CWHL Announces Guests for Awards Gala

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League has announced three hosts for its annual league awards gala on March 4: two-time Olympic gold medalists and television personalities Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Cheryl Pounder, and Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Ron McLean.

The awards gala is held on the evening of the first day of the Clarkson Cup championship series, which will be in Markham, Ontario, on March 4-7.

The gala’s featured guest speaker will be Sochi 2014 gold-medal winning curling skip Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg.

The CWHL awards gala will recognize outstanding league performances from the 2014-2015 hockey season, including the regular season-winning team, coach of the year, most valuable player, goaltender of the year, rookie of the year and defenseman of the year.

The Clarkson Cup playoffs will take shape this year in a different format, with the first-place team hosting the fourth-place team, and the second place team hosting the third place team, each in a three-game series.  The winners of each series will face off for the Clarkson Cup on March 7 at 2 p.m. EST. The championship game will air live in SportsNet in Canada, as well as two prior playoff games on March 5.

The Clarkson Cup schedule can be seen here.

It’s been a big year for the CWHL: this season it secured its first-ever broadcast deal and held its first annual All-Star Game in Toronto.

The CWHL is the 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.

Currently the CWHL consists of five teams: the Toronto Furies, Boston Blades, Brampton Thunder, Calgary Inferno and Montreal Stars.