The world's best female hockey player has run into more than the usual glass around the ice rink. Hayley Wickenheiser found there's a glass ceiling, too.
The 23-year-old Olympic gold medalist from Shaunavon, Sask., saw her bid to play professional hockey with an elite men's team in Italy called offside three weeks ago, when the Italian Ice Hockey Federation refused to let the team sign the talented Canadian to a contract.
The player and her agent, Wade Arnott, had come to terms for Ms. Wickenheiser to play with the Merano Eagles club team after a successful tryout. Contract details were being worked out. The International Ice Hockey Federation voiced no objection to her playing. The final approval rested with the home Italian federation.
The puck stopped there. The federation ruled, officially, a woman's place is in a women's league and wouldn't register Ms. Wickenheiser in the boys' club.
"There is a league in which women can play. Only in the case of girls is it possible to play on mixed teams, where no parallel women's league is present," the ruling said. She was basically a signature away from being a paid professional -- earning anywhere from $30,000 to $500,000 (Cdn) tax-free as an import player in the Italian league. Instead, she is biding her time with the expansion Edmonton Chimos of the National Women's Hockey League, getting no pay, and in fact paying out of her own pocket to participate. She sometimes pays $25 a game to play pickup games against men's recreational teams.
Still, Ms. Wickenheiser says, she's patient enough to keep nursing the dream of playing hockey at a higher level. She wants to play where she's challenged to improve. She's not trying to get into European men's hockey for the sake of busting down barriers, but to be the best player she can be -- and take those skills back to improve the women's game.
She's been a top international player since the age of 15 and wants to see it flourish one day as the men's game has. It was different for Wayne Gretzky, arguably the best hockey player in history. When he got to the top of the National Hockey League, there was nothing beyond that. Ms. Wickenheiser has been queen of women's hockey for several years and knows there's a better level out there. She's just not allowed in.
"If I can't find a place to play at a higher level I have to rethink where and how to play. I've been at the same level doing this same thing since I was 15. I wanted to push it a bit.
"Its not just me, either. Many women on the national team wish there was a another level. The reality is, there's not enough good players out there yet. There will be a women's pro league some day."
What bothers her, the official ruling notwithstanding, is the gnawing suspicion the Italian federation just didn't want to recognize a woman's talents as worthy of the men's game. "Some thought it was a publicity stunt," she said.
Mr. Arnott said no one at any level questioned Ms. Wickenheiser's skills, but her safety was an issue that arose.
"They questioned what would happen if fights broke out, or if teams used goon tactics to try and intimidate Hayley," Mr. Arnott said.
"She was disappointed and so was the Merano coach. He's a Canadian and was familiar with Hayley, which was one of the reasons we believed it was a good opportunity. He knew she had the talent," Mr. Arnott said. The coach is Paul Theriault, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. In previous incarnations he was an assistant coach under Ted Nolan with the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. He had also coached the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League when Mr. Gretzky played there.
"They were supportive and had a place and a role for her on the team. They didn't see it as a publicity stunt. They saw it as bringing in a quality player," Mr. Arnott said. "They were prepared to challenge the Italian federation's ruling on her behalf. But we didn't know what there'd be to gain if they were already set against her playing. We're still exploring options."
Italian fans who learned about the near signing remain hopeful. One fan named Alex, writing on the Merano team's Internet site, said Ms. Wickenheier is "surely better than other men who played for Merano during the other seasons," but conceded the Italian hockey federation isn't ready for the revolution of female players.