Pro women’s hockey association unveils five-city regional plan

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association enters its second season with plans to regionalize its structure by basing players in five hub cities, while also continuing its Dream Gap Tour series of barnstorming stops across North America.

Groups of 25 players will practice in rinks in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, Alberta, where they will have access to dedicated dressing rooms, strength and conditioning facilities as well as support staff and coaches, the association announced Wednesday.

The decision to establish hub cities came out of feedback the PWHPA received from its members following its first season.

The regionalized structure allows the PWHPA to concentrate its resources on five sites, where players can hold full practices and schedule exhibition games to increase their playing time aside from a still-to-be-determined schedule of six to eight Dream Gap Tour stops.

Last year, the association had groups gathered in eight sites, some of which lacked enough players to hold a full practice. Players also had limited chances to compete in games, with few exhibition contests scheduled around the six weekend-long Dream Gap events.

“The new structure provides players with a more professional training environment on a regular basis, which will allow us to put the best product of women’s professional hockey on the ice daily,” two-time U.S. Olympian and PWHPA board president Kendall Coyne Schofield said in a statement.

The PWHPA was established a year ago following the collapse of the six-team Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Its membership is made up of about 200 players — including members of the U.S. and Canadian national teams — who pledged not to compete in the U.S.-based National Women’s Hockey League.