It's Time For A Women's World Junior Tournament
Women's hockey was ready for a World Junior tournament 30 years ago...so why are we waiting?
The time for a women’s World Junior Championship was 1977, the same year a men’s tournament was formed, but to think we’re about to watch the calendar flip to 2023, and there is still no IIHF women’s World Junior Championship is undeniable sexism.
On the men’s side, there are the U-18, U-20, and senior World Championship tournaments. On the women’s side, only the U-18 and senior World Championship exist. This means, from the time many players are 17, they must rely solely on domestic play to compete and develop. For most players, this results in a five- to six-year gap in International competition. In North America, legislation such a Title IX has worked to remove barriers, specifically discrimination based on sex and gender in sport, but some international organizations, including the IIHF have continued to lag behind in equity.
While media organizations and fans focus in on the next men’s hockey stars, players like Connor Bedard and Shane Wright, women graduating from their national U-18 teams, players like Tessa Janecke, Kirsten Simms, and Laila Edwards from USA, or Madison Chantler and Jade Iginla from Canada, are destined for a quieter existence until, and if, they can crack their senior national teams.
At this year’s women’s World Championship, there were a number of U-23 standouts, including some U-20 players, but the IIHF’s omission of a World Junior tournament for women, is egregious.
In Canada, most women’s junior leagues are U-22, which would be an excellent age bracket to create for a women’s tournament, while junior hockey for men in Canada predominantly ends when players turn 20.
From Canada and the USA alone, the opportunity to see players like Sarah Fillier, Taylor Heise, Caroline Harvey, Hannah Bilka, Lacey Eden, Emma Maltais, Ashton Bell, and Rory Guilday, who were all 22 or under at the most recent World Championship would provide a base of exciting talent. If you were to add in some of the recent U-18 standouts like Edwards, Janecke, Iginla, Karel Prefontaine, Sydney Morrow, and Sara Swiderski, these teams would be a fantastic showcase of the talented future in women’s hockey.
In Europe, players like Sanni Vanhanen and Elisa Holopainen (Finland), Mira Jungaker and Maja Nylen Persson (Sweden) , and Daniela Pejsova and Adela Sapovalivova (Czechia) would become household names across the globe. Add in Switzerland, and you have a fantastic core of six nations - Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, Czechia, Switzerland - to include in a women’s World Junior tournament. Should Russia return to international competition, an eight-team tournament comes into view filled out by Germany, Japan, Hungary, or Denmark.
Certainly, Canada and the USA would dominate, but the rest of the world would get to continue to compete following the U-18 tournament, facing stronger competition. It would also give nations more incentive to continue developing players at this age.
In terms of gender equity, the fact the IIHF has continued without offering a women’s World Junior Championship is unacceptable.
Canada and the United States have started to compile U-22 rosters for their annual three-game Collegiate Series. The first Under-22 competition between the nations occurred in 1999, and would be a logical opportunity to expand into an annual World Junior Championship.
Perhaps with the loss of dozens of sponsors for the men’s World Junior team in Canada, a group of corporate sponsors could combine, reallocating funds from the men’s game to the women’s to launch an inaugural tournament. The onus of this equity gap however, rests with the IIHF.
With the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) already operating, and a PWHPA driven professional league in the works, it’s only a matter of time until scouting in the women’s game sees a boom, and a World Junior tournament would provide a hub for teams, much like it does in men’s hockey.
Hockey has never been a game for men alone, but men have held power as gatekeepers from women in the sport. That is changing, and seeing a full-fledged women’s World Junior Championship tournament would be another important step toward equity in the sport.
The time is now for a Women’s World Junior Championship, and any claim by the IIHF, by Hockey Canada, by USA Hockey of equity without the expansion of the women’s game to include matching international opportunities to men, are false and empty.
I liked your comment about women always playing but men being gatekeepers. It resonated.
Dear Ian
While I love the idea, for obvious simple reasons, I'm convinced it is absolutely not realistic at least for the next few years. In an U20 tournament it would really be the US vs. Canada only - much more so than the Women's Worlds for the past ten years.
Why? Well, you touched on it yourself: "In Europe, players like Sanni Vanhanen and Elisa Holopainen, Mira Jungaker and Maja Nylen Persson , and Daniela Pejsova and Adela Sapovalivova would become household names across the globe."
The 19 and 20 year olds in the European women's hockey nations are part of their senior national teams. Very important parts, quite often. So they would play in the WW and not the WWJC, making the junior teams for these countries no more competitive. Or they would play in the WWJC instead of the WW, thereby making the senior teams less competitive :/
The 19 year old standouts would play in both championships, you say? As the vast majority of them is working or at university (near-)full time... It's hard to imagine that any time soon.
It's basically the same reason the Swiss women's team is always called "very young" at the WW. - Well, they won't be more experienced any time soon, if most have to retire around age 26 because, at some point, they have to earn a living.
There really has to be some more push to get the women's leagues to pay their players at least a part salary (with the idea and hope, of course, to increase it...), so the juniors can at least have a chance/perspective to playing professional hockey later. - Also keeping more of them in the game after school.
So, I think there is a lot of work to do, before a WWJC can take place. Probably promoting the ones more that already exist (WW, U18) would be one piece to the puzzle of making it happen some day..?
Best :)