When Vicky Sunohara pulled a pink jersey on 25 years ago, she wasn’t bothered that her first tournament representing Team Canada wouldn’t be played in traditional red and white. The young hockey superstar was ecstatic to represent her country in the inaugural women’s world hockey championship in 1990.
“There was a lot of talk about us wearing pink,” said Sunohara, now coach of the University of Toronto women’s hockey team. “As much as the Canada flag is red and white, I didn’t care as long as we were playing for Canada.”
The “pink power,” as some called it, propelled Canada to a gold medal on home ice in Ottawa. The victory was the first of many milestones to come for women’s hockey in Canada.
The inaugural world championship in 1990 marked the first time the International Ice Hockey Federation sanctioned a women’s hockey tournament on a world stage. Advocates of women’s hockey had worked tirelessly for years in hope of recognition from the IIHF.
“It was just one big team of worldwide women’s hockey enthusiasts that collectively pursued a common goal,” said Fran Rider, president of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association. Rider grew up playing hockey in Canada in the 1960s and ‘70s. At the time, women in hockey faced narrow competition and limited ice access.
“You really appreciated the other players and the other teams,” said Rider. “We shared a love of hockey. We wanted to play it, wanted to make it better for the future players.”
The 1990 world championships became a catalyst for enrollment in women’s hockey programs across Canada. A decade after the championship, the number of women playing hockey in Canada had more than quadrupled, according to Hockey Canada.
“Girl’s and women’s hockey in Canada became the fastest-growing sport in this country for over a decade,” said Sue Scherer, captain of Canada’s national team at the inaugural world championship. “The 1990 worlds here in Canada was the beginning of a new evolution for girl’s hockey.”
Women’s hockey was added to the Canada Games for the first time in 1991. The women’s hockey community then focused on completing the hat trick: the Olympics.
After advocacy and cooperation by women’s hockey organizations around the world, women’s hockey was introduced to the Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan in 1998.
“We realized the impossible dream, which is getting women’s hockey into the Olympics,” said Rider. “We did that by working together and not worrying about boundaries or opposition.”
Canada has made other significant gains in women’s hockey since Nagano. Today, women’s hockey players can attain scholarships and funding at Canadian universities, where most schools have a women’s varsity team. Elite players aiming for Olympic glory can also expect an amateur salary paid out if the team wins a medal, an initiative introduced at the Vancouver Games in 2010.
For Scherer, the inaugural world championship was the tipping point that led to these changes after decades of progress in women’s hockey in Canada.
“We were playing not only for ourselves and for our country, but we were playing for all the women across this country who had laid the foundation for us,” said Scherer. “It’s really special that we were able to be part of something that allowed the game to grow.”
Despite all these triumphs, Rider, Scherer and Sunohara agree there is still room for improvement, and for women’s hockey to achieve credibility within the sporting community.
“When you’ve come so far, you appreciate so much of what you’ve got,” said Sunohara.
“A women’s professional league would be just amazing,” she said. “To be able to do something that you absolutely love and get paid for it, I think would be the ultimate for women’s hockey.”
News stories from the inaugural women’s world hockey championship in 1990 can be found here and here.