The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA)’s Dream Gap Tour is off to a great start.
The PWHPA is a collective of elite female ice hockey players founded in 2019 by over 200 players.
The players joined the association after not returning to the existing professional leagues after the 2018-2019 season over frustrations about pay, insurance and transparency.
They created the PWHPA to give top female hockey players an opportunity to play while abstaining from paid professional hockey. The association provides women with training and a platform until a sustainable professional league is created.
The PWHPA teams play in the Dream Gap Tour, which consists of showcase games played across North America for a jackpot prize.
There are currently five teams, totalling 125 players: Team Adidas from Minnesota, Team Women’s Sport Foundation from New Hampshire, Team Sonnet from Toronto, Team Scotiabank from Calgary and Team Bauer from Montreal.
Standings are determined through an unorthodox points system. Teams are awarded two points for a win, one and a half points for an overtime win, one point for a shootout win, and a half points for a loss in extra time. An additional point is awarded to teams who score five goals, a short-handed goal, win with a shutout, or have a player score three goals.
New York showcase weekend
Feb. 27 and 28 saw the beginning of the 2021 Secret Dream Gap Tour in New York with a two-game series between Minnesota, featuring Olympic superstars Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield, against New Hampshire’s Amanda Kessel and Brianna Decker.
Saturday’s game, broadcast on CBC Sports, was the first competitive game for most players in over a year, and it featured a slow start. After an aggressive first period the score remained tied at zero, but the underdog New Hampshire held a 16-9 lead in shots.
Minnesota pounded New Hampshire to start the second period, but with two minutes left, Hayley Scamurra took a pass in the neutral zone and scored a slick goal giving New Hampshire a 1-0 lead. However, this didn’t curb Minnesota’s momentum. With 15 seconds left in the period, a snipe from Savannah Harmon tied the game at one.
In the third period, Minnesota’s offence continued with multiple golden opportunities before they broke through with goals from Ryleigh Houston, Schofield and two from Abby Roque for a final score of 5-2.
The second game of the weekend came on Sunday evening from the historic Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game was shown on cable TV for the first time since PWHPA’s founding and was the first women’s game played at MSG, an important step in women’s hockey.
This second game got off to a much quicker start than the first, with Decker scoring through goalie Maddie Rooney’s five hole less than three minutes in. New Hampshire extended their lead to two with a scrappy goal from Kessel before conceding their first to Minnesota, a hard one timer from Roque. The first period ended 3-1 in favour of New Hampshire, an exciting contrast to the night before.
In the second period, Minnesota was once again dominant with strong chances from Schofield and Knight alike but to no avail. Late in the second, a shot from Minnesota beat New Hampshire’s Alex Cavallini over her right shoulder.
Upon closer inspection, the puck hit the post, travelled the length of the goal line, hit the opposite post and stayed out of the net. This close call would be the difference maker as Minnesota would never tie the game, with a final score 4-3 New Hampshire.
Chicago showcase weekend
The second stop of the Dream Gap Tour was March 6-7 in Chicago, Ill., home of star player Schofield.
Schofield put on a show for her hometown, with a goal in each game and plenty of physical and verbal exchanges with the other team. These games were again broadcast on NBC, CBC, and SportsNet helping to increase viewership of women’s hockey.
“I want a young girl to know that she has a place in this sport and she can make a living doing it, just like her brother, just like one of her teammates who’s a boy, just like anybody,” said Schofield during the post-game conference.
The games showed the frustration starting to build between the two teams who have now played four straight games against each other. Both teams spent plenty of time in the penalty box, with a significant increase in hitting penalties over the New York weekend. Each period saw an increasing number of players involved in scrums around the net and choice words for each other.
Minnesota’s offensive power was on full display during the two games. Roque continued to have great success with two more goals for Minnesota in the first game. Schofield and Knight each had two goals this weekend adding to Minnesota’s goal totals. Minnesota won Saturday’s game 4-1 and won Sunday’s game 6-2.
After the first four games, Minnesota now leads the PWHPA standings with eight points to New Hampshire’s two points. No games are scheduled for the Canadian teams yet, and the next games for the American teams have yet to be announced.
