By RACHEL BLOUNT
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Many professional athletes insist they play for love, not for money. The Minnesota Whitecaps don't have the luxury of pondering such questions, but they do dream of the day when women's hockey players are earning checks rather than writing them.
The Whitecaps are the only U.S. team in the National Women's Hockey League, the highest level of post-college league play available to women in North America. The 26 players on the roster do not get paid. In fact, it's quite the opposite; all of them, including former Olympians and NCAA champions, are paying about $1,000 each _ plus the cost of their equipment _ to participate this season.
With money a non-factor, the Whitecaps exist purely for love. And even on that side of the equation, they tend to give more than they receive.
The Whitecaps aren't playing just for fun. They are also playing for the future, to open up the ice for the girls who will follow.
"This is a big part of who we are," said forward Amber Hegland, who played hockey and softball for the Minnesota Gophers. "We all share the common goal of creating more opportunity for girls to play, and we want to put ourselves up there as role models and leaders for young girls.
"It's tough, and it means making sacrifices. But this is a choice I would make 10 times out of 10, because I believe in it. This is going to help women's hockey grow."
About 75 people showed up recently to watch the Whitecaps finish their first homestand of the season at Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. They defeated Saskatchewan 6-0 to sweep a three-game series, part of a 27-game regular-season schedule that runs from October through February.
The team was born in 2004, when Jack Brodt and Dwayne Schmidgall hit up several of their hockey buddies for the $20,000 it would cost to buy an expansion franchise in the NWHL. When the westernmost teams in that league decided to secede, the Whitecaps joined to form the Western Women's Hockey League. The two leagues, which now include 13 teams, merged last summer.
As with any fledgling sports enterprise, sponsors, media attention and funding have been scarce. The Whitecaps operate on financial margins as narrow as a skate blade; this season's budget will run between $40,000 and $50,000. None of the team employees receives a salary, and ice time often is paid for by youth hockey associations that plays host to home games at area rinks.
Team physician Dr. Howard Fidler estimates he has donated nearly $60,000 worth of time and equipment. "It would be nice to be compensated, but that's not why we're doing this," he said. "I'm the father of two girls. This needs to happen for them."
The Whitecaps roster includes U.S. Olympians Jenny Potter, Natalie Darwitz, Tricia Dunn-Luoma and Kristin King. Several former members of the U.S. national team, including Winny Brodt, Shari Vogt, Megan Van Beusekom, Brooke White, and Julianne Vasichek, also are on the team, as is Canadian Olympian Caroline Ouellette.
Most of the players have jobs, and not all of them live in Minneapolis-St. Paul. That makes it difficult to travel to road games or practice regularly. Hegland works around her schedule as a teacher and coach at Wayzata High School; Brodt, as a sales rep for a hockey equipment company, has a sympathetic employer that allows her a flexible schedule.
Yet they also make time to play the role of hockey's big sisters. The Whitecaps meet their fans and sign autographs after all their games, and they give hockey clinics for youth teams.
"When we grew up, we all wanted to be Larry Olimb or Wayne Gretzky," Hegland said. "We didn't have female role models who were playing hockey. We need to pass along our knowledge to the kids, and maybe five or 10 years from now, they can aspire to be where we're at."
The Whitecaps are working to quash the adage that you can't play hockey without a cup _ in more ways than one. Adrienne Clarkson, Canada's former governor general, has commissioned a silver cup that will be awarded annually to the best team in women's hockey. It currently is held by Canada's national team, which won the 2006 Olympic gold medal, but discussions are underway that could make it the championship trophy of the NWHL.
As nice as that sounds, it really isn't what drives women such as Brodt. "If you look at this roster, most of us are pioneers of women's hockey in Minnesota," she said. "We took the attitude that if we weren't first, maybe it wouldn't get going for a few more years.
"Now we have the chance to do something more, to give girls an opportunity we never had. It isn't easy. But it has to start somewhere."
