Women's hockey honouring its past helps it move clearly to the future

There are a few moments in my life that have struck me as incredibly poignant and historic in the world of sports.

On Feb. 16 I attended the PWHL's Battle on Bay Street and sat in the press box as more than 19,000 people filled Scotiabank Arena. I watched as Toronto delighted an arena full of fans as it emerged victorious in a game with so much enthusiasm and flair that it was hard not to feel emotional. The music, the violet lights and atmosphere made me tear up.

I recall the thousands of little girls wearing their own hockey jerseys as a nod to the possibilities and power of the women's game, and their identity.

It was arguably one of the most profound moments in my career as a sports journalist. I have covered women's hockey since the days of the Toronto Furies playing at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke. To see the PWHL be realized is so important. Equally important is what it took to get there and how previous iterations of professional or semi-professional leagues contributed to that moment and to that success.

I asked Dr. Courtney Szto, hockey scholar and kinesiology professor at Queen's University, about why we should care about histories in women's hockey. 

"Some might say that we need to know our history so we don't repeat it," Szto told me over text. "I am starting to feel more like we need to know our history so we understand how much it takes to create any movement of the needle, and how easily that can be undone.

"I think history is about connecting struggles across time, geography, and political contexts so that we have bigger pools of hope from which to draw."

Six days after that game, I was seated at a golf club among some of the same people who were at Scotiabank Arena but instead of an excited