1 minute read
KNOW THE LEAGUE
he National Women’s Hockey
League was founded in 2015 with a mission of providing strong female role models for communities while fueling the continued growth of the sport and brand of women’s hockey.
Advertisement
When the puck dropped for the start of the inaugural season in 2015-16, the NWHL became the first professional women’s hockey league in North America. For the first time, women were paid a salary to play hockey. The League’s “Founding Four” franchises – Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale and New York (now Metropolitan) Riveters – are joined by the Minnesota Whitecaps, who entered the NWHL in 2018-19, and the Toronto 6ix, who will make their debut in the 2020-21 season.
The NWHL’s championship trophy is named after Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley’s daughter, Isobel, who is known to be one of the first female hockey players in North America. Along with her brothers, she encouraged her father to pur-
NATIONAL WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE
chase a silver cup that would be known as the Stanley Cup – the championship trophy of the NHL. In the league’s first four seasons, four different teams have won the Isobel Cup: Boston (2016), Buffalo (2017), Metropolitan (2018) and Minnesota (2019).
Strategic alliances with NHL franchises have assisted in the growth of the NWHL, with partnerships built between the Boston Pride and Bruins, and the Minnesota Whitecaps and Wild. Additionally, the Pittsburgh Penguins served as host of the NWHL All-Star Game in 2017, the Minnesota Wild in 2018, and the Nashville Predators in 2019. With a crowd of more than 6,000 fans in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the 2019 NWHL All-Star Game set an attendance record for a pro women’s game in the United States.
In 2019, the NWHL signed an exclusive three-year streaming partnership with Twitch, the world’s leading live streaming platform for gamers, making it the first paid media rights deal for the League.
With plans to expand across North America, the NWHL continues to spread its message for young hockey players to See it, Dream it, Be it.
