This Saturday at 3 p.m., the Penguins will host a regular-season Premier Hockey Federation game between the Connecticut Whale and Montreal Force at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
The game is the latest chapter in the Penguins' commitment to growing women's professional hockey.
The seven-team PHF (the league formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League) has made stops in the Pittsburgh area three times before. The Penguins previously played host to the league's 2017 All-Star Game/skills competition, a 2017-18 regular-season game between the Buffalo Beauts and the Whale, and a 2018-19 regular-season game between the Whale and Metropolitan Riveters.
The Penguins have hosted a number of other women's hockey events in between, including a joint U.S.-Canada training camp and exhibition series in 2019, a U.S.-Canada Rivalry Rematch game at PPG Paints Arena last season, and a four-game showcase this November for the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.
PHF commissioner Reagan Carey is in her first year in her role, having been appointed in April. Carey previously served as the director of women's ice hockey for USA Hockey and was the general manager of the U.S. national women's team, winning Olympic gold in 2018. Carey also spent a decade working in sports development, performance and marketing with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.
I sat down with Carey on Wednesday to talk about how this game at the Lemieux Complex came to fruition, possible future expansion for the league, the state of the league, the league's relationship with the PWHPA, and more.
Haase: How did this game here this weekend come about?
Carey: It's another opportunity for us to reach a new market. There's so much passion in hockey there. There's a lot of crossover integration with people who have supported the PHF already in that area. Part of our strategic planning in the offseason is identifying ways we can grow the game and engage new fans, but also support the growth of girls' and women's hockey. As much as it's important to be in the same market with our (existing) teams and fanbase and connection with the community, being able to broaden the scope and be in these markets that have great programming already and bring some energy to that and to the pro game is important. From an NHL standpoint, we have a lot of partnerships and a lot of collaboration. The Penguins continue to do a great job of championing girls' and women's hockey on a lot of levels, whether it's in the front office or supporting the growth of the sport. It's an easy alignment as we identified teams we wanted to team up with.
Haase: Could you see Pittsburgh as a future market for an expansion city? Are you thinking that far ahead yet?
Carey: Well, I see almost every market as a great market (laughs). There's so much opportunity out there. But for the reasons that there's already a ton of leadership and awareness of how important it is and good for the game to continue to foster the growth of girls and women playing. There's a lot of interest there, it's certainly an area that we look at quite a bit as we evaluate markets that might be good for the PHF in the future.
Haase: Do you have a timeline on when the league might expand next?
Carey: We're evaluating all of that right now. We have a consistent commitment to continue to grow at the right time and at the right location. We always lean on partnering with the right people that have a real, long-term vision for the league as we do. We're constantly evaluating that. We have meetings with interested parties quite frequently. We'll see where that takes us.
Haase: The Penguins already have an existing relationship with the PWHPA. Do you get the sense that they aren't taking sides with either group, and that they'd be open to whatever group wants to have a team here first?
Carey: Yeah. I've said that anybody that's working to grow the game on the girls' and women's side, anybody that's putting in the time and effort, we're all on the same team and we're all looking to support the continued growth. I look at it, and the Pittsburgh Penguins' leadership are looking at it the same way, in making sure that they can support and move the needle forward in our sport. I know that they've been terrific in our continued communication and the effort to help us out, and we anticipate doing more of that in the future.
Haase: Is the door shut on the PHF and PWHPA ever coming together in the future?
Carey: No, I think our work is committed to continue to open the door to communication and continue to put opportunities on the table to collaborate. The landscape of women's hockey has evolved considerably over the last few decades. What it looked like even five years ago is drastically different than how it looks now, and I anticipate that being the case as we move forward. I think everybody is doing great work and we're here to make sure that whenever it makes sense to collaborate, we're ready to do that.
Haase: You're several months into your new role as commissioner, just what has this transition been like for you?
Carey: It's been great. The teams and the leadership that are involved, particularly the ownership, is just a lot of new energy that's coming into the league, and leaning on those who have been great pillars for it all along. I think if we're going to evaluate our progress in the last six, seven months, particularly since new ownership was able to announce the landmark, $25-million commitment toward the league and in particular the players, all the resources that we've been able to bring to the players in a short amount of time, our commitment to an increased salary cap for the next season along with all the infrastructure work that we're doing, it's something that I'll be proud of working here. I think the players feel that same pride. We have a lot of work ahead, but we're really excited about the momentum we have going into the second part of this season.
Haase: What needs to happen to take the PHF to the next level?
Carey: I think we're on that path. I think we need to continue to provide the resources so that players can be full-time professional hockey players across the board for every player on the roster, and we're making significant strides toward that. Then just teaming up with great partners that align with our long-term vision for the growth of not just women's hockey, but all women's professional sports. All those things are starting to fall into place, and we really just need to keep working hard at that to make sure that we're prepared to not just have these announcements, but activate, sustain and thrive in the coming seasons.
Tickets for Saturday's game can be purchased here. The game will also be streamed on ESPN+ in the U.S., and on TSN.ca in Canada.
