The PWHPA drew fans to Ottawa for a weekend of regular-season games, an all-star skills competition and a 3-on-3 tournament won by Team Keller.
It was All-Star Weekend for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) featuring a 3-on-3 tournament and skills competition in Ottawa.
Hosting an all-star weekend was another step in the PWHPA growing the women’s game.
As tennis legend Billie Jean King said about the PWHPA during an interview with TSN, “They have this vision...what they’re doing is for the future generations.”
King and her organization, Billie Jean King Enterprises, partnered with the PWHPA earlier in 2022 to aid in the planning stages for a new professional women’s hockey league.
The weekend drew national attention with TSN covering two regular season games on the Dream Gap Tour and the 3-on-3 tournament with highlights from the skill competition.
The skills competition featured four events. In the fastest skater competition, Kendall Coyne Schofield showed she remains the fastest skater in the world, completing her lap in 13.872 seconds. In 2019, Coyne Schofield participated in the NHL’s fastest skater competition, finishing in 14.346 seconds. Renata Fast was second, crossing in 13.902 seconds.
Brianne Jenner won the accuracy shooting, hitting the targets in a blazing 10.627 seconds. Marie-Philip Poulin showcased why she’s the all-around best player on the planet, winning the skills challenge in 37.881 seconds. And Ann Renee Desbiens won the final skills challenge after stringing together 14 stops in the longest save streak competition.
In the 3-on-3 tournament, Team Keller went 2-0-1 in the round-robin while Team Knight was 1-0-2 to advance to face each other in the final.
In the final, Team Keller needed a shootout but came away with the 2-1 win. Alex Carpenter scored the shootout-winner.
Earlier in the weekend, Team Harvey’s went undefeated for the third straight Dream Gap Tour stop of the season, winning both games they played.
In their opening game of the weekend, Harvey’s defeated Team Sonnet 3-2 with Marie-Philip Poulin adding to her PWHPA scoring lead and notching the shootout-winner. Sonnet jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game before Lee Stecklein and Jessie Eldridge scored to tie the game and send it to overtime and the eventual shootout.
In their second game, Harvey’s defeated Team Scotiabank 3-1 with goals from Lauriane Rougeau, Bailey Larson and Hayley Scamurra.
Team Adidas also won both of their games. Aerin Frankel was spectacular in a 4-0 Team Adidas shutout against Team Sonnet. Sarah Nurse, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kristin O’Neill and Kaitlin Willougby scored for Adidas. Against Team Scotiabank, Team Adidas squeak out a 2-1 win. Kristin O’Neill and Laura Stacey scored for Adidas, while Alex Carpenter had the lone Scotiabank goal.
Additional Secret Dream Gap Tour stops are slated to be announced in the coming weeks. Currently, the next scheduled event is Jan. 21 to 22 in Owen Sound and Collingwood, Ont.