Canadiennes GM sees Montreal's women's team as natural heirs to Habs 1950s glory days

This is the fifthin CBC's new podcast series,Montreapolis. You can hear a full feature interview with Meg Hewingson the podcast, bringing you conversations with people who make upmodern Montreal.Click here to subscribe.

The hockey season may be over for the Montreal Canadiens, and as they reflect on what went wrong the Habs may want to draw inspiration from Montreal's other professional hockey team: Les Canadiennes.

Meg Hewings, the general manager of Montreal's CWHL franchise, told CBC Montreal's podcast Montreapolis that she sees her team as a reflection of the great Habs teams of the 1950s.

The Canadiennes won theirfourth Clarkson Cup in franchise history last month.

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In a wide-ranging interview on the team andher career, Hewings said the Canadiennes' first game at the Bell Centre this year cementedthe team's link with their male counterparts in the NHL.

"We are now sister and brother teams.The Canadiens and the NHL have 100years of experience building up a league, and we need that help," Hewings said.

Flying Frenchwomen

Hewings, a former player on the team, has been the GM for a seven years.

During her tenure the team enteredaformal marketing and promotional partnership with the Habs in 2015, which includedchanging the team's name from the Montreal Stars to Les Canadiennes.

Thepartnership culminated in the first regular season game for LesCanadiennesat the Bell Centrein December, when the homeside beat the Calgary Inferno 1-0.

Hewingssays LesCanadienneshave a lot in common with the great Habs teams of the 1950s, who won five Stanley Cups in a row with homegrown stars such as Maurice Richard, Jean Bliveau and Jacques Plante.

"Our team has this character like the Flying Frenchmen: representative of the city and the style and the flair of the place. We havea very determined, creative, open style of play," Hewings said.

The Canadiennes have won threeClarksonCups under Hewings,led by star francophone players such as Caroline Ouellette, Marie-PhilipPoulin and Charline Labont.

Despite great play,no pay

On the downside, Hewings said the Canadiennesstars share something else with the Habs stars of the 1950s: they're vastly underpaid.

"These are all women that are working full-time jobs a lot like in the 1950s with NHL players," said Hewings."You know, Maurice Richard was holding down a job while playing with the Habs."

In fact, Les Canadiennes players elite athletes, many of whom have won Olympic gold aren't paid at all.

Hewings said despite the team's success,it's hard to get sponsorships or broadcast deals for the women's game, so teams in the CWHL can't afford to pay their players.

The players are on the ice simply for the love of the game.

Hewings said she hopes that will change one day, but it's not happening anytime soon.

Attendance growing

On the upside, the teams' attendance has been growing steadily every year, culminating withthe game at the Bell Centre where more than 6,000 fans were on hand.

Hewingssaid there's no better place to grow the game than in Montreal.

"I think it's aplace that shapes the sport and vice versa.People deeply love and are deeply invested in the sport here," she said.

She said the challenge is getting people to come out and see at least one game.

"Once they do, they get it," Hewings said."It's like a lightbulb goes off."

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While LesCanadiennes need the Habsmore than the Habs need them right now, Hewingspredicts that balance will shift over time.

"We're just incredibly excited to begin that journey, and to have a true partnership where we canmake women's hockey more visible and bring in family audiences, and maybe different audiences that the Canadiens don't have," she said.

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You can hear a full feature interview with Meg Hewingson CBC'snewMontreapolispodcast, bringingyou conversations with people who make upmodern Montreal.Click here to subscribe.