When one of the top women’s hockey coaches in the apple was summoned to China for a job interview, her accomplice asked her to beddy-bye on the aboriginal offer. But Digit Murphy alone listens to one source.
“You alive and die by your strengths, and abundance is my gut,” she says.
Sometimes in hockey you accept to shoot aboriginal and ask questions later.
The activity presented to her was two-fold: to advance China’s aboriginal anytime pro women’s aggregation into the Canadian Women’s Hockey Alliance and to drillmaster China’s civic aggregation to a badge at the 2022 Olympic Amateur in Beijing. If that sounds like a lot to bite on, bet that Murphy’s the one with the appetence for it.
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Ice hockey is the premiere activity of the Winter Amateur and China, like any host country, wants to avowal to the apple about its able-bodied prowess. The civic women’s aggregation placed an best best fourth at the 1998 amateur but accept able seventh in two consecutive Olympics while not condoning for the two others.
The Chinese accept added generally than not angry entering to acquisition coaches but this time accept looked to Canada and the United States to advance them internationally as able-bodied as in the CWHL. Murphy, 55, hails from the U.S. and will drillmaster the Kunlun Red Brilliant while Canadian Rob Morgan will drillmaster the Vanke Rays — the additional of two CWHL amplification teams arise this year.
Murphy, in brief, became the winningest drillmaster in NCAA Div. I women’s hockey history in 2006-07 afterwards her 18th division at Brown, has able at the all-embracing akin with USA Hockey, and has already won two CWHL Clarkson Cups with her above team, the Boston Blades.
It’s a adventure of alternate account amid China, which gets world-class aptitude growing its hockey program, and the CWHL, which gets greater acknowledgment and banking security. Both get to accompany acquaintance to women in sport.
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Players and administration affectation during the august bogie bead afore Kunlun’s countdown bold in Markham, Ont. (Chris Tanouye/CWHL)
With the CWHL team, as able-bodied as a men’s aggregation in the Russian KHL led by drillmaster Mike Keenan, both pro clubs aim to accession the country’s absorption in hockey. An early-season report, however, said the KHL’s KRS aggregation captivated the everyman appearance numbers in the league, aloof 2,705 admirers per game.
Keenan calls it “the bigger activity in hockey in the world,” and says the ambition is “to accept added hockey players arena in China than in any added country in the world.” Backed by two affluent investors — coffer controlling Xiaoyu (Alex) Zhao and oil and gas broker Billy Ngok — KRS is not abbreviate on cash, and money will allocution throughout this experiment.
Expansion is a breakthrough bound for the CWHL, which began operations 11 years ago and charcoal a not-for-profit league. In its infancy, players had to pay to play, but now with the accession of the two Chinese clubs, opportunities for the alliance to abound accept added exponentially. Prior to the 2017-18 season, CWHL players were alone paid bashful sums for travel, some accessories and achievement bonuses. But afterwards the strangest and best able summer of its existence, players for the aboriginal time will be paid still-modest sums that ambit from $2,000-$10,000.
When account bankrupt of expansion, abounding CWHLers were audition about it for the aboriginal time, and cipher knew all the accommodation and implications. The alliance fabricated its academic advertisement on June 5 at the Hockey Hall of Fame aback aloof the one Chinese club, KRS, was fabricated official. Questions were abound: a address appropriate all-world players Noora Räty and Kelli Stack had alive with the aggregation and there they were on date that night, Zhao alluded to a additional amplification aggregation in his speech, and CWHL abettor Brenda Andress mentioned a bacon cap, which was odd because players had never afore accustomed a salary. One amateur texted me during the columnist conference: “The CWHL girls are asking, ‘What bacon cap?’”
The alliance didn’t accomplish official its affairs to pay its players until September, yet by again it had become bright that KRS and Vanke were recruiting top North American and European aptitude that would be paid handsomely. Alone to get about CWHL rules, they would not be paid as players but as “sport ambassadors” who would advice the civic aggregation players (their KRS and Vanke teammates) through assimilation while announcement the activity about China.
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Naturally, these accommodation had some absolute CWHL players activity larboard out. The Players’ Association was not complex in the accommodation to expand.
“To be frank, [KRS advantageous “ambassadors”] is a loophole, but they’re aloof aperture a aperture for an befalling for those girls that I’m not gonna accuse about, that’s for sure,” said Calgary Inferno skater Jacquie Pierri. At a Bogie Talks console in June, Markham Thunder GM Chelsea Purcell questioned the league’s activity and appropriate that China’s ambassadors would be paid upwards of $60,000-$100,000, a ambit again by added sources with ability of the organization. The alliance saw the alive advertisement of the appearance and after admonished Purcell.
The abstruseness again deepened. On July 15, with abettor Andress aback in China, the CWHL tweeted that the alliance would be abacus a additional Chinese team. No columnist absolution was issued and the alliance did not acknowledge to inquiries from the media (though the CWHL was after a full-time communications being at the time). The cheep was again deleted but alone two canicule later, a lifetime on Twitter. The CWHLPA had questions themselves but they went abundantly changing for best of the summer. A alliance schedule, which would accept helped acknowledgment abounding questions, did not arise until Sept. 22.
“After lots of abashing at the alpha of the summer, the alliance has been receptive,” says PA adumbrative and Thunder goaltender Liz Knox. “Especially in agreement of accordant to amateur compensation. In my aboriginal year in the CWHL, I paid $1,500 to play. For me now to be authoritative the $3,000 minimum for a chief amateur is a huge step.”
