If you skated into this article, there’s a strong likelihood that you’re searching for prospective women's hockey agencies to work with.
Our aim in this article is to help cover what to look for and the important questions you should be asking. Doing both of these can dramatically help you in your pursuit to continue playing women's hockey at the next level.
We'll cover:
- Introduction
- Do you need to work with a women’s hockey agency?
- What makes a women's hockey agency good or bad?
- Women's Hockey Agency Costs
- How to get one to work with you (as a player)
Chin strap buckled? Let’s do this…
Introduction
To start out, it’s important to mention that just like no two hockey players are the same (size, skillset, experience), the same goes for women's ice hockey agencies too.
One women’s hockey agency might be larger…another might be smaller.
You get the picture...
Some might only focus on the highest profile players or maybe they just work with a particular league such as the PWHL based in North America.
Our team size sits in the middle...and our specialty lies in helping players play in Europe. We have partners and European hockey agents on the ground in both continents (NA + Europe)...with heavy access all around Europe.
When you are determining what agency (or agent) you should work with…you really want to think about what gives you the best options in terms of your hockey career both on and off the ice long-term.
By going through these questions below…this will get you going.
Do you need to work with a women’s hockey agency to play at the next level?
It depends on your situation and where you want to play.
If you’re a cream of the crop NCAA D1, USports, or elite European equivalent player with the goal to play specifically in the PWHL only, we’d probably recommend you work with a PWHL agent that specializes just in this league.
For a lot of players (maybe you) reading this article though, you might not land in that category exactly. There’s only a select number of teams and more players each year are vying for limited new roster spots.
So what should you do if this is you?
Maybe you just finished up collegiate play…or you’re a bit younger and finished high school/prep….or maybe you’ve had a bit of a gap on your resume since you last played, but you are now back on the ice, have a revitalized energy, and motivation to continue playing again.
In any of these scenarios, working with a high quality agency will be able to help you a ton and there’s several main reasons for this…
The first is network access…the second is dialing messaging…and the third is regional expertise.
Hockey Network Access
Without the right access to get on clubs radar to start, not much else matters as the right decision makers at clubs will never be able to know who you are. With us having partners across Europe, we have this covered quite vastly.
Next is dialing messaging and it can’t go overlooked…
Dialing Messaging
Especially if you’re the type of player that can bring more value to a team than your resume on paper shows on its own.
Your resume and playing history is definitely an important factor as it alone can show clubs the levels you’ve played at and how you directly performed there.
As we both know though…stats on paper don’t always tell the full story.
Maybe you had a bad injury or you were a borderline lineup player on one of the very best teams in your league…in each of these cases (and many others), your stats alone may not convey to clubs your potential and the level you are capable of playing at.
What you need is to be able to get across to teams why you’re a stronger player than what it shows on paper alone…and you need a way to get that across to them off the bat.
As we’ve helped numerous women’s players land in Europe over the years from players coming straight out of college to ones with gaps in their play, we know how to dial and frame your communication so clubs are much more compelled to consider you.
It’s ultimately up to teams to decide if they see a best fit, but since we have deep insights into what clubs want to see (from player stats to training clips to communication), we are best able to arm our clients with this knowledge…and this gives them a few goal lead over not knowing this.
Regional Expertise
On the third part which is regional expertise, this overlaps a bit with what we mentioned above.
Depending on the region you’re aiming to play in, you want to look for a women's hockey agency or agent that has expertise in that region.
For us, that regional expertise lies in Europe.
One example of this is in how clubs like to review players.
Here's a quick example: English is spoken well in most regions of Europe (excluding some parts of Eastern Europe), but coaching staff and management in different countries will have varying preferences in terms of how they communicate with players, what they expect to review regarding prospects, and so on.
We understand all of these to a tee.
If you as a player are already deeply connected with professional teams in the regions you’re aiming to play, you might be able to go it alone. If not, an agency can help expedite the process greatly and open up those hard to reach doors.
What makes a women's hockey agency good or bad?
To us, it comes down to a few main areas which are understanding (empathy), access/reach, and interaction.
Understanding
In order to be able to best help a player, it’s important to understand that no one player is alike.
Players with nearly identical stats and resumes on paper may have completely different aims in mind in terms of where they want to explore playing next.
Their personal situation, finances, career objectives beyond sport can (and will) differ greatly. Having this understanding (and empathy) is essential as it can help align a hockey agent/agency and player to best explore the players potential options together…beginning with their goals.
Access + Reach
Following this, you always want to look for an agency that has the access/reach to teams in the place(s) you’re interested in exploring to play.
Interaction
Last to look at when reviewing is to see how they interact with you from that first communication.
Do they come across as knowledgeable? Do they provide helpful resources that’s specific to where you’re aiming to play? Are they professional in their feedback and replies to you?
This alongside the several other factors above can hopefully add up to help you in seeing this.
Women's Hockey Agency Costs
Since no one agency is the same, the cost and fees associated for them to help work with you as a player will naturally range.
At the most elite levels such as the PWHL, SDHL, or Auroraliiga where the pay is highest at the women's level globally, you’ll often pay an agent more as a fee or as a percentage of the overall hockey contract.
In many more leagues below this, you might not be aiming to make mid to high 5-figures per year from hockey alone.
You’ll often pay an agency (or agent) somewhere in the range of say 500 to low thousands of dollars range (this upper bound being on the super high end) depending on where you’re aiming.
It’s much more often towards the lower side of this spectrum in our first-hand experience working with players.
How To Get One (Agent/Agency) To Work With You
Each player's situation is going to be unique including yours as we’ve forechecked in on hard a few times already.
In order to best find the best agent/agency and to be able to work with them, you need to first see if an agent or agency sees alignment to work with you.
Like you…they also need to see a fit to know if they believe they can (or can’t) help you.
You can increase the likelihood of them being interested in you by doing as follows:
Share you ability/experience clearly
Aim to share your playing experience as clearly as you can whether it's in sharing league/stat links, adding context based on your background, and so on
Video + Complimentary Assets
If you have any clear video footage whether it’s prior game highlights or a recent training session- share that.
We included the word “clear” as you’d be surprised by how many players share footage that’s either too hard to view or it's not clear which player they are on the ice. We don’t expect it to be perfect or for it to have fancy editing, but a short bit of clips to compliment the rest can go along way. If you have everything else expect video- that’s often fine as you can create that later if it aligns.
Be professional
Always be professional in your written communication.
We know this is not an English class, but using Hi/Hellos or periods at the end of sentences in your emails best as can are basics for anyone (including the hockey industry) from afar to take you seriously. Those impressions matter, and your written communication importantly helps communicate that you’re a serious player to us (and to teams once they learn about you).
If you’re able to do a good job with sharing the above, you’ll stand a much better chance of showing to a particular agent or agency that you have the potential to be able to play at the next level of hockey.
If you think you have the drive, ability, and interest to play women's hockey at the next level overseas in a once-in-a-lifetime setting off of the ice, send us a message here.
