HockeyJames and Granato part of long list to be honoured

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There is a long list of female hockey pioneers who will be inducted in to the Hockey Hall of Fame down the road.

 

Geraldine Heaney, Shirley Cameron, Abby Hoffman, Justine Blainey, Colin McKenzie for his work in developing the Toronto Aeros organization, France St-Louis and Danielle Goyette are among so many builders and players from around the world.

The list is large and there are so many that to list them all is impossible.

 

One of the greatest things about Cammi Granato and Angela James being inducted as the first females into the Hockey Hall of Fame is that so many stories about the female game are being told.

 

The impact that Hoffman had playing in the 1950's while pretending to be a boy, the court case pursued by Blainey who just wanted to play the game and fought the system so she could, the 1990 World Championships which was the first sanctioned by the IIHF and of course the announcement that the women's game would be in the Olympics for the first time in 1998.

 

They have all changed the landscape that has made women's hockey what it is today. 

 

My generation still had to fight to play and listened to the nay sayers who all had an impact, but we have also reaped some benefits from the people who played and pioneered before us.

 

That's why it has always been difficult for me to understand when people call me a pioneer. I really was just following the traditions that were set out previously by so many great women who are finally being recognized.

 

Angela James was a dominant player in her day. The power forward had a lethal shot and a fierce competitive side to her soft-spoken nature off the ice.

 

She is the player all power forwards in the women's game should be compared to.

 

She has been called the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey, and rightfully so as her dominance in the game, especially early in her career, warrants the comparison.

 

She should have made the inaugural 1998 Olympic team even though she was at a point in her career that made it difficult to call her a number one or two centre. She could have played the wing and even though that season was not one of her best, she could still score and was known to be that big game player.

 

The thing about Angela is that her contribution extends far beyond her playing years. She has been a referee and continues to coach. In fact, she declined a promotion at work in order to have time to coach the Brampton team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League this year.

 

Granato was someone I was supposed to despise, but never quite could get myself there. Sure I slashed her every time I got the chance, and on the ice tried to punish her whenever I could, but I secretly looked up to Granato, despite her being the captain of our main rival, the United States.

 

Next to Goyette and Heaney, she was probably one of the smartest players in the women's game.

 

She knew how to find open spots and had a great knack of scoring, especially on the power play where you knew exactly where she would be set up - off the far post.

 

For a while, rightfully or wrongly, she was the only American name that was really known. It brought a lot of opportunity but at the same time a lot of responsibility down south. 

She was released from the 2006 Olympic squad and I spoke with some of her teammates that next year and they simply didn't know how much she did for the game until she was gone. That says a lot about her and shows that she was never about the recognition.

 

These two inductees have no doubt opened the door for so many females who play and love the game of hockey. They represent a tradition that started a long time ago and the play that we see on the ice today.

 

The biggest impact may be that the doors of the Hockey Hall of Fame are now open to women. Even more significant may be that so many great females who blazed the way will now have their stories told as well.

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