By: Isabella Urbani, Sports Editor
I was called a cougar this past weekend by a group of men at a hockey rink. Yes, a group of fully-grown men who clearly lack any semblance of human decency or respect for women. Let me paint the scene. My 16-year-old brother had just finished his game. Coincidentally, one of my friends happened to be officiating the game. So with a couple minutes remaining, I left my spot upstairs to go down to ice level. While I was patiently waiting for players to leave the ice, a U18 goalie next to me was taping his stick for the next ice session. When he walked away, as any person would, I moved over into his spot. However, I hadn’t noticed that he had left his scissors and tape behind. I moved over as soon as I noticed him trying to reach across me to collect his stuff. That wasn’t the problem.
The problem was the group of men who took it upon themselves to call out to the boy once he moved back into his spot and I returned to mine. “Watch out! You’re just a young boy,” they said. I turned to give them a dirty look right away. Really? They were going to insinuate that I was trying to pick him up? Dude, go touch some grass. I scoffed, and turned back around, making sure to leave as much room as possible between me and the player.
I’ve taken jokes like this all my life being a woman at the hockey rink. Armed with a little makeup and the most comfortable croc brand wedges you can wear, and I suddenly become public enemy number one. But my story is just one example of many. Former National Hockey League (NHL) player, Paul Bissonnette on national television had the audacity to say that women only watch hockey for the attractive hockey players. First, tell that to three-year-old me who started attending Vancouver Canucks games. Second, not so kindly, shut up! Even if a person was watching for that reason, it’s none of your business! And lastly, did it occur to you that some women don’t like men?
It’s no coincidence women are the subject of interrogative questions like these. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve engaged in a conversation with a man about hockey, and as soon as they find out what team I like, they proceed to ask me about the entire history of the team. Jokes on you, I can recite all the Stanley Cup winners back to 1940, but should I have to? Are you employed by the NHL to survey fans? I would never ask any fan that question, because it’s ridiculous to assume someone needs that level of knowledge to consider themselves a fan in the first place. At the end of the day, it all boils down to gatekeeping. For whatever reason, a lot of men think women can’t like sports. They can’t be experts, and they sure as hell can’t understand the game. Last week, I had a man try to explain to me how to operate the score clock for a hockey game. I had to explain to him that I’ve been scorekeeping games for the last seven years, and the information he just told me was entirely wrong.
One of the best aspects of being a sports fan is the community of people you’re a part of. You may vary completely in age, race, occupation, gender — it doesn’t matter. You experience the same highs when your team wins and the same lows when your team loses. Part of the fun of following a club is getting to do it with other people: knowing that if you needed to rant about a particular player or game, you’d have someone to call. The last thing anyone wants is to be quizzed about their sports knowledge, because if you spend any time, effort, or money to watch or support a team, you’re a fan in my books.
