A punch for women’s college hockey

We did not take this decision lightly.said Danielle Malkassoff, Director of Student Services and Communications at Cégep de Saint-Laurent.

The last few years have been very difficult, he added. There was a lack of stability in the coaching position. And when the coach leaves, the players often leave. This created turnover. We prefer to take a step back and then take two steps forward. Women’s hockey isn’t dead, it’s part of our DNA.

The Cégep de Saint-Laurent women’s hockey program went awry this week when head coach Alexandra D’Onofrio, who learned in April that her contract would not be renewed, posted on her Facebook page a bad message about sports director Hugo Lamoureux.

He wanted a male coach behind the bench. She even said it was easier to work with men and she preferred thathe wrote, saying he wanted to do his part to stop this kind of conversation.

Less than a month later, the decision was made to close the program. If he wants a male coach, why not rehire the male coach who was part of the program? Why not conduct interviews? Why could one man decide the future of 20 female hockey players?

Assistant coach Léa McIntyre, who also lost her job, also said she was fired because Hugo Lamoureux preferred to work with men,

This position of sports director finally prompted three more assistants to resign.

I met her to confirm her words to me, said one of them, Alexandra Boulanger. He confirmed to me his preference for a male head coach, that he was not closed to hiring a woman, but that the ideal was to work with a man. He spoke about communication and gave me examples of programs that were successful with a man. I’m surprised. However, the college -level champion team is made up of 100% female staff. This is not a valid argument in my eyes and I resigned.

Danielle Malkassoff met Hugo Lamoureux and confirmed he remains in office.

These are labor relations and many things must remain confidential, the director said. But I can tell you that we don’t choose our coaches according to their gender. And I confirm that we have women more often than men at the helm of our hockey teams.

” It’s a clumsiness on his part, he expressed himself badly. These meetings are not always pleasant to do. I think he gave examples of male coaches. It does not reflect the facts in our CEGEP. We listen to our players. We conduct assessments during the season and at the end with psychosocial workers and program managers. We realize that the people in the office are not what we want. “

Some players admitted to the director that they wanted a change of head coach.

Players complained about coaching, the style of coaching. We are concerned to offer our students a great experience with our teams. Better to do it.

Marquette member of the National Assembly and former National Hockey League player, Enrico Ciccone, was surprised at the turn of events and wished the Patriotes de Saint-Laurent were back on the rink as soon as possible.

We dropped a program that hasn’t been dated since yesterday. It is not acceptable to say that there are not enough girls. If you have a program for women, you need to put in the necessary resources to attract the right players. It’s ironic, there’s a report just tabled that says we need to make more places for women in hockey. Hockey girls need to play at CEGEP to continue their development.

By the end of the women’s hockey program at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, there were only six teams left in D1 college hockey, while the men’s section had 13 teams.

This decision by Cégep de Saint-Laurent will push some of its players into retirement at the college level.

We have just started in May. There is still plenty of time to find a good coach and players. Recruitment is over. This is not a valid reason. Places are limited to other teams. And if they can find a place to play, they have to move and switch colleges. It is hard to accept graduation by Alexandra Boulanger.