For the first time in Canadian varsity sports, women’s hockey teams will offer full-ride scholarships in an attempt to compete with NCAA programs in the U.S. and entice athletes to stay closer to home.
All 33 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) women’s hockey programs, including the University of B.C. Thunderbirds, will enlist in the five-year pilot program, which was announced Tuesday and endorsed by Hockey Canada.
The ability to offer student-athletes more money to fund their education and power their competition means Canadian programs will retain more homegrown talent, said Tbirds head coach Graham Thomas.
“It’s huge. It’s been a long time coming and there’s been a lot of people fighting for it,” he said Wednesday.
“It may only be one player right now or one scholarship, but I know for sure we’re going to be able to compete with the U.S. NCAA schools and keep the top Canadian student-athletes here in Canada and that was the whole goal. We want to have them stay here because they excel in their sport but also because they’re great leaders.”
Schools can currently pay for all or part of an athlete’s tuition but not her housing or food; likewise, each program across the country, such as hockey, basketball and football, is limited by the number of full or partial scholarships it can award.
The pilot-program will see what happens when all costs are covered by the university, but each hockey program will still be bound by a specific scholarship cap.
“We’re excited that they chose our sport to do it out of all the sports that could have been picked,” said Thomas.
Haneet Parhar, a five-foot-five forward recruited from the Pacific Steelers junior hockey team, works a job teaching ice skating and manages four classes in her second year at UBC. More funding will mean fewer distractions for elite athletes and a higher level of team commitment, she said.
“It will change a lot. A lot of us come to school to play hockey, we don’t really care about the money,” she said. “We’re her because we want to be here but with money backing us up, there is even more of a reason for us to be here.”
Women’s hockey was selected for the trial because the CIS found Canadian women in this sport were among the likeliest to leave their NCAA program for a team in Canada. The CIS could not say how many women have returned but will begin keeping tabs next year.
Similarly, an unknown number of athletes who wanted to return to Canada have remained with their NCAA program because they did not want to sit out a year, as CIS eligibility rules require.
Katie Zinn, however, is one athlete who dropped off her NCAA team at Pennsylvania State half way through the 2011-12 season to return to Canada. She transferred to UBC.
The promises made in an effort to recruit her weren’t delivered, she said. Her development stagnated when she didn’t see ample ice time and the rookie also felt spurred by her coach for reasons he could never explain. “I was really unhappy,” said Zinn.
Returning to Canada and being closer to her home town of Coquitlam meant Zinn had to forfeit a year of eligibility, a big price for an elite athlete. The five-foot-seven forward trains with the Tbirds but can’t compete.
She will be eligible to play for UBC on Jan. 12, 2014 — a date she thinks about frequently.
If she dresses, she’ll compete in playoffs come March and will have three years eligibility remaining. If she waits until the 2014-15 season, she will have four full years to play in the CIS.
“I have to make that choice,” she said. “There are a lot of pros and cons. It’s going to be a game-day decision.”
Zinn, 20, is red-shirting with UBC and does not regret to decision to leave Penn State.
“I’d rather be here with a great team and great coach rather than not be happy — even if I’m not playing,” she said. “It’s hard. I focus a lot on supporting the girls where I can. If feel like that’s my role right now, to push them to do better in practice and help them if they need anything because I have the time and the energy.
“Every day I can’t play, it fires me up a lot more so it makes me appreciate being able to play.”
Zinn will be among the last student-athletes forced to sit out one year.
The CIS also announced Tuesday that it will retire the “eligibility reparation rule” that requires athletes returning to Canada from a foreign athletic program to sit out an entire season. The new rule — which the CIS dubbed “a game-changer” — was passed with 98 per cent support from member universities. The rule will take effect next September.
“I’m ecstatic that they’re changing it but I’m a little annoyed that it was after the year I came back,” said Zinn. “I missed it by a year.”
She said the women’s hockey scholarship program coupled with the new transfer rule will increase the level of competition in Canada.
“Coming back to the CIS, you realize how great of a place it is to get your education and the sport levels are much higher than I expected,” she said, noting the CIS does not get enough credit.
“Players are so NCAA-focused, but in the long run we’re here to get an education and the CIS sets you up. Here in my home town, it sets me up to work at home, which something that I want.”
Women’s university hockey was expanded 1997 when the CIS held a national championship. Since the University of Montreal joined in 2009, there are five teams in the Quebec conference and the larges conference, Ontario, grew from 10 to 13 teams in the past decade. Canada West counts eight teams, which is also an increase since Calgary joined in 2009 and Mount Royal signed on last season.
