Danièle Sauvageau likes to think she’s pretty passionate about coaching hockey. One glimpse at her resumé would reveal that “passionate” is an understatement.
She is one of the most successful and important Quebec-based hockey coaches, regardless of gender, having won at the university and international level. Sauvageau even made history as the first-ever woman to be behind the bench for a QMJHL team as an assistant coach. Her most iconic victory is from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, when she coached Team Canada’s women to their first-ever gold medal in the competition as well as the country’s first Olympic gold medal in hockey, regardless of gender, in 50 years.
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So, when the Canadian Women’s Hockey League closed its doors following the 2018-19 season, Sauvageau — then an associate coach for the Montreal-based Les Canadiennes — was desperate to stay involved in the game. Fortunately, it was the right time to execute an idea that is now three years into its existence.
“If you ask people like (former Team Canada head coach) Melody Davidson, she would tell you that this project has been in my mind for over 25 years,” Sauvageau told The Athletic when asked why she wanted to create a high-performance centre for female hockey players. “It was there, the timing was maybe not the right one. Then, when the CWHL folded, I was on the call when we received the news. I was coaching Les Canadiennes at the time. I said, ‘OK, and then what?’ So, I said in order to maintain the ability of our players to continue to train, we needed a training environment.”
Sauvageau eventually helped create Centre 21.02, a high-performance hockey training centre at the Verdun Auditorium, located approximately 15 minutes southwest of Montreal’s downtown. She is now president, CEO and, of course, a coach. The centre boasts itself as Canada’s first recognized centre dedicated to women’s hockey and training elite athletes in the sport, providing coaches, training specialists, and clinics for players.
The auditorium has two rinks, including one that can house 2,500 fans for games (it hosted games from the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association Dream Gap Tour earlier this year) and a practice surface across from it. Select teams with players as young as 14, and as prominent as the national team and PWHPA players (from Canada and the United States) have used the facility for training.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, as restrictions loomed on gyms and other training areas, Olympic athletes who trained at the centre received a special exemption from the Quebec government. Last summer, the government committed to providing the facility funding to build locker rooms, a gym, and even a video room that would allow coaches to track players’ on-ice performances.
ICYMI: "We need to create jobs so that we can give experience to women and that’s the issue right now… We need to push for those openings."
Here's Daniele Sauvageau on the NHL's coaching doors remaining closed to women:https://t.co/WxnvJJQCRZ— Sunaya Sapurji (@sunayas) October 4, 2018
If you were wondering, the “21.02” in the centre’s name is an homage to Sauvageau and Team Canada’s victory over Team USA on February 21, 2002.
“I’ve been involved in women’s hockey for almost more than 40 years,” Sauvageau said. “Obviously, every time that there’s an opportunity for women’s hockey players to have a place to play and improve the structure, I think it’s great news. This is what my motivation to stay in the game has been.”
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On Tuesday, the Premier Hockey Federation announced that a franchise based in Montreal would begin play during the upcoming 2022-23 campaign. It will be the seventh team in the league. The PHF is moving forward with their plans for expansion despite the PWHPA’s own plans to launch a professional women’s hockey league in early 2023. (The PWHPA chose to end discussions with the PHF about a unified league earlier this year.)
Sauvageau’s involvement with the yet-to-be-named franchise will be through the centre, as the team has a two-year partnership with Centre 21.02. The centre itself won’t be the team’s primary home for games, as the team will play its inaugural season in arenas across the province.
“It’s huge,” Sauvageau said. “That also merges the desire to promote women’s hockey, to show to the world — or the province of Quebec mainly for this team — the level of what women’s hockey could be and then go from there.”
Sauvageau spoke to The Athletic about Centre 21.02’s involvement with the newest PHF franchise in Montreal, the importance of having a training centre for women’s players and the growing number of female players turning into coaches and executives on the men’s side.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Can you tell the story of how it came together, your centre’s partnership with the new PHF franchise in Montreal?
Last January, I believe it was, the PHF announced that they wanted to expand in Montreal. It was a good surprise for all of us. As you may also know, there’s a league and there’s also a player association. We were kind of wondering how the two could live together and, at the same time, as I mentioned, creating a structure for women’s hockey is always a plus and this is what we needed to do.
So, when the PHF came along, obviously the phone started to ring. People wanted to be involved. But the mission of the centre is offering a training environment. There’s different groups that wanted to be involved and we said, “why not?” (We have) this opportunity for graduates from university to have a place to play. Even if there is the PWHPA group coming up with a league, we still have the pyramid that has to go higher and even wider.
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When you were in your playing days, what was it like trying to find playing surfaces to train or anything close to a high-performing centre for players?