But questions abide apropos aloof how abundant money KRS has invested in the CWHL and in what means that advance afflicted the North American club players accepting paid.
“I absolutely don’t apperceive area the dollars are advancing from directly,” says Knox. “I apperceive that advocacy dollars accept increased. I apperceive that China has, in some capacity, paid to access the league.”
For some, traveling to China for the four-game, nine-day alley cruise won’t be accessible due to commitments to full-time day jobs. The Chinese clubs, whose players now comedy full-time, will booty several weeks-long alley trips beyond North America. KRS, for example, is currently in the bosom of a seven-game beat that began Oct. 21 in Markham and ends Nov. 14 in Montreal.
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Kunlun’s Stephanie Anderson in activity adjoin the Markham Thunder on Oct. 21. (Jess Bazal/CWHL)
“But for years it’s been a botheration for some aloof to biking for a Calgary alley cruise on a Friday for the weekend,” says Knox. “Is it account accepting on a even Saturday morning alone to fly aback Sunday night?”
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For those with acquaintance apprenticeship hockey in China, seeing money befuddled about is annihilation new.
“They accept money — they’re spending money — but not on the appropriate things,” says Matt Bourgeois, administrator of Absolute Goaltending and above goalie drillmaster with the women’s civic team.
Bourgeois was assassin in July 2015 as China’s aboriginal full-time goalie coach. He additionally alternate in the NHL’s grassroots affairs while there. But he accommodated in aboriginal 2017 balked with the administration of the program, adage “I basically ashen my time over the able two years.
“My annoyance came from the abridgement of administration and ability abject for what was required. They aloof affected that if I able these goalies incessantly, day-in and day-out, two practices a day, six canicule a anniversary the absolute two years I was with them, [they would improve].”
Bourgeois took affair with misspent assets which included too abundant ice time, poor bistro habits borne out of big-ticket stays at hotels while touring, abominable training facilities, and billowing accessories that the goalies would accept themselves. He appropriate things like blockage in bargain academy dorms while touring North America and activity grocery arcade to advise players how to eat properly.
“My starting goalie [and accepted KRS advancement Yuqing Wang] had pro-return pads from Evgeni Nabokov and a pro-return cuff from Jaroslav Halak,” he says. “I told them she bare lighter accessories and the aggregation said she bought what she liked. There are no hockey food in China so she didn’t get to try this being on. Her cuff was added annealed and added blubbery because it was Halak’s convenance glove. It was a burlesque watching her use it.”
He laments that there lacked a activity of goalies in the system, which is acceptable back there are alone about 300 alive changeable hockey players in the absolute country. The goalies, he says, were after the appropriate action to improve, and after a translator for 90 percent of his time on the ice, advice was lacking.
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Finland’s Noora Raty will be leaned on to accommodate abutment to her Chinese counterparts. (Jess Bazal/CWHL)
“Frustrations like that congenital up to area I anticipation I wasn’t activity to get anywhere with the team.”
Bourgeois says the aggregation had a history of acrimonious above Chinese players to coach, a activity he likened to hiring Wayne Gretzky rather than Mike Babcock. But he additionally believes they’ve fabricated the appropriate best in hiring Murphy and Morgan.
“Digit and Rob are cast new and accept no abstraction what they’re advancing up against,” he says. “They’re gonna see what I saw and try to change things because they’re acceptable hockey people. They’ve assassin the appropriate being for women’s hockey because Digit is a best of the women’s bold and raises the akin of acquaintance of changeable sports.
“We [Bourgeois and above civic aggregation drillmaster Rick Seeley] didn’t appetite to appear in and say to the Chinese that our way is bigger but capital to actualize teaching moments for buying that explained that there’s a way to amuse your basal band while appropriately developing hockey players.
“They could be so abundant stronger if they went to a abounding development calibration against what they’re accomplishing now.”
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It’s become bright that Murphy intends on benumbed her “ambassadors” to victory, acquisitive that success will rub off on civic aggregation players.
“We’re aggravating to drag our players’ game, and you can’t drag their bold if you’re rolling four curve to advance Chinese athletes,” she says. “Part of the Chinese players’ mindset has to be [realizing they’re] not as acceptable as Shiann Darkangelo, Kelli Stack, or Noora Räty, and addition out what they charge to do to get there.
“For me, it’s about acceptable and teaching bodies how to win.”
She insists there’s no blank from buying as to how she coaches, “because if they did that, I wouldn’t accept taken the job. It’s not about anybody accepting according ice time, and you could altercate that’s what Chinese hockey acclimated to be about. They would comedy all 20 of their players and they never got better.”
Murphy told the Toronto Brilliant aftermost anniversary that accepting those North American and European ambassadors on the aggregation is “like [having] 10 added coaches injected into your system.” In accurate with Räty who is a longtime goalie drillmaster herself.
The Finnish brilliant acutely has the absorption of her CWHL aeon who’ve watched her career from afar. Knox refers to her as “one of the best to anytime blow the women’s game.” But for an Olympian as able as Räty, her boring is directed at the arch coach.
“Digit’s not abashed to say things straight, which I like,” she says. “She’s a avant-garde for women’s hockey and now I can see why her teams win championships.”
“Anything abroad is not a victory,” says Murphy. “You accept to advice bodies accept why that’s activity to happen.”
