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February 23, 2006
Justin F. | Staff Writer
Despite having a new face play for gold in this year's Olympics, many
will still question whether or not the women's game should remain in the Olympics in coming years.
Like 2002, Canada showed the world that they are still the number one country when it comes to
women's hockey, as they put on a clinic en-route to a gold medal
victory in 2006.
But it was Sweden who may turn out to be the saving grace of women's hockey in the Olympics.
Sweden shocked the hockey world with their 3-2 shootout victory over the United States in the semifinals.
The win proved that the talent gap in women's hockey wasn't as large as some thought it was, and was able to keep the doubters of the game quiet
- for now.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) may still have some reasons to work with if they,
in fact, do want to remove women's hockey from the winter Olympics.
When you consider that one country - Canada - has two-thirds of the
women's hockey gold medals, as well as eight of the nine World Championship titles, you
can't help but notice that the other countries are pretty far back.
But the numbers can be deceiving, to an extent.
While Canada has won 10 of the 12 major women's hockey tournaments, it has a lot to do with the popularity of the sport.
Canada and the United States both have tens of thousands of female hockey players, while the numbers are much lower outside of North America.
That's where the problem lies.
As long as the number of female hockey players is low in Europe, the European countries will continue to struggle in the
women's game. As long as Canada and the United States have a much bigger crop to choose from, the players
will tend to be better.
That's why women's hockey needs to remain in the Olympics.
As long as the women's game is in the Olympics, the Olympic spotlight will shine brightly on the game.
Countries like Sweden, Finland and Russia need the women's game to be exposed at a level like the Olympics in order to raise interest in the game for female players.
It's the exposure of the Olympics that women's hockey needs in order to build.
Women's hockey is still a young venture, with this year being only
the third Olympic ice hockey tournament for the women. When you consider that back in 1924 the Canadian men beat
Switzerland by a score of 33-0, and that Switzerland's men beat
Canada 2-0 in this year's Olympics, you can't help but hope that the
women's game is given the same opportunity for the talent gap to shrink.
But the only way that's going to happen is if the IOC sticks this out
in the years to come. |
