Creating Goals
Women’s pro hockey franchise ownership fulfills a dream for Johanna Neilson Boynton ’84.
BY IAN ALDRICH
If you want to gain an understanding of, and appreciation for, the history of women’s hockey in the United States, the story of Johanna Neilson Boynton ’84 is a good place to start.
As a child of the 1970s — and in a sport that offered no organizational structure for female athletes — the Philadelphia-area native scraped together pond or rink time every chance she could. She skated with the sons of family friends and, at one point, her parents even snuck her onto a boys team.
“For me, it was just such a fun and exciting game,” says Boynton, a mother of four who now lives in Concord, Massachusetts, and is the CEO and cofounder of Boynton Brennan Builders. “I liked that it was a fast game and also being the only girl out there — I took a lot of pride in that.”
Boynton’s continued hockey presence became a product of determination and timing. She arrived at St. Paul’s School in the fall of 1980, just as the School was launching a girls hockey program. On a roster stocked with former figure skaters, sisters of hockey-playing brothers, and a few recreational players, Boynton helped solidify the scrappy new program. She eventually was recruited to play at Harvard, where, as a two-time captain, she led her squad to back-to-back Ivy League titles in 1987 and 1988.
Over the last three decades Boynton’s instrumental presence hasn’t diminished. She’s coached at the high school level, served as co-chair of the Friends of Harvard Hockey, helped coordinate the billets for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team, and worked closely with USA Hockey to create the Sochi Family Fund, which enabled families of American players to travel to Russia to see their daughters play in the 2014 Winter Games.
A little over two years ago, she took on what may just be her most important role yet when she became principal owner of the Toronto Six, the newest entrant in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), a six team all-women’s league established in 2015. In her role, Boynton is the franchise’s guiding force, overseeing staff, funding operations, and building a team aligned with the greater values of a league she and other owners believe can be for women what the National Hockey League is for men.
“I have forever been interested in the growth of the women’s game,” says Boynton, who represents the Six on the PHF board, “so they can be compensated, respected, and treated as equals. The next logical step [for me] was to grow the professional game. Women should be able to earn a living playing the sport they love; I want to be a leader in making that happen.”
Would the teenage Boynton have believed in such a possibility? She laughs at the idea. “I would have thought it was impossible,” she says. “Even when I was in college, we didn’t have a national championship. We didn’t go to the Olympics until ’98. So to think we now have professional teams is incredible.”
Within that condensed history lies an advantage that people like Boynton and her contemporaries can bring to their sport. Context, perspective — that kind of lineage carries important currency, Boynton adds.
“I’ve always felt a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the opportunities I had,” she says, “and to share that with younger players means something. As someone who had so much less to dream for and achieve in the arena of women’s hockey, I can [now] make a difference in growing this game. This [league] is mission driven — it’s about empowerment and inclusion. It’s about making it a reality that women can play a sport professionally, and make a living doing it.”