A female division will be added to the Canadian Sports School Hockey League in the upcoming season.
Plans for a sixth division in the sports school hockey league were announced on April 8, with final details regarding the new female division expected to be ironed out at the league’s annual general meeting in Vancouver from June 9 and 10.
The female component of the league is expected to be made up of teams from the Banff Hockey Academy, Complete Hockey Academy in Idaho, Delta Hockey Academy, Edge School for Athletes in Calgary, Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton and the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna.
All but Delta and Complete hockey academies already offer existing girls’ hockey programs, said Canadian Sports School Hockey League chair Andy Oakes.
The Burnaby Winter Club Academy, currently in its second season in association with Burnaby Central Secondary School, is keeping its options open on how to accomodate a female elment into the academy, said winter club hockey director Maco Balkovec.
“One of the big challenges from a numbers' perspective is female enrolment, it’s nowhere near male enrolment at this time,” said Balkovec.
Oakes said currently the number of registered midget-aged female hockey players in B.C. is approximately 950, compared to more than 5,000 boys.
“The female game is growing at a really good rate but it is still pretty small,” Oakes said.
With the sports school league mandating at least 19 players per team, it’s not just about filling spaces, but finding 19 great players, Balkovec added.
Balkovec hoped the participation numbers for girls would have exploded following Canada’s first of four gold medals at the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002, but the largest growth in female hockey continues to be seen east of the Rockies.
“In my first year, my focus was to do one thing exceptionally well and build on it,” he said.
The winter club’s elite 15s team placed first following the regular season, but finished with a silver medal in the playoffs after losing 3-2 to Yale in the championship final.
BWC’s prep team also earned a spot in the post season this year.
