Ann-Sophie Bettez is one of the oldest players in the PWHL and she’s had a long career, playing in different leagues and showcases. I thought it would be interesting to get her take on what it’s like to be a PWHL player and both her future and the league’s. On March 20, Bettez was put on the long-time injury reserve list, so it was easy to decide how to start the interview.
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Please note the interview was conducted in French and translated to English afterward. Bettez’s answers were only edited for conciseness and clarity. The questions will be bolded and my initials will precede them. Bettez’s initials will precede her answers.
Playing in the PWHL
Karine Hains: First of all, how are you? Has your injury healed or not yet?
Ann-Sophie Bettez: Not yet, but I’m feeling better.
KH: Do you think you’ll be able to come back this season or in the playoffs, should there be playoffs?
ASB: No.
KH: How did you feel about missing the Bell Centre game?
ASB: I was still there even if I didn’t play, on one hand, that’s unfortunate, but I still skated in the Toronto game in front of 19,000 fans. Of course, it’s a shame but I think it shows the fans’ passion for the game. I hope there’ll be another opportunity for me to play in front of a full house.
KH: You probably saw the April 18 game against Minnesota, how can we explain Montreal’s tendency to fail to protect a lead?
ASB: It’s a good question, if we had the answer, it would be easy to fix the problem. The most important thing is we were able to get back in the game and come out on top. I believe this is one of our strengths as a team, and I’m proud of them.
KH: I admit I told myself the Team USA players who play for Minnesota must have felt like it was Groundhog Day after the gold medal game!
ASB: Indeed.
KH: We’re quite deep into the season now, the players must be starting to know one another pretty well, did you do some team-building activities or outings?
ASB: We did to start with during training camp, to kind of learn to know each other and create relationships. You learn to know the other people. It may seem silly but just undergoing the physical testing, when you’re giving as much of yourself as you can, to have the support of your teammates, to learn to know who you are as a person, but also as an athlete. We’ve held team dinners, I’m not going to give you the full schedule, but yes, we’ve had various events.
KH: Do you ever have to act as a translator between the French and the English players on the team or is everyone fluent in English and it’s the language used most of the time?
ASB: Everyone is fine in English, but when we do speak French, the Anglophones do ask what we are saying, so that’s the kind of translation we might have to do sometimes from French to English.
KH: In the locker room, the Francophones probably do speak to each other in French at times I imagine?
ASB: Yeah, but we try to be careful, if there’s someone around who doesn’t speak French, we won’t speak French to be as inclusive as possible. However, if there are only three of us Francophones having a little conversation, then chances are we’ll speak French.
KH: Do you feel your game has changed since you started playing with PWHL Montreal?
ASB: No, I’ve always kept the same identity, I’m the kind of player who works hard and I think that stayed throughout all those years. The physicality has been something we didn’t encounter before, so we’ve all had to adjust, but apart from that, I’ve not had to denature myself.
KH: How do you feel the new players are adapting to the city, to the French side of things, you know those who came from elsewhere?
ASB: The biggest challenge was the language, some are taking classes to try and learn some words and that’s great because you can see the efforts they are making to learn the language. A lot of people have been to other big cities. Yes, Montreal is a big city, but you know from a transportation standpoint, they’ve used the Metro, they drove around so I think adaptation went very well. We’ve been at this since October or November, so it’s been a while, I’m fairly confident the adaptation period is done.
KH: You wore an A with Les Canadiennes and a C with La Force. How do you adjust to a team that might ask you a little bit less leadership wise?
ASB: I don’t think they’re asking less of me. Whether you have a letter or not doesn’t mean your attitude has to change. The letter doesn’t mean that much, we did name a group of leaders at the Bell Centre where I was named. So even if I don’t wear a letter, it doesn’t matter to me, your attitude won’t change if you have a letter or not. My role as a big sister is to help the younger players, advise them, be there for them, and be able to help them. A letter is just a letter.
KH: The championship at Dawson’s after the shooting, the one at McGill, do you feel like winning the first PWHL championship would make it a trio of meaningful wins for you?
ASB: Of course, the first title is so important. It was the same at McGill we managed to win the first one there, those are titles that are fun to win and yes, it would wonderfully complete that trio of wins. Even with my injury, I’ll be with the team for the games all the way through.
