End Women's Hockey Due to Lack of Competition?

IOC must keep women's hockey: Swiss player
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Sat Feb 27, 6:53 PM


NEW.BRUNSWICK (CBC) - A Swiss hockey player is urging the International Olympic Committee to keep women's hockey in the Winter Games.

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Lucrece Nausbaum, the 23-year-old defence player who also plays for Fredericton's St. Thomas University, is back in New Brunswick after playing for the Swiss Olympic team at the Vancouver Olympics.


Before Nausbaum left the west coast, Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, warned that women's hockey may have to be sacrificed if other countries can't compete with Canada and the United States.


Nausbaum said it's difficult to contemplate the Olympics without women's hockey.


"I couldn't even imagine. It would be a huge setback," she said.


Nausbaum helped her home country to a fifth-place finish at the Olympics.


Canada beat Nausbaum's Swiss team 10-1 in its second game of the tournament.


Nausbaum is back in New Brunswick helping her teammates from St. Thomas University battle for the top at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships being held this weekend in Moncton.


She said Olympic organizers have to be more patient to allow women's hockey to develop in countries that don't have the same resources as the teams in Canada and the United States.


"Some countries have a lot more support than others, but I think we're all getting closer to each other's levels and it will be," she said.


"It will be closer in the next few years."


Nausbaum had a solid Olympics logging 107 minutes of ice time, sixth most on the Swiss squad, and registering one goal, two assists and six shots on goal.


Lisa Jordan, the head coach of the St. Mary's University Huskies, said all it takes is a commitment to share expertise and the game will grow.


"There's a lot of Canadian curlers and Canadian coaches who have gone over to Europe to help coach some of their national programs," Jordan said.


"I think we need to send more coaches over there, just to share our knowledge a little bit, about how the game needs to be developed at the younger ages."