The 2020 portion of the ‘Dream Gap Tour’ will kick off in Toronto early next month. We knew that. Now, we now the likely second stop in 2020. Philadelphia checks in for the first time, as the PWHPA announced on Wednesday morning that four games will take place on February 29th and March 1st at the Virtua Flyers Skate Zone at Voorhees. Like previous weekend events, this will be a four team showcase that features some of the best players in the world.
The teams will be captained by Blayre Turnbull, Sarah Nurse, Megan Keller and Brianna Decker. Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, Brianna Jenner, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Natalie Spooner, Katie Burt, Amanda Kessel, Renata Fast and Marie-Philip Poulin are among the other star players slated to take part in the showcase.
The event is in partnership with Flyers Charities, Snider Hockey and Flyers Skate Zone. “Flyers Charities is thrilled to play a part in the creation of this showcase weekend,” said Denise Sullivan, the Executive Director of Flyer Charities, in an official release. “We are honored to join forces with these game changers in the hockey community to help grow the sport for young women in such an engaged hockey town.”
“The PWHPA is thrilled to work with Flyers Charities and the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation to grow the game and bring awareness to the need for a sustainable women’s professional hockey league,” Jayna Hefford said in the release.
“This event will be a great celebration of women’s hockey and we are excited to showcase some of the best players in the world, to the valued hockey fanbase in Philadelphia.”
Philadelphia is one of the strongest, most passionate fanbases not just in the United States, but in the world. The Philly faithful, and Pennsylvania as a whole, have done a terrific job of supporting women’s sports in the past. After all, this is the city that sold over 44,100 tickets to the US Women’s National Team soccer match against Portugal on August 29th.
Expectations should be sky-high for a market crazy about both hockey and women’s sports. The PWHPA has done a terrific job selecting Philadelphia as a host city, and I believe expectations should be very high.
With the backing of the Flyers and associated organizations, this event has the potential to be the best one yet. Tickets and weekend passes are on-sale now here.
There is no word just yet on media covering the event. Odds are, there will once again be a YouTube live stream and most likely a CBC Sports feed as well. It might be time for NHL Network to step up, don’t you think? It’s time to take the ‘Dream Gap Tour’ to another level.
