Morrissey pitches in with Wild FC

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2024 (342 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — Josh Morrissey is joining the movement.

Not only is the Winnipeg Jets defenceman showing his support, he’s offering financial backing as part of his allyship to the new soccer team in his hometown, Calgary Wild FC.

Morrissey and his wife Margot were unveiled as investors in the team at a press conference in Calgary on Friday.

“Just having the support across different leagues and across different genders for sport really — and women’s sports in Canada, that’s important,” said Morrissey, whose Jets are in Calgary to face the Flames on Saturday. “I just love sports. I’m a huge sports fan. I can’t get enough of everything sports-related.

“For me, it’s exciting to have a women’s league coming to Canada. With the success our Canadian women’s team has had internationally over the last number of years, to think that we don’t have a pro league in Canada is kind of crazy. For that to be starting here and for me to be a part of it, I’m excited to join on.”

Calgary Wild FC is one of the six teams in the Northern Super League, which is set for its inaugural season in 2025.

Morrissey was approached about the opportunity last summer and jumped at the chance to get involved with Alberta’s only professional women’s sports team.

“With my wife and I spending our offseasons here in Calgary, it was a natural fit,” said Morrissey. “Hopefully, I can experience sports on a little different side of the coin than what I’m used to as an athlete every day on the ice.

“If you take all of the different things out of it and look at it as the little kid in me, it will be exciting to go and watch the games this coming summer and for years to come and be part of it. There’s so much momentum with women’s sports and all sports.”

Margot Morrissey wants to help keep that momentum going, which was part of the appeal for her.

“It’s just amazing that for young girls, there is now someone to look up to and they can envision being able to play the sport that they love professionally, as their job,” said Margot, who stopped playing soccer at the age of 12 but was a competitive figure skater until she turned 18. “It will be really fun to be involved with it.”

Christina Litz, a Winnipegger who is the president of the Northern Super League, believes the support of athletes such Morrissey can help this budding professional women’s league grow.

“The only way women’s professional sports are going to be successful is with the communities that support them and the allies that come to support,” said Litz. “Josh is a perfect example of an ally who is using his incredible talent and platform to support this club and as a result of that, women’s professional sports overall. It’s a difference-maker and his investment in this club is incredibly meaningful.”

Calgary Wild FC also revealed its first player signing on Friday, midfielder Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is the former captain of the Afghanistan women’s national football team and has done outstanding work as a social activist, using sport as a unifying force.

Muhtaj has an inspiring story, as someone whose family were refugees who immigrated to Canada from Afghanastan when Muhtaj was two years old.

Muhtaj is the protagonist of the documentary, We are Ayenda for the efforts she made to help the Afghan women’s youth national team and their family members successfully evacuate to Portgual after the Taliban returned to power.

“Her story is just incredible, I would encourage everyone to learn about it,” said Morrissey. “That’s something this league can really do for the amazing athletes, to be able to give them a platform in Canada to tell their stories. Fars’ story is mind-blowing and it’s hard to believe, to be honest, when you hear about it.”

Muhtaj recognized Morrissey’s genuine enthusiasm as they interacted on stage as part of a panel after the announcement was made at Platform Calgary.

“I’m so pleased to hear that Josh is on board. He’s obviously an incredible role model on and off the ice,” said Muhtaj. “Not only is he supporting us as an investor, he’s really behind the purpose behind us. For him, sport gave him so much and he wants to ensure that he can give back to sport as well.

“To ensure that girls can see a pathway forward and can look at sport as a tangible career path. He’s going to be a huge ally and through sharing him and what he brings to the team, hopefully this will influence other athletes to get involved with this movement.”

Morrissey joked he didn’t have a lot of success on the pitch during his youth but felt Muhtaj might be able to help him up his two-touch game, the warmup many hockey players go through before taking to the ice.

“He should definitely teach me some hockey skills because my hockey skills are way worse than his soccer skills,” said Muhtaj. “I can assure you of that.”

AROUND THE GLASS

ARMSTRONG GIVES NO HINTS — With the calendar almost set to flip to November, there’s just over one month to go before teams will need to submit their final roster for the 4 Nations Face-off.

When the Jets were in St. Louis, earlier this week, Team Canada Olympic general manager Doug Armstrong shared some detail about how the management team has been scouting its potential players.

But when a follow-up question sought some clarity on how wide a net Team Canada would be casting when it came to players under consideration, he smiled and quickly deflected.

“I don’t want to get into specifics,” said Armstrong, who was speaking to the media after completing a two-year extension for forward Jake Neighbours. “I just know that everyone is going to get a fair shake to be viewed.”

Between Armstrong and the Team Canada management staff of Don Sweeney, Jim Nill, Kyle Dubas and Julien BriseBois, they should be able to witness roughly 180 NHL games in person through the first two months of the season.

“We want to give the players the great opportunity to show themselves, not only on video, but also live,” said Armstrong. “It’s starting to clarify itself in a positive (way) for some guys and a negative for others. We’re still early, but the way that they’ve rolled this out….the window is short to evaluate for this event.”

Given how previous rosters for best-on-best competition have been hotly debated across Canada, there will be ample time to dig into the decisions that were made regarding the final roster.

After that, the projections of line combinations and defence pairs will soon follow.

The best news is that the event will help set the stage for a return to the Olympics for NHL players — most of whom haven’t had the opportunity to compete for their respective countries on that massive stage.

MYERS JOINS SILVER STICK CLUB – Former Jets defenceman Tyler Myers will officially be honoured by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday after he played in his 1,000th NHL game last week against the Philadlelphia Flyers.

In February of 2015, Myers was involved in the blockbuster trade that sent him, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and a 2015 first-rounder to the Jets from the Buffalo Sabres for Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and the rights to goalie Jason Kasdorf.

Myers spent parts of five seasons with the Jets before signing with the Canucks as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019.

“I’m just really pumped for him,” said Morrissey. “When I think back, I played my first NHL game as his D partner. He was always great to me. When you look at his career, as a Calder Trophy winner and everything he’s accomplished, but also knowing it wasn’t easy with some family situations and injuries himself. To reach 1,000 games is a testament to your love for for the game and the commitment to taking care of yourself to be able to do that. His impact on my career as a young D-man was massive.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg