The PWHPA is set to return for game action this weekend. The New Hampshire Regional Training Hub will be the first of the five regional training hubs to play in game action this season. The region, under GM and head coach Bill Flanagan, held tryouts at Cyclones Arena in Hudson last weekend. The team kicks off its regional game schedule this weekend with a pair of games in Hudson.
On Friday night, the New Hampshire Regional Training Hub will face off against the Islanders Hockey Club of the USPHL’s NCDC conference. On Saturday, the New Hampshire Regional Training Hub will take on the Boston Junior Bruins, also of the USPHL’s NCDC conference. The Junior Bruins won the 2019 Dineen Cup Championship, while both the Bruins and Islanders were slated to compete in the 2020 Dineen Cup Playoffs last March.
“It’s a tremendous gesture by the USPHL and NCDC owners and coaches to support the PWHPA’s mission of obtaining a sustainable professional hockey league,” Northern Cyclones NCDC head coach and New Hampshire Regional Training Hub GM and coach Bill Flanagan said in June. “These games will provide the women with outstanding competition to continue their hockey development.”
Friday night’s game against the Islanders is slated for 6:20 pm. Saturday’s game against Junior Bruins is scheduled for 2:40 pm. Both games are closed to the public per PWHPA guidelines. Both games will be streamed live online, with Northern Cyclones and Northeastern University women’s hockey play-by-play voice Alex Thomas on the call. The stream will be available for free on HockeyTV (www.hockeytv.com).
“The PWHPA is excited to join forces with the USPHL in a partnership that will allow our members to have more local opportunities to compete,” Jayna Hefford, PWHPA Operations Consultant, said when the agreement was announced. “We applaud the vision and focus on inclusivity that the USPHL has shown, and we look forward to helping to grow the game together, for everyone.”
The PWHPA announced the new regional training hub format on May 12th. The PWHPA is entering its second season after forming in the spring of 2019 immediately after the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) dissolved. The PWHPA’s mission is to promote, advance, and support a single, viable professional women’s hockey league in North America that showcases the greatest product of women’s professional ice hockey in the world. The organization also aims to provide a united voice to players advocating for the creation of a sustainable professional league.
