When the Professional Women’s Hockey League began playing last year, Emma May Beckett concluded it was about time, and also the right time to shoot her shot.
Beckett and her classmate, friend, and co-director Rylee Cawthorne, used the league's launch to make a documentary about the impact of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) on players, coaches, parents and hockey in general as part of their media production studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.
It's an impact that Beckett knew personally, as she grew up playing hockey, including for Collingwood Lightning in Collingwood.
Her early hockey career was played for the Collingwood Minor Hockey Association, and on mostly boy teams.
“When I reached a certain age, it got really lonely really fast,” she said.
She described it as difficult to connect with teammates in the male-dominated sport. With pre and post-game pep talks occurring in change rooms and, sometimes being the only female on the team, she wasn’t involved in the same conversations or camaraderie as other players.
In 2019, she joined the Collingwood Lightning.
“I knew my teammates as well off the ice as on the ice, I could call them all my friends and I felt like it made my game better,” she said.
“Coach Kaitlyn MacDonald pushed me to be a better player,” Beckett recounted working with her first female coach.
Making a documentary about something so close to her heart made for some emotional moments.
Discovering the many reactions to the PWHL, how it has affected young girls and women, hearing their stories, and bringing it all forward in a documentary “has been a wild and fun ride,” for Beckett.
“It was bittersweet to see that these girls have this option now. One that we didn’t have when we were playing minor hockey,” Beckett described, “it’s like a spark of what could be but it’s also a reminder of what could have been.”
“It was inspirational to hear the young players, too, the youngest I think was ten, and to hear that they’re working a lot harder now, that’s what the PWHL has launched, it’s so great to see.” she said.
Her documentary, called It's Been a Long Time Coming, is not only a nod to the sport she grew up playing, but it will premiere in her hometown of Collingwood and support her former hockey club.
Tickets to the premiere, which will be held at the Simcoe Street Theatre on March 29th, went on sale on Eventbrite Friday, Jan. 17.
Beckett hopes to raise between $1,000-1,500 from sales to help an aspiring female hockey player with her goals and dreams.
“Hockey is a very expensive sport,” Beckett said, so the funds will go toward registration fees and gift cards for equipment.
“I’m encouraging both current Lightning players and girls interested in playing hockey to email me at [email protected] with a statement on what hockey means to them and why they would benefit from this donation,” she explained.
Both Beckett and Cawthorne are passionate about hockey. It only made sense to them, when deciding on their production, to focus on the sport and specifically the PWHL as it entered its inaugural season.
The two directors were further inspired to document their findings as the Toronto PWHL team – now established as the Scepters – played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the home arena for their university team.
“It truly has been a long time coming,” said Beckett of the women’s league and referring to the name of the documentary.
“My favourite hockey player is Natalie Spooner and I used to go watch her and other female hockey players. Where there would be maybe a couple hundred fans in the stands, now to see those same hockey players sell out Scotiabank Arena, it’s amazing,” she expressed.
After nine months of pre-production work, Beckett described the first day shooting footage as surreal. She said it was a 12-hour day at the Toronto Leaside Wildcats Arena, which had finally culminated in a tangible experience with lighting and cameras set up exactly as they envisioned.
“To see our vision come to life right in front of us was incredible,” she said.
On the day of the premiere, Beckett encourages Lightning players to wear their jerseys, as she hired a photographer and plans to capture the essence of the hockey community she knows and loves. It will play at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 29t.
“I think it will be a really fun day celebrating women’s hockey,” she added.