Growing the Game: PHF Final Heads to Mullett Arena, Canada Winter Games

Ian Kennedy discusses Chloe Primerano at the Canada Winter Games, the PHF's Isobel Cup final heading to Arizona, the PHWA's new women's chapter and more.

Growing the Game is Ian Kennedy’s weekly feature examining the global game, how social issues impact the sport, and how hockey’s important cultural shift continues to evolve.

Chloe Primerano’s name jumped into the public eye last spring when the WHL’s Vancouver Giants selected the 15-year-old 268th overall in the draft. With the pick, Primerano became the first woman skater ever selected in a CHL draft.

This week, Primerano re-emerged into national hockey consciousness dominating the Canada Winter Games. While fellow 16-year-old Nela Lopusanova is drawing much of the international attention, Primerano deserves mentioning in the discussion of the best young players on the planet. Undoubtedly, she’s the top young blueliner in the world.

Primerano led Team British Columbia to gold at the Canada Winter Games, leading the tournament in scoring with 12 points in six games among older U-18 competition. Among others in the tournament were members of Canada U-18 World Championship gold medal team Caitlin Kraemer, Jordan Baxter, Alex Law and Emmalee Pais, who all sat in the top 10 in tournament scoring. Primerano looks like a key candidate to join Canada’s U-18 roster next year.

In the gold medal game, a 3-0 shutout win over Nova Scotia, Primerano had two assists. Nova Scotia’s medal was their first in tournament history in women’s hockey and their first as a province overall since their men’s team medalled 44 years ago. Nova Scotia netminder Ryah Stewart took much of the praise for her team’s run, posting a shutout and allowing only nine goals through five starts with a 0.953 save percentage.

Speaking of Lopusanova, this week, the budding superstar committed to coming to North America next season and playing prep hockey for Bishop Kearney.

The PHF's Isobel Cup Championship is headed to the desert.

The league announced Thursday that it is partnering with the Arizona Coyotes and OVG360 to host the final on March 26 at Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus.

“As we continue building momentum for our sport in the new PHF era, it’s important to strengthen relationships in different markets and grow the game by showcasing professional women’s hockey to more fans throughout North America,” said PHF commissioner Reagan Carey in a press release.

The Coyotes are scheduled to play the Colorado Avalanche on the afternoon of March 26 at Mullett Arena, with the Isobel Cup match starting at 6 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET).

We will wait to see which teams will take part in the single-game final, as the best-of-three semifinals are scheduled in Boston and Toronto beginning March 16. There's one weekend left in the regular season, but the Boston Pride, Toronto Six, Connecticut Whale and Minnesota Whitecaps clinched the four spots.

As I first reported this week, the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) is set to open a women’s hockey chapter. Founded in 1967, the PHWA has chapters in all 32 NHL cities, as well as an international chapter and a lifetime chapter.

The new women’s chapter will feature writers who have specifically been covering women’s hockey, including the PHF and PWHPA.

The announcement came on International Women’s Day. As current PHWA president Frank Seravalli stated, the Association at one time did not allow women to be members, marking the significance of the announcement. Currently, the PHWA features roughly 300 members who are responsible for voting for seven NHL award honors, including the Hart, Vezina, Norris, Calder, and Lady Byng awards.

​​A new professional roller hockey league, dubbed the Tropical Hockey League (THL), is looking to launch in 2024, beginning in Florida. The league is approaching their initial investment phase, hoping to operate with “fan owned teams” where fans buy shares into franchises.

“Our goal is to make a league that can improve people’s lives,” said founder Blake Erquiga of launching the THL. “If you’re a fan, we want to give you a place where you can feel welcome, where you can enjoy great entertainment for a reasonable price, and where you can feel that sense of community that’s so special about sports. 

“If you’re a hockey player, we want to give you someplace to play, a goal to strive for, someplace that will treat you right and that’s worth your time to be a part of. 

“We want to take advantage of how accessible roller hockey is to let people who otherwise couldn’t experience hockey, because of socioeconomics or even because of physical location, a chance to watch, to play, and to enjoy this sport that we love – that means that we want to use the pro league as a way to build up amateur roller hockey, to give people equipment, places to play, and people to play with.”

The ownership, which Erquiga describes as a “democratic hockey league,” would eventually give fan owners a say in team operations and input into team decisions, as well as amplify diverse voices.

To get the league off the ground, Erquiaga and his partners are currently crowd-sourcing funds in hopes of launching the league next spring.

“This fundraiser is so important because none of our ideas, plans, or goals matter if we can’t get the league off the ground,” said Erquiaga. “If people believe in what the league is doing and they’re able to help the league get started, then we can build something really special together.”

The PWHPA handed out annual awards in their final Dream Gap Tour stop before their championship weekend, scheduled for this weekend in Southern California.

Marie-Philip Poulin was named the Tour’s top forward, while Lee Stecklein earned top defender honors, and Ann-Renee Desbiens was named the Tour’s top goalie. Additionally, Kori Cheverie was coach of the year, while Kendall Coyne Schofield received the PWHPA’s humanitarian award.

Team Harvey’s finished the Dream Gap Tour season atop the standings with an 11-3-3-1 record. They’ll face Team Sonnet in the opening semifinal on Friday, followed by Team Adidas playing Team Scotiabank. The winners will play for the PWHPA title on Sunday, March 12.

The long-running Little NHL, an all-Indigenous hockey tournament, returns this week for a 49th annual event. The opening ceremony will feature an alumni game featuring past NHLers, including Denny Lambert, Rick Nattress, Jamie Leach and Jason Simon.

Since it was founded in 1971, the Little NHL has stood for, according to the organization’s ‘four pillars’ – citizenship, respect, education and sportsmanship. As the Two Row Times wrote about the tournament, the Little NHL “has always been about more than just hockey. The vision extends far beyond a means of determining which community boasted the most skill, and into celebrating one another.”

Hosted by Nipissing First Nation, this year’s tournament will feature roughly 3,000 Indigenous youth from across Ontario, converging on Mississauga, Ont., from March 12 to 16.