CWHL teams up with CIS sport to help grow female high performance hockey

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Canadian Women's Hockey League is proud to announce a new supporting partnership with Canadian Interuniversity Sport, which will help inform and educate varsity female players about options available to continue playing the sport they love at an elite level after they graduate from their post-secondary education programs.

"The CWHL and CIS are joining forces to ensure female student-athletes who have played hockey at a varsity level have all the information and guidance they need to take their favourite sport to the next level," CWHL Commissioner Brenda Andress said. "Education is the key to success both off and on the ice, and together with our friends at CIS, we will educate top female university players from across the country about the incredible opportunities that become possible when playing within the Canadian Women's Hockey League."

"Both Canadian Interuniversity Sport and the Canadian Women's Hockey League produce players who are not only exceptional on the ice, but are also exceptional people off the ice," CIS chief executive officer Pierre Lafontaine said. "Our organizations will work together to give CIS women's hockey graduates the chance to continue pursuing their dreams of playing the best women's hockey in the world."

The brand new partnership will involve Canadian Women's Hockey League players reaching out to Canadian Interuniversity Sport players to communicate the many benefits that the CWHL has to offer, including the fact that it is the most premier, professionally-run women's hockey league in the world.

Leaders from both the CWHL and CIS will also work together to ensure information on both leagues is effectively communicated to its players, in order to strengthen university women's hockey from coast to coast and help the Canadian Women's Hockey League continue to blossom into everything it can be and more.

For more information, please visit www.CWHL.ca, and follow the CWHL via social media at www.Twitter.com/CWHL_Insider and by "liking" the CWHL Facebook fan page.

For CWHL media requests, please contact communications advisor Kristen Lipscombe at communications@cwhl.ca or (403) 826-4819.

About the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL):
The CWHL is the most premier, professionally run women's hockey league in the world. It enables elite female hockey players to pursue their dreams of competing at the highest level possible, while enhancing the lives of others through exceptional athleticism, entertainment and motivation.The league is centrally funded, with all participating teams in the CWHL receiving equal access to financial support and given the same opportunities to succeed. The CWHL is a not-for-profit organization, with every dollar going towards building a league that is dedicated to raising the profile of women's hockey, providing a place for the best female players in the world to compete and inspiring the next generation of female hockey heroines. Since the CWHL's inception in 2007, each hockey season has culminated in an exciting play-off round in which the top teams face off for the Clarkson Cup, named after former Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson.