If you listen to Laura Stacey’s hockey story, you might agree she is in line for a game where there’s nothing on the line but pure fun.
That’s what the 22-year-old native of Kleinburg, Ont., expects to have Saturday, when the Canadian Women’s Hockey League stages its fifth annual all-star game at the Air Canada Centre.
All-star games are generally fun events at any level, but in the case of the women’s game, players such as Stacey extend themselves a little further than their NHL counterparts might, to help market their product.
Saturday’s game arrives without a flood of media flocking to Toronto, or a network commanding around-the-clock access for weeks leading up to the game.
Instead, Stacey, one of 34 players chosen to play, creates hashtags for fans to follow and retweets posts from the CWHL and its member teams.
“I help do skills coaching in CWHA in Brampton and with teams in Mississauga,” Stacey said. “It’s definitely something I’ve mentioned to those players before. Just where to go and where to buy tickets. You say: Hey, I’m playing in the game and you can get more information here.
“A lot of people have heard about the game, but not all the details.”
There has been some media buzz this past week, on local blogs and sports talk shows. Much of the marketing, though, is at the grassroots. It’s part of the heavy lifting the players handle themselves, in a non-profit league that includes the bulk of the Canadian national roster. The players in Saturday’s all-star showcase have won a combined 21 Olympic gold medals.
Stacey loves the challenge of helping the league grow, having faced obstacles since the day she first put on skates.
“When I was 3 years old, I learned to skate in a figure skating program . . . but I didn’t like it,” Stacey said.
“I saw some of the younger boys going to another rink to play hockey and I wanted to go, too. I sat in my figure skates crying, and I told my parents I wanted to go to the other ice. But they said you have to learn to skate.
“Eventually I convinced them, but it was really hard because I didn’t know how to skate at first. I took a lot of skating lessons and I fell in love with it . . . I never looked back.”
Stacey had some hockey genes on her side.
Her great grandfather on her mother’s side was Leafs legend King Clancy. Her mother Karen and father John will be in the stands Saturday, along with sister Holley, a McGill University track athlete.
Stacey played with boys teams up to eighth grade, then switched to the girls game because she began breaking bones playing against the boys. She ultimately played U.S. college hockey at Dartmouth, and realized her dream to play for Team Canada via the CWHL, when Brampton drafted her in the first round in 2016.
Now, the fun part is the chance to gather with teammates and other top women’s players such as Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson, for a celebration of the women’s game.
“It’s going to be a fun event,” Stacey said. “Sometimes, hockey can be so serious and be all business, but this weekend will be for the fun of it — why we all started playing hockey in the first place.”
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