The Sun Devils lost in the quarter-finals on March 16. But the season isn't completely over for women's hockey fans. On Sunday, March 26, another group of elite women’s hockey players comes to Tempe and takes over ASU’s Mullett Area.
The top two teams in the Premier Hockey Federation — one of two professional women’s hockey leagues in North America — will square off for the championship. At stake is the Isobel Cup, which takes its name from Lord Frederick Arthur Stanley’s daughter, Isobel, who is known to be one of the first female hockey players in Canada. The fate of Lord Stanley's cup will be decided in June when the NHL wraps up its season.
The Boston Pride celebrate their 2022 Isobel Cup Championship following a 4-2 victory over the Connecticut Whale at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
Michelle Jay
East Meets Southwest
But for a league that is predominately based in the Northeast, playing the championship in Arizona is a bit of a departure.“We are trying to change locations for the championship each year to get our league out there with more exposure for little girls and boys to see it,” PHF scout and player relations liaison Kacey Bellamy told Phoenix New Times.
A former standout defenseman on the USA National Team, Bellamy also played professionally in the now-defunct National Women’s Hockey League for the Boston Bladed, Boston Pride, and Calgary Inferno. Now retired, Bellamy has shifted her focus to promoting the next generation of women’s hockey players.
“When little girls watch us, they are able to have a dream and an opportunity to maybe play this sport as a career. So it's huge to be traveling to a new place to play in front of people who may not have seen competitive women’s hockey before,” Bellamy said.
Lyndsey Fry, the president of the Arizona Kachinas, a Phoenix-based girl's hockey program, couldn't agree more with Bellamy. "For the girls in our Kachinas program, it will be an amazing chance to see what they can dream to be someday and hopefully inspire them in new ways to work toward their goals,” Fry said.
The championship will be held in partnership with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes and OVG30, which manages Mullett Arena. The game takes place after the Coyotes play the Colorado Avalanche.
“We are thrilled to host the Premier Hockey Federation’s Isobel Cup Championship at Mullett Arena,” said Coyotes President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez in a press release. “The Coyotes are extremely proud of our support for women’s hockey and our Arizona Kachinas program, and we look forward to watching the league’s top teams compete for the cup! Mullett Arena has proven to be an incredible venue for NHL hockey, and we are confident that the arena will be rocking for the Isobel Cup final.”
This year's championship will feature the Toronto Six, who ousted the Connecticut Whale on Monday, and the Minnesota Whitecaps, who stunned the Boston Pride with a sweep of the semi-final series.
The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, March 26, at 7 p.m. at Mullett Arena. Tickets are available at TicketMaster.com.
