Hayley Wickenheiser

0:27Well, Haley Wickenizer, thanks for joining me on the show here. From? We are in the Hall of Champions. Is that what they call this place? We are, yes. And your training facility here in Calgary? Yes. How long has this always been the home for Team Canada? Yeah, for all the hours. As long as you've been. Yeah, since 1998. Yeah, it's evolved and had changes, but this has been our home for quite a while. And they keep you working pretty hard. You just came off the ice from a practice. And I got here at what, 10.30 in the morning? Yeah, we go pretty hard. It's a busy time. And it's an exciting time with the games not too far away. So, there are lots to do. And especially with games in Canada, there's lots of requests. I can imagine. I know last year the World Hockey Championship is silver to the US, so close. Why is it for women's hockey, especially? And now men's hockey as well. Canada and the US is never the European countries anymore. They're, well, it's not necessarily true.

1:13I mean, you feel like it's Sweden and 06.00 they upset the US to, you know, in the semi-final. But you're right, it has been Canada and the US back and forth. I think we have such a great rivalry in women's hockey with each other. Everybody, when they see women talk here, they think about it, they think Canada and the US. But I would say we are the top two countries in the world. And Sweden and Finland right there as well. So it's going to be an exciting tournament in Vancouver. And it makes for entertaining hockey. How do you take what happened in 09 and beat the US this time around? Well, we learned a lot. We hadn't played well in the last two world championships in final games. But I think as a team this year being centralized, playing 50 games and day in and day out, the little habits that we have have really helped us become a better team and a better group.

1:59And that's what we draw. And I think knowing that we have great preparation. And we have a team that can win for sure. Right. I know you coached at clinic with Gretzky in the fall here. I assume you've met him before and talked to him whatnot being in the hockey world for a long time. But watching him coach and train kids, did that teach you anything in the process? Well, for sure. I mean Wayne is just the presence that he is. It's probably the biggest thing. When he walks into a room, the way that people look to him and young kids even to this day, even though it's not really their generation, look up to him. He's the ultimate hockey icon. You're getting there too though.

2:45Long way to go. But more just his presence, what I've learned from Wayne is just in talking to him, his love for the game. And his memory is so good. He can go back years past. He remembers exactly what happened in which game. And he's got a great mind and studies it. And I think it's what made him such a good player. And he still loves the game even to this day. I think even though he's not in it. But he'll find another way to come back into it. And I got a little boy. Is he showing any interest in hockey? And are you going to coach one day? Do you think parents should coach their own kids? You know, I love working with young kids probably more than anything. My son doesn't play hockey. He doesn't like hockey. It means mom and dad are always gone. It's a bad association for him.

3:30But I bring him to the rink sometimes. And he likes to bring a good book and read. He's a studious little one. That's nice. That's a studious guy. But yeah, I don't think there's any problem with parents coaching their kids. I think it's just important to remember they're a kid and not to put too much pressure on your own child. But it ought to be too hard on them. And it's hard when you, I think you coach your own child. But as a kid, my dad coached me for many years. And it worked out fine. I think just the main thing for kids in hockey these days is to keep the skill development and the enjoyment of the game at the top priority. Too many focus on the NA channel or the draft. The Benton draft or this or that, which I think in Canada, we sometimes lose sight of. But other than that, no problem. Just have fun.

4:16Yeah. You mentioned Finland and Sweden being great teams. You played in both those leagues out there. And I heard you went to the Flyers rookie camp a while ago too. Do you think there's going to be a day where women play in the NHL? No, I don't. I know I've played at a high enough level in the men's game to know that I play 82 games in the NHL and the grind day in day. It's pretty physically difficult, challenging. I think what I see for women's hockey is sort of an NHL of our own women's professional hockey league, which would be a great thing for women's hockey one day. And that's really where we're moving to next in the game. And hopefully coming out of the 2010 games, we get increased exposure and interest and development around the world and the best players in the world playing in the best league. Right. Are there enough little girls playing to substantiate a full league?

5:01I think we're close. To do that, you've got to, I think, you need the support of the NHL. And you need to have the best players in the world playing in that league. And it's probably four to six teams to start. And you play in medium-sized arenas and draw decent crowds, pay modest to decent salaries. And you grow from there. But it has to be done right the first time. And I think we're, you know, you can learn from the WNBA, you can learn from the other leagues. And, you know, we're close to that. Is there a day where there's going to be hitting in the women's leagues? Do you wish there were? Well, it's a good question. I think it's really good debate now, because I think it would make the game easier to ref. It may eliminate some of the stick work. But at the same time, you want to encourage skill development

5:48and encourage young girls to play hockey. And if it would hurt the game, then we couldn't have that, I think, at this point. But I'd like to see it in, you know, international hockey at our level. I think it would make it a much easier game to play. And, you know, I think it could be entertaining, too. Yeah, oh, for sure. Well, people love watching them. Well, maybe not so much the fighting. But at least the hitting. You can have contact without fighting. And that's a much, much different. Well, it's World Junior Championship level, right? Yeah, that's right. And just good, clean hitting. And just makes it, I think, the game almost easier to ref and play. You're one of the few Olympians that will play both summer and winter. I know we've got a cross-country skier now who's Paralympic and the Olympic Games. Yeah. But is there anyone else that you know of that has done both? Well, yeah, my good friend, Claire Hughes, a cyclist and speed skater. And as an individual athlete, but I think I'm the only team sport athlete that's competed

6:36in both games. But there's been a variety of Canadian athletes, male and female, that have done both games mostly in individual sports. Do you want to play softball again? Or was that just a one-time kind of? I'll do this for fun kind of like. You know, I played it from when I was a kid right up until 2000 games and sort of retired or if you want to say after that. Just mainly because I didn't have the time with hockey and with my son. This was just born in 2000. So yeah, I love the game and not play it all the time. I did commentary for CBC in Beijing and I was around the team. And I got the itch to play again for sure. But it's just two-time consuming right now. Especially with the game is just around the corner. Yeah, for sure. Tell us about your experience in Rwanda for right to play. Yeah, I love right to play. It's a great organization. And I think they've done amazing things for children around the world.

7:24Developing and helping kids rebuild their lives through sport and play. So I went to Rwanda and Jen for Hyle and Christina Groves and Ernie Dankers. And we spent 10 days touring orphanages in children's schools and different areas of the country and learning and watching the right to play programs in action and seeing how first hand they actually helped kids rebuild their lives. So when you look at some country like Haiti right now and what they're going through there, right to play is an organization who would come in in the very near future. And some of those orphan kids that are left behind and really work with them to help them find some joy and hope. And it's one of the greatest organizations I've been around. And the athletes that you get a chance to work with are just in it for the right reason.

8:10So I really enjoy it. Who did you analyze as a kid growing up? Was it women's hockey players? Was it more of the guys? No, I didn't have any female. I didn't know women played hockey until I was 12 years old. I watched the World Championships in 1990. But I look up to Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and all two of the guys. But today I have an opportunity to talk to about hockey on an informal basis. So it's just amazing how life comes full circle and you've got to analyze these guys watching on hockey night in Canada and you know you're around them at different events. Cool. Well, Haley Wooknerzer. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.