There will indeed be a team based in Montreal in the new professional women’s hockey league, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
The news will be confirmed this Tuesday during an official announcement, but clues transmitted on social networks on Monday evening have officially sold the wick. Account X of the PWHL itself created the accounts for the six “original” teams that will make up the league.
“Exciting and fast, with an ounce of finesse,” reads the account description for the future Montreal squad. It is not yet known with certainty whether the name of the Force of Montreal will be part of the project.
Informants, including Sportsnet reporter Jeff Marek, say the draft is set to take place Sept. 18 in Toronto. A 10-day period, from September 1 to 10, will also be offered to teams to sign up to three players before this draft.
It was at the end of June that organizers and investors first announced their intention to launch a new professional women’s hockey league which they hope will provide the best players with a stable and economically sustainable environment for years to come. future.
The announcement was welcomed by many, especially since the project has significant financial support. Based on the model that was first introduced, Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra, team president Stan Kasten and tennis legend Billie Jean King will help manage of the league.
But above all, the arrival of this new league should put an end to a long stalemate that persisted between the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), which has seven teams, and the Association of Professional Hockey Players (PWHPA).
In July, Quebec star player Marie-Philip Poulin, who is now a player development consultant for the Montreal Canadiens, said she was “very excited” about this new circuit. “We’ve been asked many times when this happens. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it’s gonna happen. There, I can finally tell you, it will be in January, only one league for women’s hockey. We’ve been working for this moment for several years,” she said.
Recall that North American women’s professional hockey has seen leagues come and go over time, with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) closing in 2019 after 12 seasons in which some of the best players in the world were able to show their expertise.
Dani Rylan Kearney launched the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015 as a four-team, investor-funded league, but it struggled at times and was later renamed PHF.
