LSHL A Sign Of Better Things To Come In Women's Hockey

The Living Sisu Hockey League is showing glimpses of the combined and collaborative future of the PWHPA and PHF, together.

When you look at the Living Sisu Hockey League playing each week in Montreal, it's a positive sign of what's to come in women's hockey.

On the ice together are top players from the PWHPA, PHF, NCAA, and USports. The group of friends and training partners plays every week at Hockey Etcetera, and this summer, it's also a key location where PWHPA and PHF players are together, working toward a common goal.

With the initial surprise of the PHF acquisition gone, players are coming together under Living Sisu and finding common ground, and building excitement toward the launch of the new professional women's hockey league.

The league includes PWHPA stars like Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Savannah Harmon, Rosalie Demers, Jessie Eldridge, Jill Saulnier, Ann-Renee Desbiens, and Alexa Vasko, among others. The league also features top PHF players such as Ann-Sophie Bettez, Jade Downie-Landry, Gabrielle David, Audrey-Anne Veilllette, Sarah Lefort, Maude Poulin-Labelle, Sam Isbell, and Alexandra Labelle, plus many more.

Together, those players are leading the way toward collaboration and mutual success.

"There’s no combativeness at all," Laura Stacey told Eyes on the Pride about the PWHPA and PHF. "It doesn't need to be pulling two different sides. I think at the end of the day, we're all fighting for the same thing. Seeing everybody out on the ice and competing against each other [in the LSHL], I think that’s a right foot in the right direction in the sense of, 'hey, let’s do this all together. Let’s do this in one big unified group of the very best players in the world and see where it goes.'"

Best-on-best hockey, with players from both the PWHPA and PHF, graduates from the NCAA and USports, and European players will be the future of a single professional league. According to Ann-Sophie Bettez who captained the PHF's Montreal Force last season and was a longtime member of the PWHPA, this has always been the goal, and the best will be in the new league, together.

"At the end of the day, the best players will be playing. Whether you come from the PHF or the PWHPA, if you are one of the top players, you should have a spot," Bettez said to Eyes on the Prize.

The new league is slated to launch in January. The Living Sisu Hockey League women's division plays every Monday with games live streamed on YouTube.