By Emmanuelle Champagne
Danièle Sauvageau confirms that she is at the "peak" of what she could have imagined since the creation of the new Montreal team in the new Women's Professional Hockey League (WPHL).
"It's interesting to have built the Centre 21.02 with the aim of receiving or placing a professional team. Our business plan was written four years ago. Now, everything has come together. The fact that I'm living it and realizing that it's bigger than I could have imagined is the pinnacle of what I could have thought," confides General Manager Danièle Sauvageau.
A unique team
Montreal's sporting landscape includes numerous teams such as the Canadiens de Montréal, the Laval Rockets, the Alouettes, the Alliance and the CF Montréal. However, these are all all-male teams.
That's why former policewoman Danièle Sauvageau considers the new women's professional field hockey team completely unique.
"When you look at professional field hockey teams, this is the only organization that will run a women's professional sport. So, in the ecosystem, it's unique. Yes, it's professional sport, but it's developing a niche all our own," says General Manager Danièle Sauvageau with pride.
Giving hope to women
The President of the Conseil du Sport de Montréal firmly believes that the birth of this new field hockey team will enable both younger and older girls to hold on to a concrete goal, such as becoming a professional field hockey player.
Danièle Sauvageau is confident of the longevity of this new project, thanks to the involvement of financial partners and the enthusiasm of the community.
"[...] Not only does the community want it now, there's also the financial partner who, as a corporate partner, invests in women's sport. So there's more and more equity. Equity means giving women who want to play professional sport the means to do so. It creates a lot of jobs for women.
Now that the draft is over, there remains the training camp on November 15.
In terms of team formation, the identification of emergency responders, medical staff and training personnel should be finalized within the next few weeks. "We still have an organization chart to complete very quickly," says Danièle Sauvageau.
