TORONTO (February 25, 2021) – The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), today announced its newest team partners and jersey designs for the 2021 Secret® Dream Gap Tour. Players based in Minnesota will officially be part of Team adidas and will compete against Team WSF (Women’s Sports Foundation) based out of the New Hampshire region.
The team adidas jerseys will feature #stickintheground, a PWHPA campaign advocating for the future of women’s hockey. Team WSF jerseys bear the Women’s Sports Foundation logo and the signature of its founder, Billie Jean King. King, who is also an adidas global ambassador, has been an advocate and inspiration for the PWHPA from day one.
In addition to sponsoring the PWHPA’s Minnesota-based team, adidas is the Official Outfitter of The PWHPA. “At adidas we believe that sports have the power to change lives. The PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour inspires young athletes across North America with a clear focus of creating a better future for women in sport. We’re honored and proud to be associated with these athletes and their mission,” said Dan Near, Sr Director of adidas hockey.
“Adidas has been a leader in advancing and supporting women’s sports. When it comes to the PWHPA, the standard is no different, they treat us as professionals. I am proud to be on Team adidas,” states Kendall Coyne Schofield, PWHPA board member and player.
The PWHPA is excited to join this new partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation. WSF is a leading voice driving gender equity in sport, and has positively shaped the lives of millions of youth, student athletes, elite athletes and coaches. The Foundation serves as ally, advocate and catalyst for girls and women in sport through its grants, fellowships, research, advocacy, curricula and awards.
“The Women’s Sports Foundation is proud to partner alongside adidas and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association on this exciting new tour,” said Deborah Antoine, WSF CEO. “As our founder Billie Jean King likes to say ‘she needs to see it, to be it’. Her vision drives our work every day, to open doors to access and opportunity for girls and women in sport. We are so excited for all the young girls out there who can watch these games and be inspired to follow their dreams too.”
The two teams face off for the first time this weekend, kicking off the Secret® Dream Gap Tour. This year a new scoring model will be implemented with the goals of increasing fan engagement and the level of competitiveness on the ice. Click here to see the new model.
The PWHPA also announced a streaming partnership with CBC Sports in Canada. Non-broadcast games from New York and Chicago will be streamed via CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app.
Tune in for the Secret® Dream Gap Tour:
- Feb 27, 8pm ET – CBC Sports
- Feb 28, 7pm ET – NHL Network, Sportsnet 360
- March 6, 2pm CT – NBC Sports
- March 7, 10:30am CT – CBC Sports
About adidas
adidas is a global designer and developer of athletic and lifestyle footwear, apparel, and accessories with the mission to be the best sports brand in the world. As an innovation and design leader, adidas engineers the best in high-performance products to make athletes better, faster, and stronger and creates a range of classic and fresh lifestyle and high-fashion lines.
About Women’s Sports Foundation
The Women’s Sports Foundation exists to enable girls and women to reach their potential in sport and life. We are an ally, an advocate and a catalyst. Founded by Billie Jean King in 1974, we strengthen and expand participation and leadership opportunities through research, advocacy, community programming and a wide variety of collaborative partnerships. The Women’s Sports Foundation has positively shaped the lives of millions of youth, high school and collegiate student-athletes, elite athletes and coaches. We’re building a future where every girl and woman can #KeepPlaying and unlock the lifelong benefits of sport participation. All girls. All women. All sports.® To learn more about the Women’s Sports Foundation, please visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org.
About Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA)
Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association’s (PWHPA) mission is to promote, advance and support a single, viable professional women’s ice hockey league in North America that showcases the greatest product of women’s professional ice hockey in the world. The organization aims to prove a united voice to players advocating for the creation of a sustainable professional league. Comprised of the world’s best female hockey players including 38 Olympians, 60+ members of Hockey Canada and USA Hockey, and National Champions for Canada, USA, Finland and Russia. PWHPA is working to accomplish its mission by coordinating training needs and programming opportunities during the 2020-2021 season and collaborating with like-minded organizations to make hockey more inclusive for women today and for future generations. To learn more about PWHPA and the Dream Gap tour visit www.pwhpa.com.
For media inquiries, please contact:
PWHPA:
Ashley McLellan
PWHPA Media Consultant
media@PWHPA.com
Women’s Sports Foundation:
Patty Bifulco
Women’s Sports Foundation
631.230.3322
Pbifulco@WomensSportsFoundation.org
CBC:
Joanna Landsberg
CBC Sports
647.628.4788
joanna.landsberg@cbc.ca
