Does Olympic status matter? An analysis of women's ice hockey in Canada between 1990 and 1997.

Abstract

This study aims to examine the changes in women's hockey in relation to the fact that it became an Olympic sport in 1992. More specifically, it focuses on participation rates within Canadian hockey, the situation of women's hockey in Canadian Universities, and the print media coverage of the 1990 and 1997 Women's World Hockey Championships. Minutes from the Canadian Hockey Association's Female Council annual and semi-annual general meetings, and the Canadian Hockey Association's Registration reports were used in order to describe participation rates in Canadian hockey before and after Olympic status. A questionnaire was created in order to describe the state of women's hockey in Canadian Universities. This questionnaire was sent to all of the Universities listed in the CIAU handbook. In addition, minutes from the 1996 CIAU board of directors meeting and the 1996 annual general meeting were used to provide information relating to the reasons that women's hockey was added to the CIAU Championship Program. The study included a print media analysis of the Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Star coverage of the 1990 and 1997 Women's World Championships. Results of the study indicated that participation rates increased after Olympic status at the club level and in the University system. The media analysis of the Women's World Championships for both the Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Star revealed that the quantity of articles did not change much after Olympic status, whereas the content of the articles improved in 1997. That is, the diversity of the content of the articles increased, in that, for example, player profiles were introduced in the 1997 coverage. However the results did not demonstrate any significant change in women's ice hockey in Canada since this sport pined Olympic status. Moreover, the results were not able to indicate whether there was a direct link between the above mentioned changes and the fact that women's hockey became an Olympic sport.