None of that existed. What existed at the time was passionate people who wanted to put programs together, teams together. There was a league here (League Régionale du Hockey au Féminin), I want to say about 40 years ago, and it was across the (province) — Shawinigan, Drummondville, Victoriaville, Montreal and those places. And those places, I don’t want to say packed, but a lot of people were following that league. We had France St-Louis, Danielle Goyette playing in those. That’s basically what was offered to us at the time. At the end of the day, we needed to have (the Centre), a place we could train, follow players, having different search programs coming along, bringing coaches together.
It is a place where people could come together. Obviously, we talk a lot about player development but we need to talk about coaches’ development as well, and a place that (creates) jobs.
I think things are coming, what I call, at the professional level. What it means is that people can make a living out of hockey, and could create an environment for the athlete. And now it’s time for the athlete to start making a living out of it.
What specifically will be your role with the Montreal team?
I direct the centre and offer the environment for those players on and off the ice. So, that is part of my involvement in the sense that it is the centre that is involved. (Team president) Kevin Raphael and his group have the part of identifying the players and then creating the environment for the games, and basically, I will find out in a few weeks who the players are and who we will be training.
You’re as qualified as any to coach this team. Why not you?
The reason being is that I’m directing the centre, which is a project that has been in my mind for years. It’s our third year. We’re training PWHPA (players), we now are going to train the PHF (team). We’re training a U16 (team). We also have a college-level (team) in the building. So, this project is just starting to walk. Eventually, I’ll identify someone to take over, which is very shortly, and that was part of my vision. To create that, to make sure it was sustainable, and then leave it to someone, so creating jobs. That is the answer.
Can you describe the access that the players will have to the centre? With this partnership, what does it mean for the players?
A dressing room, a high (performance) training session. Access to the gym. Access to the theatre, which is (for) video and a big part of what we’re doing. Obviously, we’re going to put a coaching staff for that team.
We will have a therapist working with them. Especially (as we) try to get to know the players, every training on, and off, the ice will be supervised.
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Is there a possibility the centre could host a game or two? I understand that the team is going to play in different games across the province, but will there be opportunities where there will be games being held at the centre?
As of now, no. It’s not planned to arise this way. Two reasons. I was a strong supporter of the model that was presented. And the other reason is that, as of now, the heart of the centre was created for carded athletes (carded athletes are athletes who receive funding from Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program). Carded athletes have decided to not play in that league. So, basically, if they were coming with the league, this is where they would be playing. And, the reason is because of the rules of funding and how the centre was created.
The next question I have pertains to development. I know you’ve touched on how we’re at a point now where players need to have places where they can play and properly develop, and give opportunities, not just for players, but for coaches too. That makes me think of seeing people like Marie-Philip Poulin and Julie Chu as development coaches for men’s teams. The fact that there are women’s hockey players as development coaches, what are your thoughts on how that has changed? Is that part of the evolution of the sport?
A lot goes with recognition. You appreciate what you know. For the world of men’s hockey, if I could express myself my way, is that they’re getting to know the people who have been involved mostly in the world of hockey being played by women. Their view changed. Obviously, it’s about what you know, it’s about how you could teach, it’s about how you interact with the players. The three points I just described are the main point to create a positive group among any group, hockey or business.
We don’t want to have women (just) coaching women and men coaching men. We need this. As we needed it in different fields, like policing. We don’t turn around when you see a woman doctor, you call this person a doctor. There will be a time in the next five years, the sport ecosystem will be in a place where it’ll be the norm and we won’t even talk about that. The next five years are huge. Within the last two years, we went from zero AGMs to five in the NHL. Within two years. Again, it’s just to make sure you have resources and women are 50 percent of the humanity, so by having more among your group, you’re grabbing talent that up to a few years ago you were closing your eyes on.
Is there anything about the partnership with the centre and the Montreal franchise that you’d like to mention that I didn’t ask you about?
I think that having the vision to have a place to train players and then, from there, building leagues or opportunities for women to play, I think it was positive. I wish that Toronto would get a centre like this one day, and Calgary. At the end of the day, even if we are two leagues tomorrow morning. Even if they merge in five years and become a 12-team league. Whatever is going to happen, we still need to keep players in the game after they graduate from university.
There’s a strong push right now for men’s university (hockey), and on the men’s side you have men’s major junior leagues, you have junior AAA, junior A, you have CEGEP, you have university, you have the Lions, the Rocket, you can go play in Europe. I mean, you have so many opportunities. We need to continue to build the opportunity for the players to stay in the game. By doing so, we will create more and more jobs where women like me — I want to believe that I’m passionate about the game, I don’t think I’d still be here doing what I’m doing — have a place to work professionally.
(Top photo of Danièle Sauvageau: Courtesy of Danièle Sauvageau)
