I had hoped to share this on Mother's Day but you know how it goes: I was busy with my kids. :)
Here is a compilation of stories and social media posts at the intersection of motherhood and women's hockey. First I wrote about a traditional hockey mom (my mom), then a bunch of links.
In the old days a hockey mom was a mother of a hockey player. Today, a hockey mom could be that traditional depiction, but also a player, a coach, a gm, a ref, media, a commissioner, you name it.
My own mom was a 14 year volunteer with our local minor hockey association, 4 of us kids played over the years to varying extents, and my mom did every role at some point, except be on the board, or be a referee. In 1996 she called up our local parks and rec about starting a girls team. Another hockey mom worked at parks and rec, and voila the two of them were the leaders in creating a girls team and a women's team in our home town (my mom played a couple years on the women's team), keeping it going with all the other volunteers who stepped up. After my mom was done volunteering when I graduated, girls and women's hockey in my home town kept going, with the usual bumps along the way. It may have disappeared briefly, then got reignited thanks to someone's efforts, as these things go.
Girls and women's hockey is as strong as its ever been there, is my understanding. The town hosts the senior Canadian women's camp in the fall, recently had another girl go Division 1 NCAA, and some of the girls who played on that inaugural girls team in 1996, now play for the Iron Maidens (great name), the current iteration of the local women's team. It's amazing what can happen when one person takes action, people join to help and make it bigger and better. In this regard my mom is an inspiration for me. My main interaction with Hockey Canada and USA Hockey these days is to see the high performance product, the national teams. But that high performance product comes from a foundation of hundreds of thousands of volunteers at the grassroots level, everyday hockey heroes like my mom.
Ok, here are some links and stories about hockey and motherhood that had an impact on me this past year.
1- First, a shout out to all the Olympians that became moms (or second time moms) in the past year. Meghan Agosta, Meaghan Mikkelson, Melodie Daoust, Jocelyne Lamoureux, and Monique Lamoureux all welcomed babies since the 2018 Olympics. Here is Daoust, with her little guy.
2- Toronto Furies alum Carlee Campbell wrote this and paired it with an image of her daughter on Instagram after the CWHL announced it was folding. Carlee missed most of the 2018-19 hockey season after having her baby, but ultimately came back to pro hockey:
Dear little girl, I went back for you, to bring you into a world of strong women and to show you that anything is possible.
Dear little girl, I went back for you, so that you could be part of a family that has carved the way so that you can grow up to be what you want to be.
Dear little girl, I went back for you, to surround you with women who never quit or bend at the sight of pressure.
Dear little girl, I went back for you, so you can witness unity in times of success and in times of struggle.
Dear little girl, I went back for you.
Dear little girls, we will be back for you
#noleague #onefamily
3- Mom's The Word at Summer Showcase - Hockey Canada
From 2016, a story about Nadine Muzerall, Carey Morey, and Amanda Benoit-Wark. "A trio of assistant coaches mentor the next wave of female hockey players while inspiring – and being inspired by – their own sons and daughters."
4- A Day in the Life of Hockey Playing Moms - Hockey in Society
Courtney Szto at Hockey in Society documents a day in the life of 4 of her hockey teammates, who are moms. The story illustrates the challenges that moms face trying to incorporate self care/me time into their lives.
5- Olympic Moms Gotta Stick Together - CBC Players Own Voice, Meaghan Mikkelson
Mikkelson pens an open letter to a fellow Olympian who just had a baby. She writes about the challenges and joys of being a mother, the things she didn't know before she had her son. I related to so much of this, made we want to cheer for Mikkelson, on and off the ice.
6- First, Olympic Gold for Sisters, Now Time to Start Families - AP News, Teresa Walker
Teresa Walker wrote about the maternity benefits that the USWNT got in their 2017 deal with USA Hockey: "For the Lamoureux sisters, the maternity leave benefit in the contract is crucial. They receive a full stipend paid by USA Hockey during their pregnancies and then get a stipend to help with child care. Once cleared by a doctor, they can earn their way back onto the national team, with invites to next two evaluation camps." Walker then compares the policy to those of other pro women's sports.
The Lams have now had their babies, and I enjoy their posts on Instagram. Jocelyne posted recently about working out, and having a mentality of being better than yesterday rather than back at 100%, kind of showing the self compassion, and reasonable expectation for self, given her circumstances.
7- New Canaan's AJ Mleczko returns home a hall of famer
The above link is not directly about motherhood but AJ Mleczko, Olympic gold medalist and current color commentator for NBC Sports, and mom of four, does talk a bit about coaching her kids in the above story about going into her local hall of fame. Mleczko's twitter comments about being a mom are great. Recently she lamented that her daughter had said she sent her some gifs on mothers day, but Mleckzo heard gifts. Hopefully they were really good gifs.
8- Flames Reporter Reflects on Covering NHL While Pregnant - Calgary Sun, Kristen Anderson
Kristen Anderson shares a first person piece, reflecting on what it's like to be an NHL beat reporter while pregnant.
9- Caroline Ouellette on Building a Better Team Canada, POV Podcast
The first 3 minutes and last 8 minutes of this podcast include commentary from Ouellette about her and Julie Chu's daughter, Liv, and in the balance of the pod talks about the 2018 Olympics and getting into coaching. Ouellette has previously vocalized her dream of being a head coach for Team Canada one day, but also said in this podcast, "There's going to be many more Olympic games, but only a few years where our kids are young."
10 - A Look at the Unsung Heroes Supporting Women in Sports - Yahoo Sports, Cassandra Negley
After clicking the link above, scroll down a bit and click on 'Story Continues', then scroll some more to "The Women Who Build a Following," to learn about Shannon Desrosiers' current hockey endeavor. Desrosiers leads the Lil' Knights Club, a group of 60 or 70 kids, age 2 to 10, who cheer for the Clarkson women's hockey team at all their home games.
Previously, Desrosiers was co-head coach of Clarkson when they won their first NCAA Championship in 2014. A 2003 graduate of Saint Lawrence University, Desrosiers had been with Clarkson as coach since its first year of Div 1 NCAA play, and is the only NCAA Championship winning co-head coach or head coach to have played NCAA Women's Ice Hockey. She currently works at Clarkson in a non hockey role.
11- Jillian Dempsey is the captain of the Boston Pride. But in this fifth-grade class, she's Ms. Dempsey - The Athletic, Fluto Shinzawa
OK, not a Mothers Day article! But it's teacher appreciation week at my kids' daycare this week, and this story resonated with me. Having kids has changed the way I think about teachers. They are so much more than the already very important role of educator.
12- From social media, here is Coach Muzerall visiting her daughter's school for Sports Week. Cute pictures, I thought.
Three years into her tenure at OSU, Muzerall has a 58-42-11 record, and is the fastest coach in OSU women's hockey to reach 50 wins. No team in the country had better success against Minnesota (national runner up) or Wisconsin this past season (National Champion) than OSU. OSU went 2-4-2 against the women's hockey power houses, during the regular season, before falling 3-2 to Wisconsin in the WCHA tournament. OSU finished the season 20-13-2.
13 - And finally, here is an image from the book Everyday Hockey Heroes by Bob McKenzie and Jim Lang. Hilary Knight has a chapter in the book and it's worth reading if you want insight into her mindset. Among other things, Hilary shares how her mother was a huge part of her hockey career, and has always believed in her. Here is an image Knight shared for the book, kind of a classic hockey mom pose:
Happy Mother's Day, Moms!
