Canada, Great Britain, USA and a World Team will meet in Green Bay, Wisconsin when the first-ever Women’s World Challenge takes place August 26 through 28.
World Para Ice Hockey recently announced the participant teams, which is the next stepping stone on the road to an eventual Women’s World Championships, with the ultimate goal of expanding female participation in Para Ice Hockey worldwide.
The teams are comprised of individual athletes and will compete in a round-robin style tournament followed by a medal round.
“World Para Ice Hockey is thrilled to take this next step in developing Women’s Para Ice Hockey, creating a tournament that will showcase the sport while also attracting new athletes to the ice and establishing a long-term pipeline to grow the game," Michelle Laflamme, World Para Ice Hockey Manager, said. "We are doing everything we can to create more and more opportunities for women’s national teams to showcase their talent, and for individuals or programs new to the sport to obtain the skills to develop their game further.”
“Green Bay and the entire state of Wisconsin are excited to host the first-ever event in Green Bay," said Brad Roethlisberger, Co-Chair of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). "Discover Green Bay and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism have been very instrumental in reaching out to the community to build excitement and providing funding to make the necessary rink adaptations to host such an event. Knowing this event will be the first step to having women’s Para Ice Hockey to be recognized as a Paralympic event brings an added level of excitement to hosting this event.”
The tournament will take place at the Cornerstone Community Center, which was built in 2000 as an ice hockey and skating venue. Cornerstone has hosted multiple USA Hockey National Championships in addition to hosting the U.S. National Curling Championships.
“The Green Bay hospitality community is very excited about hosting the very first Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Challenge,” said Brad Toll, President/CEO of Discover Green Bay. “This is a tremendous honor for our community and the Cornerstone Community Ice Center is the perfect venue. We look forward to welcoming these amazing athletes in August!”
The event will be sponsored by Citi as part of the new PARA SPORT grassroots to a high-performance campaign, which aims to change the narrative around people with disabilities and provide Para athletes and their member organizations with a platform to drive social progress. Through this event, Citi will focus on advancing gender equity in Para ice hockey and grow the women’s side of the game.
For more information, contact Brad Roethlisberger at hockeyrefbar@sbcglobal.net, 920-562-1466