Don’t expect to see Marie-Philip Poulin play for the new Montreal women’s professional team next fall.
Posted at 10:53 p.m.
While the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is working to set up its own league for next winter, the four-time Olympic medalist has no intention of jumping ship to play in the PHF.
“I started on day 1 with the association we created, the PWHPA. I believe in that a lot. We have the right people behind us and we hope to move forward that way, ”she said in a press scrum broadcast on the Canadiens website on Wednesday.
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), a league created in 2015, announced Tuesday the arrival of its seventh franchise, located in Montreal. Only here: the question arises as to whether the best players in the world will accept to play there.
Those who follow the news in the world of women’s hockey know that there are two major entities that do not get along: the PHF – formerly the National Women’s League – and the PWHPA, created after the dissolution of the Canadian League in 2019. .
The PWHPA never joined the PHF project because of a business model deemed unsatisfactory. At the request of the NHL, which says it is reluctant to invest if there are two separate leagues, the two groups met a few months ago, without succeeding in agreeing.
Marie-Philip Poulin is a founding member of the PWHPA.
We created this association with the primary goal of creating a viable long-term league, not just for a few years, she explained. Yes, the PHF has this league, has put something in place. She does not necessarily have all the resources we are looking at. We really hope to put this in place in the next few months.
Marie-Philip Poulin
The hockey player, cautious in her answers, acknowledged that the arrival of a PHF team showed that “the support for women’s hockey is there”. “It will allow more girls to play hockey after college hockey,” she added.
Remember that the president of the new franchise, Kevin Raphaël, still said he was confident of being able to have a star player in his line-up. “I wouldn’t do a good job if I didn’t aim for the best,” he argued during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Two teams ?
According to Poulin, the presence of the Montreal PHF team will not prevent the PWHPA from having its own formation in the metropolis. This means that, if things remain as they are, there could be two professional women’s teams in Montreal in 2023.
“There are university girls who graduate year after year. There’s potential coming in and I think that’s what can keep people moving forward,” she noted.
La Beauceronne, who has been the Habs’ player development advisor since the beginning of June, nevertheless hopes that the PHF and the PWHPA will be able to “get on board the same boat eventually”.
“Women’s hockey is together,” she said. We want to have a group. I hope we go in this direction eventually. […] We push for the same thing. People have different visions. »
As for the league that the PWHPA wishes to create, the organization is very tight and few details are known in this file. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek revealed that the six-team Canadian and U.S. circuit will see the light of day in early 2023. Players will pocket an average salary of $55,000, in addition to receiving benefits, never before -seen. The calendar would be 32 meetings.
It is to know when it will be officially created.
“I would like to tell you that. I would love to, said Poulin. It’s a waiting game, to be honest. I’ve said it many times, great things take time. Of course, we are getting there with a little less patience, but I think we are heading in the right direction with the association we have created. »