With butterflies in my stomach, I flew to Toronto on Monday morning to attend a historic moment in sports: the first draft of the PWHL, the professional women’s hockey league.

This league brings together the best female ice hockey players in the world for the first time. A league that offers win conditions so that players can make a living from their sport.

It’s like I’m giving you the opportunity to go back to the mid-20th century, the Original 6 era, to see the beginning of the NHL. It’s not nothing!

The design presented by Canadian Tire took place at the CBC Auditorium in Toronto. From the first steps we were overwhelmed by the energy and uniqueness of the moment. Purple carpet, huge screen, everything was prepared to facilitate a meeting.

The players walked onto the purple carpet under the proud gaze of fans, the media and their families. There was laughter, hugs and excitement. I took the opportunity to ask the players to describe to me in one word how they felt. “Excited” was probably said most often.

Then the long-awaited moment finally began. The draft began with an inspiring speech from stock icon Billie Jean King.

“It’s not a moment, it’s a movement,” she says.

Recall that she and her partner Ilana Kloss, as well as Stan Kasten (president of the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Royce Cohen (first vice president of the Dodgers, responsible for business strategy) are members of the board of directors of this league. They were all present for the occasion, as were several personalities from the world of Canadian and American ice hockey.

The 15-round repechage match between 6 teams took place in a festive and unifying setting. The first choice for Montreal was defender Erin Ambrose of the Canadian national team, who has already worn the colors of the Canadians. She was also the assistant to our “Captain Clutch”, Marie-Philipe Poulin.

Will the Canadiens return to Montreal? A file will follow in the coming weeks.

When 90 names came up, several players, including Quebec’s Christine Deaudelin of the Montreal Force, didn’t have that chance. And yet she was happy to have made the trip with her family.

“It is a historic moment and yet I am happy to be here. I now hope to be invited to the camp in November regardless of the team.

There are still a lot of details to be refined before the start of the season, which begins in January, but looking at Monday, it’s going to be quite a season.