Rule change puts Griffins up for sale

Rule change puts Griffins up for sale
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published June 4, 203, in the New West Record

The Vancouver Griffins women's senior AAA hockey team was put up for sale Tuesday as a protest against recent import player rule changes enacted by Hockey Canada.

And unless the rule changes are reversed there is a high likelihood that the team that features a strong mix of local players and some of the top Olympians from around the world, could fold before play begins in the team's fourth season.

"Diane (Nelson, the Griffin's owner) is not prepared to continue to put her financial resources into a team that basically, for all intents and purposes, is a development team under the instruction of Hockey Canada," said Philip DeGrandpre, the Griffin's president and general manager. "The new import rule changes placed sanctions on American players."

The Griffins' administrators believe the changes, which limit the number of new American players on the team to one per year, are arbitrary and unnecessarily vindictive. The Griffins' roster boasts several U.S. Olympians, including the former American captain Cammi Granato, plus stars Shelley Looney and Courtney Kennedy.

In addition to the American players, the Griffins also feature a strong core of local players such as former Canadian national team member Nancy Drolet and 18-year-old Burnaby resident Natashia Pellatt. The club plays its home games in both New Westminster's Queens Park Arena and Abbotsford's MSA Arena.

DeGrandpre said the rule changes do not affect other teams in the National Women's Hockey League as much they will affect the Griffins, because those other teams already have a strong base of Canadian players.

The problem lies in the conflict between Hockey Canada's desire to make the NWHL a development league for Canadian hockey players, and Nelson's vision of producing the top level of women's hockey possible, DeGrandpre said.

"My argument is that the Griffins are not a development team," DeGrandpre said.

"There are already enough developmental teams in this province. The Griffins were put here to be part of a professional league. That was the intent of this team and the management of this organization.

"This sets women's hockey back 20 years in this province."

But the changes were heartily defended by Julie Healey, the director of female hockey at Hockey Canada's national office in Calgary.

"They'll be the third team that's folded in the past three or four years," Healey said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. "It's unfortunate they're folding, I'm sure it's quite expensive for them."

While Healey acknowledged the new rules make it more difficult for American players to join the NWHL, she said they also loosen up the rules for European players or for Canadian players to cross provincial boundaries.

One major change is that American players now retain their import status even after they've played in the league for a full season.

"We are Hockey Canada and our responsibility is to the development of hockey in Canada," Healey said.

"So we looked at helping other countries by increasing the non- North American imports," she said. "Now we've got two (non-North American imports), which is more than it was. That's part of our wanting to help other countries.

Healey also noted that while the entire NWHL was allowed 10 international players on its 10-team circuit last year, only one or two of those spots were filled.

"It's difficult for us to rationalize opening those doors wide open when they didn't use what they had available in the past."

Healey also said the teams that have the greatest success in the league are those that have the highest Canadian content.