Women’s hockey’s finest back in Montreal with continued goal in mind

Members of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA) were back in Montreal this weekend to kick off their fourth season of Dream Gap Tour stops, a mere six months after their last visit to the Verdun Auditorium to close out its third season.

While the rosters on the ice may have significantly changed since that early April weekend (the vast majority of the Canadian and American national team members are back in the fold, after sitting out last season as they prepared for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing), it is status quo as it relates to the off-ice minutiae surrounding the PWHPA. At least, for now.

Back in the spring, it appeared a professional women’s hockey league was imminent, as both the PWHPA and Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) were engaged in talks with the effort of creating a unified league. It was later intimated that a pro league involving PWHPA players could come to fruition as early as January 2023.

However, as it stands, both alternatives have been shelved. The PHF is set to begin…