“Not all players have an idea about it”

Former striker of the Finnish women’s hockey national team Venla Hovi is eagerly embarking on a new, challenging job. Hovi was recently named head coach of Metropolitan Riveters. He shares the responsibilities of head coach in the Czech Republic Ivo Mocekin with.

Metropolitan Riveters play in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The league was formerly known as NWHL. The PHF League is currently the only top women’s series in North America.

– This is a big opportunity in my career. This is a challenge and a moment that forces me to develop as a coach, Hovi told Sport.

Hovi worked as a skill coach after and already during his playing career. She has also been an assistant coach on the Winnipeg University team. For the past two seasons, Hovi has coached girls under the age of 17 off the west coast of Canada. Now there is a completely different class challenge ahead.

But what is the PHF League? It is not very well known in Finland, so let Hovi tell us about the league.

– Next season is the eighth season of the series. There will be a lot of top graduates from the university series, former national team players and also European players, at least on our team when we have two European coaches.

However, the national team players of Canada and the United States are not included in the league. The situation dates back to the history of women’s hockey in North America. In 2015–2019, there were two leagues in operation, CWHL and NWHL.

CWHL ceased operations in the spring of 2019, citing financial difficulties. Players were also dissatisfied with NWHL’s salary level and other conditions of play. In the spring of 2019, the top players announced that they were boycotting the professional leagues and formed the Players Association (PWHPA).

The goal of the PWHPA was to create a new league with a sustainable financial base and women could make a living from gambling. So far, the top players have played screenings organized by the PWHPA.

So PHF is currently the only real women’s series in North America. According to the court, the series has taken small steps forward and more funding is coming next season.

– Running and developing such a series is not easy, I know this is not an easy screen for me either and there is a lot of work ahead, but I am motivated to help the women’s puck move forward.

PHF currently has six teams. There has been talk of one or two teams expanding the series.

The new season begins in October. The players of the court team will practice independently in the summer. The team will not meet until the end of September or the beginning of October. In addition to Hovi and Mocek, the coaching team will include a goalkeeper coach and a physical coach.

The assembly of next season’s team at Metropolitan Riveters started from scratch a couple of weeks ago.

– I joined because I want to make the women’s puck more professional. Not all players in the series may have an idea that they will be required to do much more when more money comes into the women’s puck. We set out to find players who commit to professionalism. We currently have six players and there is a lot of interest, Hovi said.

Hovi hopes that Finnish players will also join the team. Negotiations are reportedly taking place all the time.