Julie Stevens, Associate Professor, Sport Management and Director, Centre for Sport Capacity, Brock University; Michele K. Donnelly, Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Management, Brock University; and Simon Black, Assistant Professor of Labour Studies, Brock University, co-wrote a piece recently published in The Conversation about a union of women’s hockey players looking for a league of its own.

They write:

“The Dream Gap Tour of elite hockey players put the women’s game back in the news this fall. Some of the world’s best players — including more than 35 Olympians — played in the four-team exhibition tournament that travelled to Toronto, Chicago and Hudson, N.H.

A few months earlier, professional women’s hockey seemed to be in crisis. The six-team Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) had folded in May due in part to financial issues, leaving one professional women’s hockey league in North America — the U.S.-based National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). Later that month, more than 200 players launched a boycott of that league over demands for better pay and working conditions.

Ultimately, the upheaval led to the creation of the Dream Gap Tour and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA).”

Continue reading the full article here.