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Our work depends on data to help drive innovation and scalable solutions. To learn more about how data can accelerate gender equity through hockey and grow the game, our comms lead Denise Withers sat down with Meghan Chayka, co-founder of hockey data pioneer Stathletes to learn more about her work and what we need more of to grow the game for good.


Denise: We’re real data lovers at the FHL and are big fans of your work. But since you work behind the scenes, everybody in our audience might not know your story. So let’s start at the beginning – how did you get into hockey?

Meghan: My brother played a lot of hockey growing up and I was always just in and around arenas. He was training and working out with professional players while trying to give feedback on their games. John (my brother) realized there was a gap in the market to automate parts of data collection.

I’m very tall, so I played basketball and volleyball, and I was a baseball pitcher. So I was always in sports and understood the intersection of data and analytics, especially in baseball. Then about 15 years ago, at the time of the genesis of the Moneyball movement in baseball, we started to ask—why isn’t there more data in hockey? And that was the start of the idea behind Stathletes. So we were really at the beginning of a broader sort of big data movement.

Denise: That’s such a great example of how real innovation happens.

Meghan: Definitely. As you know from your work in the lab, innovation often happens by applying an idea from one field to a different field that hasn’t been exposed to it yet. We see that a lot in tech, where people figure out something that works and then expand it across multiple sectors.

At that time, data analytics was really picking up speed. Things like the MIT Sports Analytics Conference, various gatherings, and companies around the space were really emerging. And it hasn’t slowed down either. I think AI, machine learning, and computer vision are the next iterations, especially generative AI like ChatGPT—it’s the next layer in the data space.

For me, it was about timing the market and figuring out what product-market fit looked like. It involved very traditional startup tech questions. I don’t think I did anything uniquely groundbreaking, but I certainly saw a need that hadn’t been addressed yet.

Fast forward to today and we have a wide variety of clients all over the world, from leagues to teams, players, agents, trainers, digital media, and sportsbooks—basically anyone that touches data.

Denise: Can you give us a couple of specific examples of the kind of data you’re capturing in pro hockey and how it might be used?

Meghan: I think passing is probably the easiest example. It largely went unknown beyond what someone might watch and track themselves. You only see two assists in the stats, but there are great passers in the league who complete passes under pressure. Now we can quantify their decision-making process with numbers.

Hockey is so much about making plays, and without this kind of data—whether they completed a pass or not, and from where—you’re staring into a blank hole. By filling in that gap, you can understand players who haven’t traditionally shown up on the box score. And unlock an extra layer of insights that brings fans closer to the game because they get real-time feedback with rich data.

Denise: I love that. Now, when we look specifically at women’s hockey, we’re seeing such incredible growth there. How are you connected to the women’s game?

Meghan: I’ve always been a strong proponent of the idea that supporting women athletes helps in all facets of society. There’s always this societal narrative around women in sports or business, like, “But what about revenue? What about this or that (endless chicken and egg discussions)?”

I believe supporting women’s sports is inherently tied to achieving gender equity in all spaces.

So I had my first meeting with the women's league in 2009 when I went to the CWHL offices and said, “I'm doing this work in the NHL. I really think that we need to do more on the women's side.” And they agreed.

Since then, I’ve done projects in women’s hockey every year. I just worked on the Rivalry Series, the first three games, and I did the Olympics for CBC. Today, I’m off to do a media piece on the PWHL.

For me, it’s always been about finding ways to grow the space. I’d like to think that I'm a first mover in the game, that I’ve recognized that it was very underserved. And that the ceiling is not even close to being realized yet.

Denise: So when we look specifically at data, how can we use it to grow the women’s game?

Meghan: Sports are all about storytelling, and data brings another layer by showing how players and teams perform. Fans love real-time feedback. So broadcasters can use data to make the game more engaging. And players can share stats with their fans on social media to build those personal connections. Data makes everything more relatable, whether it’s through storytelling, fantasy leagues, or drafts, which are already so popular.

Now, as the PWHL enters its second year, starting to build a historical dataset will be a game-changer. It’ll highlight the growth of the league and the individual stories of the players. There’s just so much data can do to help grow the women’s game and bring it to more people.

As technology gets better and cheaper, it helps close the gap between what the men’s and women’s games can access. The growing marketplace for women’s sports, combined with scalable tech like AI, is making training, analysis, and even injury rehab more accessible.

Denise: What’s it going to take to make that happen?

Meghan: For one thing, capital, and scale. The women’s game deserves the same level of investment as the men’s. Technology plays a huge role in leveling that playing field, whether it’s better data for coaching or making resources more accessible to youth players.

But it’s not just about money being invested; it’s about the whole flywheel. You need rising stars, strong social media and content strategies, and ways to reach fans outside traditional linear TV channels that haven’t historically prioritized women’s sports.

I always tell people who want to help the women’s game: watch it, interact with it, and tell people you want to see it. Buy the jerseys. Use your purchasing power and attention to show the market what you want, and there will be more of it.

For me, it’s been amazing just to see the PWHL up and running. It reminds me of the WNBA—I went to an Indiana Fever game this summer and saw Caitlin Clark play in a sold-out NBA arena. If you’d told me 10 years ago that would happen, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Denise: So true! Any final thoughts to inspire other changemakers out there who share your passion?

Meghan: In my work, I often hear from parents who tell their daughters, “Look at Meghan—you don’t have to be an athlete to work in sports.” I think it’s important to show young girls that there are multiple pathways into sports—not just as a player.

The scale of Stathletes is something I’m proud of. We’re well-established as an enterprise-level software and data-as-a-service company. We’ve never taken funding. In fact, the reality is that only about 2% of VC funding goes to women-led startups.

I also try to give back as much as I can. I’m a Data Scientist in Residence at the University of Toronto, where I lecture and help with programming. I’m on several boards for sports management and analytics, and I take on mentees because I’ve had great mentors myself. I want to create the environment I wish I’d had when I was younger.

I think my dream is just to be happy, inspire others, and make sure my team—over 200 people—feels supported and successful. And to have fun! We work in hockey, the best sport in the world, so I can’t complain.

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