On Sunday, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League announced they will be effectively folding starting on May 1st. The National Women’s Hockey League commissioner Dani Rylan and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly added statements on Tuesday on the importance of womens hockey in Canada.
Rylan told the associated press Tuesday that their leagues board has an approved investment plan to establish teams in Canada’s two biggest markets, Toronto and Montreal. The NWHL currently has just five teams solely based in the United States. The CWHL had a total of six where four were in Canada, one in Massachusetts, and one in China.
Rylan did not reveal how much money the nwhl will receive on top of the nhl’s previous annual commitment of $50,000 US.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the league has increased that figure, but did caution that it does not change the NHL’s position about fully backing a women’s pro sports league. All we can hope for is that this one step backwards will result in two steps forward for womens professional hockey in Canada.
