NCAA Women's Hockey: What to Watch, Week 10 (Recommended Reading Edition)

In light of the reckoning that needs to be happening in hockey this week, it seemed unconscionable to print this weekly installment as usual. College hockey is not exempt from these issues and is often the breeding ground for this type of culture. If we're going to celebrate that the NCAA is the development driver for women's international and pro hockey then we also need to own college hockey's role in creating, developing and harboring hurtful, hateful and dangerous ideas of misogyny, racism, homophobia, and other types of bigotry.

Today, instead of reading about this week's games, please take some time to read, learn and educate yourself today. Take some concrete steps to make hockey a better, safer, more accepting space.

• Check the social media feeds of your favorite players. Turn a critical eye to what they have or haven't been saying this week. Give your support to the people who earn and deserve it.
• If you aren't already following along with and engaging Black Girl Hockey Club, please start now. They have a wealth of information and resources and are putting themselves out there to do the work and we all need to be supporting and centering them. Take their Get Uncomfortable Pledge. Donate. Follow them on Twitter. Utilize their resources.
• BGHC Founder Renee Hess will be on Sportsnet's Top of [Her] Game on Sunday at 6:00 PM Eastern.

• Saroya Tinker, the Metropolitan Riveters rookie targeted by Barstool for speaking out about their racism and sexism, is hosting a fundraise for the Black Girl Hockey Club Scholarship Fund. Donate to that here. Here's how a BGHC scholarship has already helped a team and a young Black player:

• Jashvina Shah's Stick to Sports Podcast always deals with intersectionality in hockey, but her episode on white feminism is particularly important this week. Take the time to stop and listen.
• Shah and Evan Moore are working on a book about ending toxicity in hockey culture. You can sign up here for their mailing list to receive a link for book pre-orders as soon as its available.
• Moore penned this piece on Tinker's speaking out and how we are obligated to support her and hold the NWHL accountable.
• Defector co-owner Maitreyi Anantharaman put it succinctly: Women's Hockey Doesn't Need To Cater To One Rich, Needy Lady
• Dr. Courtney Szto wrote at Hockey In Society about the Barstool incident specifically about how misogyny functions in Barstool's world and the rhetorical devices they use to deflect criticism. While this piece isn't specifically about racism, it does provide great background and context to this ongoing problem. (And we suggest you read the entire back catalog of Hockey in Society's work!)
• Sportsnet's Sonny Sachdeva wrote back in July about how true change in hockey depends on listening to black women. Maybe read this first if you need to know why Black Girl Hockey Club is so important.  

• Marsha Joseph wrote for Victory Press about the opportunity the Toronto Six have to make hockey accessible and to involve marginalized communities when they are able to play home games in the Humber River-Black Creek area of Toronto.
• If you're here, you probably already read and sat with this, but if you have questions about racism in hockey, please read this account from Akim Aliu about the vast array of racist actions big and small he has suffered through in order to play hockey.
• There have been an unfortunate amount of people who seem to think that this is a new problem or one that was exacerbate this week. It's not. Zoë wrote this nearly two years ago and it's more relevant now than ever: Editorial: White Supremacy and Bigotry Disguised as Feminism in Women's Hockey
• Check out this roundtable discussion from a few years ago about how hockey culture can have both subtle and overt ways of excluding players of color, edited and led by Angelica Rodriguez.
• This piece, by Erica Ayala, interviews four young players of color about how they have made their ways in the sport despite the lack of diversity in hockey.
• Here is a piece in FiveThirtyEight from this past October with a great breakdown of how overwhelmingly white the NHL is, and how hockey's fanbase in general is much the same. This overwhelming whiteness insulates white players and fans from making a commitment to inclusion or feeling the need to speak out against racism.

If you know of any other good pieces about race and representation in hockey, please feel free to send them our way!

(Photo credit: Chris Liverani on Unsplash)