Hockey Nova Scotia's new executive director aims to make sport more inclusive

Hockey Nova Scotia has a new executive director. 

Mike Field, who previously served as the organization's longtime member-services manager, was hired last month.

The Truro, N.S., native played hockey with the Acadia Axemen before graduating from Acadia University in 2001.

Field had been serving as the organization's interim director since the position was vacated in December.

Former director Amy Walsh left the organization to join the Future of Hockey Lab, which works to make the sport more accessible and welcoming to all players.

Field spoke with CBC Radio's Portia Clark about his new permanent role and what he hopes to achieve. 

Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You've been with Hockey Nova Scotia in various capacities for a long time. How did you first get involved?

Yeah, I certainly have. It's been over 20 years now and I certainly don't don't feel that old. I started as a young player, six years old, so was introduced to the sport at a very early age.

And of course, my brother played, but my father was also an administrator as well. He took on the role of president for the Truro Minor Hockey Association. I saw from a young age the volunteer aspect of it through my father's work at home, taking all the calls and handling the day-to-day of running a minor hockey league.

Seeing that, from what I see now, I really appreciate the work that volunteers play in delivering the game to kids.

In this new role, what are you hoping to bring to it at this crucial time in hockey and its development in Nova Scotia?

Yeah, so for me, I have a lot of experience with Hockey Nova Scotia in different roles. I previously held the interim role a couple times and I'm fortunate to be full-time now. But it has been a tough couple years for hockey with a lot of stuff that's going on. 

We've seen, you know, some accountability from Hockey Canada with some changes they've made there, new board chair Hugh Fraser leading the way with a lot of positive things there, that we're seeing meaningful change, and that's encouraging to us here in Hockey Nova Scotia. 

But really, just for me, continuing the great work that our board's been doing. We really are focusing on women and girls' growth in hockey.

Through leadership of Dean Smith, our chair, we've been working on the task-team recommendations that came forward, making the game more inclusive and breaking down barriers. With Amy as well, we're also partnered with the Future of Hockey Lab that Amy, our former executive director, went to.

I really enjoyed the game and it's something for everyone, and we need to make sure that it's accessible to everyone. Really that's a key focus for myself and the board of directors.

One of the challenges of growing the game for girls and women is ice time, when the ice tends to get dominated by the usual players. Is there anything concrete on that aspect of growing the game for women and girls?

Absolutely, there is and that just goes back to our partnership with the Future of Hockey Lab. Just due to capacity, they have the expertise, the time, so in our partnership with them, that's their focus: to do an ice-equity project.

That's something that they're focusing in on and trying to make it equitable for all Nova Scotia and figure out a way to make sure that they have the access, same as any group renting ice and having access to ice. 

Is part of that getting more ice surfaces? 

You know, that certainly would probably be part of this. I think the research will come out and the work will find that it's dependent on the geographical area. There's certainly pockets of the province that could benefit from more ice and just the way it's used. I think it's a combination of those factors.

What about getting more women involved at the coaching level? Often girls who get into the game, they just don't see women behind the bench or having any role besides being team managers and volunteering.

Yeah, that's something that we're really focused on. The girls need to see leaders, female leaders, and one thing we've recently done, we're excited that we just hired Kori Cheverie, who actually started Monday this week.

She's fresh into the role but she's the female high performance coach for Hockey Nova Scotia now. Kori, as some may know, recently led her Nova Scotia Canada Games' team to a silver medal at Canada Games, which is our highest placing ever, and she's also an assistant coach with the national women's team. 

So having Kori there with a focus on developing female coaches and developing female athletes in the game is certainly going to help with that.

Any updates on Hockey Nova Scotia's campaign to have John Paris Jr. inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

We're certainly hopeful. I don't have an update, but we're certainly hopeful that things are trending in the right direction for John Paris Jr. He's certainly deserving.

As far as experience in the arenas, is the green armband program making a difference? Are you planning to expand that so young refs aren't driven out by unpleasant interactions with fans and players?

Yeah, we're hoping to continue that.. Right now, we have some anecdotal evidence that it's had a positive impact.

Checking with the referee-in-chief, Rick Hill, he said that we gave out over 480 arm bands this year to the associations, and just in talking, with anecdotal data here, they're finding that the program has definitely started some discussions in the stands and on the benches with the awareness and why it's needed, and why we need to change that culture, especially in the rinks, because we need the officials to make the game happen.

We need to make it safe for them as well.