Women’s pro hockey in North America could help international game

A unified women’s league could have same effect the NHL has on men’s game

HERNING — A unified North American women’s pro hockey league could bolster the international game in the same way the NHL does on the men’s side of the sport, says the International Ice Hockey Federation’s women’s committee chair.

But the IIHF is a bystander in the current division between the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association and Premier Hockey League.

The PWHPA of roughly 150 members currently doesn’t want to join the PHF, which is expanding to seven teams in its eighth season.

About 30 per cent of NHL players were from outside North America in 2021-22. One reason the men have 25-player rosters for their world championship is so countries can add players to their teams after the first round of NHL playoffs.

A North American women’s league featuring Canadian and American stars, and also providing jobs to players outside the continent, can strengthen the international game, IIHF council member Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer told The Canadian Press.

“That could be a very important league for all national-team players, not only for the North Americans, but also for other nations,” she said.

“The best players could play there and then help their teams coming back to the world championships.”

The majority of the Canada’s team and half the U.S. roster at the world championship in Denmark are affiliated with the PWHPA, while seven PHF players are sprinkled across non-North American rosters.

Czechia upsetting Finland to be in the women’s world championship final four for the first time indicates competition tightening behind usual finalists Canada and the U.S.

The Czechs, with four PHF players in their lineup, take on the United States and defending champion Canada meets Switzerland in Saturday’s semifinals. The medal games follow Sunday in Herning, Denmark.

The competitive gap between the Canadian and U.S. women and the rest of the world hasn’t appreciably closed recently, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic contracting women’s camps, leagues, games and international tournaments for almost two years.

The women’s international hockey calendar is now flush with competition, however.

The postponement of the 2021 women’s championship to August last year combined with the introduction of an August world championship into this Olympic year has the women playing for a third major IIHF title in the span of a year, and six months after the Olympic tournament.

Next April’s 2023 women’s championship in Canada in a city to be announced is yet another major tournament in a matter of months for the women. The U.S. will host it in April, 2024.