In the 2018 B.C. 55+ Games, taking place in Cranbrook and Kimberley from September 11 to 15, women鈥檚 hockey will be included as an event for the first time.
According to Melanie McFarlane, co-director of sport for the Games鈥 board and longtime player and proponent of women鈥檚 hockey, they had tried in previous years to get women鈥檚 hockey included, but found that there wasn鈥檛 enough interest out there.
Last year, she went with her husband and co-director of sport Rick McFarlane to the Vernon games. The women she played hockey with here in Cranbrook were talking about the event and were getting excited to put a team together for the 2018 games. However, when McFarlane got to Vernon she was dismayed to discover that women鈥檚 hockey was not included.
鈥淚 had to come home and tell them the bad news but then we pretty quickly turned around and said well let鈥檚 make this happen,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f we can put a team from Cranbrook in there鈥檚 gotta be enough teams from elsewhere so that鈥檚 how that part started.鈥
McFarlane is no stranger to to promoting women鈥檚 hockey. She used to live in Ontario and worked for the Ontario Women鈥檚 Hockey Association for nearly 17 years, taking part in provincial and world championships, administration and grass roots efforts.
鈥淚鈥檓 no stranger to that part of it and obviously have a passion for seeing women play the game of hockey and enjoy the game of hockey.鈥
She recalls saying to her husband that she felt like there weren鈥檛 any more remaining hurdles for women to play hockey, so when she discovered that it was lacking from the 55+ games she immediately set about rectifying the situation.
鈥淚t was a pretty easy sell though. Like I say we just had to prove there was the numbers out there to make it a division in the games.鈥
With some help from the Adult Safe Hockey League, Canadian Adult Recreational Hockey Association and Hockey B.C., statistics were gathered to show how many women over the age of 50 played hockey across the province.
鈥淭he really cool part is it鈥檚 opened a communication channel,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e started a Facebook page so there鈥檚 going to be a network now of women so maybe more opportunities are going to come forward. But hopefully each year, certainly for the 55+ games this will be the start of it happening every year, because we know every year there鈥檒l be more women entering that age group that have played hockey.鈥
There are 12 zones that teams are drawn from for the games and if one particular zone struggles to get the numbers for a team, they are able to combine with players from another zone. They hope to get at least four, but more likely six teams to compete and the flexibility of the organization will help for that to happen.
鈥淥bviously participation is the most important thing in these games and keeping seniors active and so to be that restrictive would be kind of counter productive, so it鈥檚 pretty neat that they allow that to happen.鈥
McFarlane herself will be competing as a goalie in the games and said that she鈥檚 allowed to have her role on the board and compete as well.
鈥淭he only restriction is you can only play one sport and unfortunately I dragonboat as well so I have to pick between the two but obviously my first passion is women鈥檚 hockey, so yeah I鈥檒l be playing.鈥
She speculates that there may be some athletes that have previously played in world championships, explaining that as the first Worlds took place in 1990, many of those players are now in the right age group to compete in these games.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of neat that Cranbrook led the way in this, it鈥檚 been really fun to be a part of making it happen,鈥 she says, adding:
鈥淚nstead of the parents watching their kids play hockey, it鈥檒l be the kids watching the parents play hockey and their moms play hockey. It will be a reverse role. Or grandkids, because in my case it will be my grandkids watching me play hockey. It鈥檒l be fun.鈥