Pictured above: Marie-Philip Poulin
A few days after the U.S. and Canadian women's national teams played in front of a record-breaking 14,551 fans at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle as part of their Rivalry Series on Nov. 20, they came together in Pittsburgh for a Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) showcase.
The PWHPA's four teams, consisting of over 40 Olympians, played four games at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry on Saturday and Sunday to promote their mission of creating a viable women's professional hockey league in North America.
"This has been the first weekend where we've been playing against each other, then we come back and be teammates now," said defenseman Megan Keller, who won Olympic gold in 2018 and silver in 2022 with Team USA.
"So it's definitely a different experience, but at the end of the day, to be able to play with the best players in the world from all different countries and grow our game … we all have the same goal of building a better future for women's professional hockey, and this is the step to do that."
Jeff Carter brought his son and daughter to watch Marie-Philip Poulin, who is widely regarded as the best player in the world, score a hat trick in the morning matchup on Sunday. Her goals - which came at even strength, shorthanded and on the power play - extended her PWHPA scoring lead.
"Every time we come here, we're treated very well," said Poulin, the Team Canada captain. "Obviously, it's a great facility. The people are great here, and it's always special coming to Pittsburgh. I remember first coming a couple of years ago, it was amazing. It just shows the Penguins are always there for women's hockey."
This is the third time that the Penguins have welcomed women's hockey to Pittsburgh since the PWHPA first launched in 2019. Prior to this, they held a joint training camp for the U.S. and Canadian women's national teams that year, and hosted the Rivalry Rematch for the players returning from the Beijing Olympics back in March.
That means most of the players on the PWHPA's rosters have skated here before, and it's become a special place for them. They all appreciate the Penguins providing an opportunity to keep their momentum going, and to have some consistency, with events like these.
"To see all the young girls and families that were in the stands this weekend, it's a fun atmosphere, and we love coming back here as long as they'll have us," Keller said with a laugh. "It's been a great city to be able to come and play and showcase our sport."
The rivalry between the U.S. and Canadian women's national teams is one of the best in all of professional sports. For them to put all of that aside for the good of the game was something really cool to see.
"It's a big group here that we push forward to create a league," Poulin said. "You see all these girls, like they work hard, and we're all in this together. And obviously, you see these great games, and it's been great. It's been a fun weekend."
Poulin said she hopes that Pittsburgh will house one of the teams whenever a league does form, saying that she thinks there will be something concrete on that front next year.
"Right now, we're trying to just showcase what we have and really put things forward," Poulin said. "We have great people behind us doing the hard work behind closed doors. We trust them, and we hope it's going to come up soon."
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