Related: CWHL Award Winners by the Numbers
KH: Which active female player inspires you the most?
ASB: I would have to say that each one of my teammates inspires me because they do things in their way. Everyone followed a different path to the PWHL, they all come from different cities and different environments and it’s fun to see how all these women emerged to find success. Everyone was a star in their team and now you get into an all-star team and you’ve got to be able to take the role that’s given to you. I think it’s fun to see the chemistry we’ve managed to create outside of the ice as well. Each team was in the same position, but we were able to establish it so quickly, we created something solid and everyone brings a little something that inspires me every day, which makes me want to go to the arena and makes me happy to see them.
The PWHL, the PWHPA and the PHF
KH: You took part in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) showcases for a few years and then you joined the Montreal Force in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Did you consider that the league was meeting the players’ needs or did you join thinking it would be until there was another league?
ASB: Well, the PWHPA was formed when the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) was shut down and it was like a temporary option to get a professional league. What I didn’t like was the fact we had showcases but no practice strictly speaking. Hockey is such a team sport… Of course, it’s fun to have games in other cities, but what was missing for me was the opportunity to practice every week. Being able to build something with a team rather than hop on a Zoom call with one girl being in Toronto, the other in Ottawa, and another one in the States. It worked for a while as a placeholder for what we have today, but it didn’t meet 100% of our needs.
KH: What is the biggest difference between the PWHL and the PHF?
ASB: The structure, the financial stability, and the group of investors who bought the league have very deep pockets. If you do a Google search, you’ll find the actual figures. Of course, now there are only six teams featuring the best of the best, before we were more spread out. There were 11 teams, and it shrunk down to six, so it’s had an impact on the quality of the on-ice product. The hockey is better, so I’d say it’s a combination of all those things.
KH: Yes, only the best players are playing but there’s no other level, no farm team like the American Hockey League on the men’s side. Many players are on one-year contracts, like yourself I believe, and now with all the Europeans who’ll declare for the draft, the girls from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Canadian universities, it kind of feels like there will be a change of the guard. Where will the players who no longer have a spot go?
ASB: This is a startup you know. It’s just getting off the ground, things will have to be changed and improved. Is it perfect right now? No. I mean, you go and pick up girls from other pools, we need a league on the side, just to have the opportunity to progress and reach the PWHL eventually. The truth of the matter is, that we’ve lost so many girls, but now we need to change course and get a pool of players who’ll fill that need. Another league below would be great, but you need players for that. It’s only a matter of time, I don’t have the answer but I hope people are working in the background to set that up.
KH: For now, the reserve pool has been good, but there aren’t enough players are there? Do you think this will be tweaked next year to fix the issue?
ASB: Probably.
KH: Do you think the level of engagement of the crowd is different from what you’ve experienced with Les Canadiennes and La Force?
ASB: Well, with the media that are now coming to our practices and being on television with games every week, the passion is growing, we’re able to fill arenas. In Minnesota for their opening game, there were 13,000 fans, Toronto with 19,000, Ottawa with 8,000, and Laval with 10,000. It’s a craze and people are getting into it which is a lot of fun to see. For Montreal, the success of the past, yes there have been a lot of teams, but fans did follow us. The base, the die-hard fans who came to see us when we were La Force, Les Canadienne, or The Stars, those people stayed in our entourage.
KH: In your big sister role, when the PWHL bought the PHF, what was the reaction of your teammates with La Force?
ASB: Well, everyone was surprised as the team had signed contracts for the upcoming year so it was a shock, nobody saw that coming so quickly.
KH: Honestly, when that happened, I thought they might use the PHF as a farm league, the level below the PWHL, but as you say, it’s a startup, it will come in time…
The Future Both on and off the Ice
KH: With Gigi Marvin, you are one of the oldest players in the league. Are you starting to think about hanging up your skates?
ASB: Well, I won’t play hockey forever, but I still feel like I’m in really good shape. Age is just a number…In my head, I still feel like I am 20. Yes, I want to carry on playing, but I’ve also got to think about my after-career. I mean NHL guys won’t play until they’re 50, well aside from (Jaromir) Jagr maybe.
KH: So you didn’t enter the year thinking, ‘I’ll play one year and then we’ll see?‘
ASB: I’m taking it a season at the time.
