It’s a big weekend for women’s and girls’ hockey in Nova Scotia.
This year’s IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship kicks off in Cape Breton with games at Centre 200 and the Membertou Sport & Wellness Centre.
The tournament starts Saturday and runs for eight days and features eight international teams.
“We’ve got four games tomorrow (Saturday),” said Paul Carroll, general manager of Centre 200. “The Canada-Swiss game, to my understanding, is already sold out, or just about. So we’re anticipating some big crowds here.”
Meanwhile, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) returns to the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax on Sunday for the second of two games being played in the city as part of the league’s Takeover Tour.
The first-ever PWHL game in Halifax last month saw the Montreal Victoire beat the Toronto Sceptres 2-1 in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 10,000 fans.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer, Jayna Hefford, was in Halifax for the game.
“It was incredible,” said Hefford, executive vice-president of hockey operations for the PWHL. “There was an energy and buzz around the city that was certainly hard to miss.”
Sunday’s matchup will be between the Ottawa Charge and the Boston Fleet.
“To see the signs in the stands, to see all of the (merchandise) and the jerseys - clearly there are a lot of PWHL fans in Atlantic Canada,” said Hefford.
Marin Hickox, Hockey Canada’s vice president of women’s and girls’ hockey, says she’s “not at all surprised” by the tidal wave of support for women’s hockey in the region.
“As soon as we knew that Halifax was going to be selected, and we’ve had great success when we’ve hosted rivalry series games there as well, really, the province just shows up,” she says. “We know that everybody comes in from all across Atlantic Canada, those tickets were going to be so hot and I’m just so excited to see a second sell-out crowd for this PWHL Takeover Tour.”
Hickox points to the recent opening of Canada’s first dedicated women’s hockey arena in Cape Breton as an exciting chapter for local fans.
The $40-million redevelopment transformed the old Canada Games Complex in Sydney, which was originally built in 1987, into the Kehoe Forum.
“It’s just an incredible venue and incredible space that is just dedicated completely to girls’ hockey in the region, and any time when we had the opportunity to bring an international competition like this, certainly Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada was ranked number one on the top of our list to get out there,” Hickox says.
The IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship Competition kicks off Saturday with Canada playing Switzerland in Membertou.
“I encourage everybody to come out and really support this next generation of athletes. It really is exciting because this group, you know you’re going to be able to see in the Olympics one day,” says Hickox.
Three athletes from the Maritimes — Kendall Doiron from Boylston, N.S., Jaylee MacKinnon from Clark’s Harbour, N.S., and Megan Mosey from Charlottetown — will take part.
“You’ve got a real hometown feel and it’s going to be exciting to watch,” Hickox says.
Canada also announced it’s women’s hockey roster for February’s Winter Olympics on Friday. The roster includes Nova Scotian Blayre Turnbull who plays as a forward on the Toronto Sceptres along with two Nova Scotians on the coaching staff, Troy Ryan and Kori Cheverie.
“There’s been a ton of growth,” said Hefford of the Maritime female hockey talent. “When I was with the national team, we didn’t have anyone from the Maritimes. We had a couple of players who went to university there, so they became the ones who would be known as the Maritimers - but they weren’t folks that grew up there. So now we’re seeing that.”
Tickets are still available for the U18 games over the next few days, though they are close to being sold out.
It is expected 30,000 fans will take part in the event.
People who can’t attend can catch all the action on TSN and RDS.
With files from CTV’s Ryan MacDonald.
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