Montreal Canadiens Partner With CWHL’s Montreal Stars

The Montreal Canadiens announced yesterday that they have entered into a partnership with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Montreal Stars. The Canadiens hope that by partnering with the Stars, they can help aid the growth of women’s hockey and the CWHL itself by expanding the amount of resources available to the club.

From yesterday’s press release from the CWHL:

“The Montreal Canadiens today announced a partnership agreement with the Montreal Stars of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL). The Canadiens organization will make its infrastructure and resources available to the Stars, along with a host of expertise in the areas of marketing, advertising and sponsorships, while assisting in merchandising and promoting the Montreal Stars brand. Together, the two teams will work to encourage the development of women’s hockey at the grassroots level and contribute to various community projects and initiatives.

As a proud supporter of numerous minor hockey initiatives, the Canadiens will team up with the Stars to put an emphasis on growing the female game, through hockey camps or conditioning clinics, as was the case last December when the Canadiens put together a very successful clinic exclusively for female players.”

The Montreal Stars may change their logo or name as a result of this partnership, although nothing is expected to immediately change. It is unclear as to what else could come from this partnership, but it’s being deemed as a “step in the right direction” in terms of the NHL‘s support of the league.

The CWHL has been in the news following the Boston Blades’ overtime victory over the Stars for the Clarkson Cup. The New York Times did a profile of the league, and highlighted the numerous financial issues the players have to deal with to play in the league. Since then, other sports blogs have called for the NHL to better support their female counterparts.