling for developing women to work in all aspects of hockey, particularly coaching. As a coach herself, she has long known that hockey is about so much more than just players. She has gone on record in interviews about Hockey Canada's commitment to female coaches, and just looking at the staffs of various Hockey Canada teams the commitment is evident. This is in stark contrast to Hockey USA, who has not had a female coach on their senior women's team staff since the 2014 Olympics (other than the video coach). While Davidson's contribution may not be global, she is a multi time gold medal winning champion, has longevity of service, and has an undeniable impact on women's hockey in Canada.

Cassie Campbell is well known as a player, captaining Canada to two Olympic gold medals. I see her getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Her willingness and ability to venture into men's hockey doing color commentary for HNIC and Sportsnet was a move that sets her apart, and blazes a trail for other aspiring broadcasters. Gaining prominence on the men's side, Cassie never forgot the women's game, and was on the board of the CWHL for a period of time, and was the first high profile non player to go public and call for one united league for women's hockey, last spring. Her views are not shared by everyone, but it is fair to say a majority of people want one united viable league, and Cassie's willingness to start the conversation publicly will ultimately advance the sport.

Shannon Miller has such a seemingly complicated story, and for me I feel some heartache in it, not necessarily for her, but for the generation of girls who missed out on having a successful coach celebrated, someone to be inspired by. I believe Miller belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and will get there one day, but it may take a long time. Like Davidson, her involvement with Hockey Canada dates back to the early nineties.

The Canada Winter Games added women's hockey in 1991. The chance to play for one's provincial team inspired scores of girls across Canada to join hockey. Miller was an assistant coach for Team Alberta in those inaugural games, helping lead Alberta to gold, along with the help of a 13 year old star player named Hayley Wickenheiser. Miller would remain a part of Wickenheiser's development, for the next 7 years. After the Canada Games, Miller kept coaching in Calgary, and was involved in starting the first all girls hockey team in Calgary.  In the nineties, Miller won three World Championship gold medals (assistant coach I think), and and Olympic silver (Head Coach).

After the Olympic cycle, Hockey Canada did not renew Miller's contract as they were not retaining a full time women's coach, although they said she was welcome to re-apply. They further described  her Hockey Canada experience as follows:

"Miller was an assistant coach with the gold medal-winning teams at the 91 Women's World Champion, and was head coach when Canada won the 1997 Women's World's. She also coached Canada to gold medals at the 19 Pacific Rim Championships. She led Canada to a gold medal at the 1996 3 Nations' Cup and a silver medal at the 1997 version of this event, which involves Finland and Team USA."

The article linked to above also references the untrue and homophobic commentary that was put in print about Miller and others during that Olympic year. It is sad, and representative of the discourse that surrounded her throughout her career, not to mention the untold damage that caused to young people witnessing it play out, and wasted opportunity to inspire a generation.

Miller loved hockey though, and moved on to a new opportunity. She started the program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, a Division II school that played Division I in hockey in a power house league with three Big 10 (aka big budget) schools. Miller was the first to really recruit Europe, perhaps in response to the fact that University of Minnesota would be tough competition for recruiting blue chip Minnesotan recruits. Miller had tremendous success. She won 5 of the first 10 NCAA Championships, and coached a total of 16 years in NCAA hockey. Her record of 5 Championships was matched this spring by Mark Johnson. It's a record that will be broken eventually as Minnesota and Wisconsin assert themselves as the elite right now (along with Clarkson, and Boston College to a lesser extent), but Miller's run was nonetheless remarkable.

Other schools have tried to duplicate the recruiting Europe strategy. UND was doing a great job of it and had the edge on UMD, when their program was cut. They may have been on the path to a Championship but we'll never know. Maine has recently tried to duplicate Miller's strategy of recruiting heavily in Europe, but has not found a league championship, let alone 5 NCAA Championships.

I thought the most impressive of the NCAA Championships at UMD was the 2008 won. By then Mark Johnson was at Wisconsin, and had been named the 2010 Olympic coach a few years prior. Already a great coach, the best US players were now flocking to his program. Miller's UMD defeated Wisconsin 4-0 to win their fourth NCAA Championship. That Wisconsin roster? It had Jinelle Zaug, Erica Lawler, Megan Duggan, Hilary Knight, and Jessie Vetter. All future US Olympians. It was the only National Championship game that Duggan didn't win (she is in the rare group that has 3 NCAA titles).

Miller's 2008 squad also had some big names and future national team players: Hayley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Kim Martin, Emanuelle Blais, Sara Niemi.

In her 16 year tenure in the NCAA's Miller had one losing season and one 500 season, the rest were winning seasons. Her NCAA career ended with a contract not being renewed and a successful title IX lawsuit. These are sad facts, and beyond what I wish to get into. I believe it's fair to say she was a hardass coach, who did all the things that a certain brand of successful coaches do.

Her winning ways and fingerprints on women's hockey during that big growth period of the 90's are what make her a builder. She played a role in developing the greatest player ever, Wickenheiser. And at UMD she was mentor to several, but one in particular who is changing the hockey world, and might be one of Miller's greatest legacies: Caroline Ouellette.

Ouellette shared this about Miller, on the day that the Title IX ruling was to come out:

"Thank you coach Miller for teaching us what leadership is by always standing up for what we deserve. For teaching us what work ethic is by being the hardest worker. For showing us that embracing our differences and caring for one another is the greatest strength a team can have! Today as always i stand with you. Thank you for being the best mentor!"

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The Hockey Hall of Fame is a complicated thing. Getting in is surely out of this world. We are still waiting for the first builder to get recognized. But rest assured, they are everywhere, with complicated stories, achievements and errors, character strengths and flaws, all of them moving the game forward. Can't wait for the first one to get it.