Professional Women's Hockey League offers more opportunities, inspires players from Nova Scotia
CBC
Nova Scotian forward Jill Saulnier cemented herself in hockey history Monday after scoring a goal for New York in the Professional Women's Hockey League sold-out inaugural game against home team Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
But it's not only professional players like her who are experiencing the impact of the new league.
Olivia Eustace, 21, is a fourth-year forward with the women's hockey team at Dalhousie University. With her university career coming to an end, Eustace began to consider exploring lines of work outside of hockey. But now the formation of the PWHL has changed how she thinks about her future.
"Growing up ... as a woman and a girl playing hockey, there's not that many opportunities," Eustace said. The PWHL "keeps doors open that I thought … never would have been there to begin with."
Eustace is currently one of the top women's hockey players in Atlantic University Sport, a body governing sports at eleven Atlantic Canadian universities. She has the second-highest number of goals out of all skaters so far this season.
The PWHL is also inspiring young hockey players in the province like Autumn Lewis, 13, who is a goaltender at the U15 level. The league "definitely opens doors for me and others that want to play at higher level hockey," she said. "It feels really good to have that door open."
Lewis, who's been playing hockey since she was four, said she's looked up to players like Saulnier, who's from Halifax. "It was really cool to see her score [in Monday's game]," she said.
Autumn's mother, Angela Lewis,is also the director of membership growth with the Metro West Force Female Hockey Association. She said it's exciting to be able to watch players like Saulnier and PWHL Toronto forward Sarah Nurse finally get to live out their dreams.
"These women have invested so much in not only their own careers, but in the next generation," Lewis said.
Halifax resident Stasia Sianchuk hosted more than a dozen people at a party to watch the PWHL season opener. She plays the sport herself and is a big supporter of women's hockey. "It's definitely important to have a league and for it to be broadcasted," she said.
Sianchuk is excited to watch as many games as possible and hopes to see one in person soon.
"Hopefully [the PWHL] does well and this can be the league that they continue on for years to come," she said.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.