KH: Did you put your job as a financial planner on hold to play this season?
ASB: No, I’ve kept working.
KH: You’re doing both? Wow, you must have really busy days!
ASB: Yes, but I’ve got a really good team behind me at work. Without them, I couldn’t do everything myself, but I think that’s the advantage of working in a team, while I’m elsewhere I’ve got people helping me to ensure daily tasks get done. It’s going really well actually and I’d like to thank them.
KH: Are you still as passionate about that job as you were a few years ago when you were Isabelle Ethier’s guest on the Femme de Hockey podcast? Will that be your career when you hang up your skates? It won’t be in hockey?
ASB: Of course, I’ve been doing that for 10 years and that’s what allowed me to play hockey actually as we weren’t paid back then. It’s something I like very much. We’re self-employed so we can have the flexibility to do what we want. Of course, before you can be self-employed, you have to be a worker and as I’ve said before, I’m someone who works hard. You know, my clients follow my hockey career and they’re interested in it, so each time I talk to them, we have a little chat about hockey and it helps me create relationships with them. It’s going to be my after-career. Will I stay in the sport as well? Maybe, but my financial planning work will be my main focus. I don’t see myself as a coach or something like that, I can be a financial coach though!
KH: What has been the most challenging event of your career?
ASB: Throughout my career, I’ve had injuries and they’re always challenging but when I got cut by Team Canada it was yet another challenge. Just getting through those highs and lows is a challenge in itself.
KH: How do you see the future of the league? There are apparently over 100 European players who intend to declare for the draft on top of the players that are on this side of the ocean. In your opinion, will there be an expansion and will this be soon or it’s likely to be a long-term project?
ASB: Eventually yes, even though my opinion doesn’t mean much, we’ve got to ask the people in charge. However, it seems like the next logical step. They’ve started with six teams, the NHL started with six teams, I’m not telling you there will be 32 teams overnight in the PWHL but I think it would be the next logical step, especially in light of all of those girls you’ve just mentioned. They’ll also need to think about having a farm team eventually. We must not grow too fast, but it will come in the next few years.
KH: Do you think about that, the fact that so many players are coming? Do you worry whether you’ll have a spot on a team?
ASB: If fate wants me to have a spot I will, and if not, something else will come my way. I can’t predict the future even though I’d like to. I’ll have to take it day by day and see where we go from there.
KH: Did you watch the gold-medal game of the World Championship and did you watch it alone or in a group?
ASB: Yean, I watched it with my family, we had dinner at my brother’s.
KH To wrap things up, I’ll ask you a few quick hits. What’s your favorite TV or streaming show?
ASB: Good question, depends on when. At one stage I was watching Suits it was my favorite show. Back in college, I was watching One Tree Hill with the Scott brothers and I loved it, I do watch some series from here but I don’t watch that much television. They’te not necessarily my favorites but I just want to know what happens whether it is in Indéfendable, Survivor, or La Voix.
KH: What’s your favorite song, the one you listen to to get ready for a game?
ASB: I really like Spanish music, you know the kind you listen to when you go on holiday, and also Celine Dion songs.
KH: You’re one of the few who haven’t answered Taylor Swift to that question…
ASB: No, I’m in a different generation.
KH: Is Le Bal Masqué one of the songs you listen to when you head for holidays?
ASB: Well, that’s funny, it became a tradition but that one, we listen to after the game, not before. When we listen to it, it means we’ve won.
KH: Do you prefer cats or dogs?
ASB: Dogs, because cats are boring they just go wander everywhere. Some cats behave like dogs, but they are quite rare. A cat is like an unnecessary expenditure.
KH: What’s your favorite food?
ASB: Depends, I like steak. I don’t have any specific meals I eat before a game.
KH: Are you a Montreal Canadiens’ fan? Do you go catch games at the Bell Centre?
ASB: Yes, and I do go, but it’s rare. I like watching it from home, you’re not stuck in traffic afterward.
KH: Aside from hockey, what’s your favorite sport?
ASB: I like to play golf and I like watching diving.
KH: Thanks for doing the interview and I very much hope to see you in Montreal’s line-up next year.
ASB: Tell that to Daniele [Sauvageau – PWHL Montreal’s general manager] [laughs]
