Hovi knew of hockey work stoppage

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This article was published 03/05/2019 (2359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Venla Hovi empathizes with the more than 200 women who are boycotting pro hockey, even though she called it a career a few weeks ago.

The former University of Manitoba Bisons all-star forward lived with the lousy pay, lack of health insurance and oddball practice and workout times last season with the Calgary Inferno of the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

So, she understands why players from Canada, the U.S. and Europe who competed in the CWHL and the U.S.-based National Women’s Hockey League have turned their backs on pro hockey until an economically viable professional league is established.

Speaking Friday with the Free Press, Hovi said she’s been in the loop on the walkout since it was first proposed and supports the dramatic move entirely.

“I am extremely proud. I feel like this is something that would happen at some point if things didn’t start growing in the leagues, especially with the pace of how women’s hockey has been growing and how the level of the game has grown,” she said.

“It’s a very unselfish move from the players, especially if they don’t play at all this upcoming year. Putting the game before their own aspirations is huge.”

Hovi, 31, who hails from Tampere, Finland, and has suited up for her country at three Olympics and eight world championships, said Thursday’s news did not come as a surprise.

“Pretty much all the players in North America knew about it. We’ve been discussing this together for some time. I was not left out at all. I don’t think they cared whether someone had just retired or not,” she said. “I had just played and 100 per cent wanted to be a part of it and support whatever we can get done in the future.”

Hovi announced her retirement April 15, just a day after helping Finland capture a silver medal on home ice at the IIHF world women’s hockey championship, the country’s best-ever showing. The U.S. won in controversial fashion, posting a 2-1 shootout victory — after a goal by Finnish forward Petra Nieminen at 11:33 of overtime was waved off because of a dubious goalie interference call and a long review by officials.

The decision to hang up her skates had been coming for a while, and wasn’t tied to what she admitted was mounting frustration among players on both sides of the border over inequities in women’s hockey.

“Playing for so long myself and watching my teammates work so hard on a daily basis, conducting ourselves professionally in how we do things, how we work out, how we play, and don’t really get any financial support or the resources we need,” Hovi said.

“I think it’s really remarkable just to be able to maintain that motivation, but I think players are at the point now — for the development of women’s hockey — that things have to change, and we deserve it.”

Hovi arrived in Winnipeg in 2015 to go to school at U of M and suited up for the Bisons for three seasons. Her crowning achievement was helping lead the team to a Canadian university championship in March of 2018. She scored a third-period goal as Manitoba downed host Western 2-0 in the championship final and was named the game’s most valuable player.

Back home, she played women’s hockey while she earned a marketing degree and was key member of the Finnish squad that captured Olympic bronze medals in Vancouver in 2010 and in South Korea in 2018.

Hovi was an assistant coach with the Bisons last season, but hasn’t decided if she’ll return to the program, even though she plans on settling in the city.

But she needs a job. There’s no nest egg built up from more than a decade playing women’s hockey at the highest levels.

As a first-year winger in Calgary, she would have reportedly earned $2,000 for a 28-game season. Hovi also received some funding from the Finnish hockey association.

“That’s the only way I was able to survive and play professionally (in Calgary) and not drain myself by doing other work,” Hovi said. “I played my whole life and never got anything from it financially. Obviously, the other things I’ve gotten from it are even more valuable to me. But when it comes to money, it’s on my mind that I must have been crazy to do it for so long.

“Hopefully, one day all the girls that I’ve coached, they might be able to play fully professional one day like they dream about, which would be amazing. I hope that’s where this is going.”

“Playing for so long myself and watching my teammates work so hard on a daily basis, conducting ourselves professionally in how we do things, how we work out, how we play, and don’t really get any financial support or the resources we need”

As for settling for a silver medal in Espoo, just two hours from home, as her swan song? Contrary to the rest of the hockey world’s disdain for the ruling in overtime, Hovi harbours no ill will.

“We did something that no other Finnish women’s team was able to do. What we did was pretty remarkable,” she said. Finland booked a spot in the final after beating Canada 4-2 in the semifinals, marking the first time in 18 years the Canadians were absent from the gold-medal game.

“I think the way we battled so hard, everybody wanted us to win in the final. I got so many messages from people being so sad and mad about it, especially from Canada. I’ve tried to just get over it. It was unfortunate it happened in the biggest game of the year. But we got the silver medal and we’re really, really proud of it.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell