In mid-December, at the arena in Tampere, Finland, the future leading candidates for the PWHL draft faced off in the tournament final.
During the Women's Euro Hockey Tour (or Six Nations Tournament), the Canadians faced an American team made up of senior national team talent, including Lacey Eden, Abbey Murphy, Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards.
The Canadian squad with less international experience stayed in the game until the last minutes, when the Americans took the lead after Murphy's goal and ultimately won 5-3. Canadian goalkeeper Ève Gascon made 33 saves in the defeat, calling her performance “phenomenal.”
“It's not necessarily the results we were hoping for against the U.S., but we're very proud of our team's performance throughout the tournament,” Canadian national team head coach Alison Domenico said in an interview with CBC Sports.
“Only in this last match, when I came back into the game, being a shorthanded pair, it was easy to pull myself together.”
While several players on both sides of this final will likely be highly qualified in the PWHL over the next few years, the tournament was not broadcast in Canada or broadcast by Hockey Canada.
While many Canadians will be watching the NHL's top prospects during the Under-20 Men's Ice Hockey World Junior Championships, which begin Dec. 26, there is no world championship for women of the same age.
In January, Finland will host the U18 Women's World Cup, which will be broadcast nationwide on TSN.
However, there are few international opportunities between this tournament and the senior national team, which creates a development gap as women strive to reach the highest level in the sport.
For fans, it also means fewer opportunities to see and get excited about future PWHL stars. Most of them will move on from the U18 tournament to play in the NCAA, but it's not always easy to find those matches in Canada.
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Earlier this year, the IIHF said a women's junior world championship was on the horizon, but it likely wouldn't happen for a few years, the Canadian Press reported.
Increasing the player pool
According to Mike Helber, director of hockey operations for the Swedish Hockey League, the problem in Europe is that there are not enough female players to fill the under-18 teams, the senior national team and other age groups in between. Association.
“We'll end up with our best players playing at least two tournaments, maybe even all three,” Helber said in an interview with CBC Sports.
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On the other hand, it is difficult for players to develop if they do not have the opportunity to play with top players. Helber's goal is to increase the number of Swedish players between the ages of 19 and 24 and attract more of them to North America for college.
Helber said these players develop by playing against top Canadian and American players and then bring what they learn back to Sweden when they return to the national team.
“We need to bring more players to North America to see how good they actually are,” said Helber, an American who played hockey at the University of Michigan. “Sometimes they are shocked.”
As the number of players increases, Helber will be open to a world championship for college-age players.
In the meantime, he still wants Swedish players to have the chance to compete with other countries.
He liked the format of the Six Nations tournament and is also looking for opportunities for the Swedish team to compete with American college teams.
“They need to see what level North American athletes are playing at,” he said. “The best way to do that is to find a way to play against them.”
Future PWHL talents in focus
Countries were not limited to sending players of a certain age to the Six Nations tournament. The PWHL took a break during the tournament, but most European PWHL players, with a few exceptions, chose to stay with their clubs, like Boston Fleet goalkeeper Emma Söderberg (Sweden).
Like the United States, Canada sent its own development team, which only gets a few opportunities to compete each year. The team also played a three-game series against the Americans last summer, in which the United States won two games to one.
Some development team players could play important roles on Canada's senior team at the 2030 Olympics and beyond, including defender Nicole Gosling, who won the senior world championship with the team in April, and Caitlin Kraemer, Canada's all-time leading scorer in the Under-18 Women's World Cup.
Since these players don't have a World Cup between competitions, it's important to find a way for them to gain international experience, Domenico said.
“Any way we can get them to play in other countries and even get them used to going abroad and protecting themselves from time zone changes,” she said. “Going through all of these experiences is really important when you get to the next level.”
In the case of the PWHL, having the best emerging college-age players compete against each other could have several benefits.
This can help teams find leads. It could also help introduce a player like Kraemer to more fans before she is called up to the PWHL, just as the world junior tournament did for top young players like Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard.
“The PWHL supports the growth of women's hockey at all levels, which includes events that will provide greater opportunities for player development and will continue to grow the game around the world,” said Jayna Hefford, the league's senior vice president of hockey operations. CBC Sports.