A Nova Scotian milestone in women’s hockey, Femke Kok drawing speed skating eyes, NWSL postseason continues + LOTS MORE!
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PWHPA | Dream Gap Tour’s Tim Hortons Showcase
The PWHPA is back, baby!! This weekend, the first Secret Dream Gap Tour event of the 2021-22 season will take place with the Tim Hortons Showcase in Truro, Nova Scotia and I couldn’t be more excited.
This weekend’s puck drop in Nova Scotia marks a MAJOR milestone for hockey in the region as this will be the first ever professional women’s hockey game hosted in Atlantic Canada (it’s about time!). The showcase will feature Toronto (Team Sonnet), Calgary (Team Scotiabank), Montreal (Team Harvey’s) and Boston (Team Bauer).


Teams will be playing one game each on Friday, with the winners from each game moving on to play in the championship game on Saturday and the losers facing off in the consolation game. The Dream Gap Tour Showcase gives players the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and season ranking points.
And it’s not only about the games (although we love those)... players from the PWHPA hubs also take part in skills clinics and speaking engagements with local girl’s hockey players and organizations. It’s soooo wonderful to see leagues take the time to grow the women’s game in Canada and encourage girls to compete.


Game schedule:
Team Scotiabank vs. Team Bauer - Friday at 2pm ET
Team Harvey’s vs. Team Sonnet - Friday at 6pm ET
Consolation Game - Saturday at 2pm ET
Finals - Saturday at 6pm ET
Tune in to the PWHPA Tim Hortons Showcase Friday and Saturday on CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
ISU Speed Skating World Cup
Don’t blink, you might miss it! Long track speed skaters kick off their Olympic campaign at the Arena Lodowa Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland this weekend. After last year's two bubble events, ISU World Cup Speed Skating is back in full swing with four events spread across November and December.
Speed skaters from across the globe will be competing for the first time since 2020 and will be racing to qualify for spots in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games AND the World Cup Final in Heerenveen in March 2022.


Speed skating is SO IMPRESSIVE and I have a few athletes I’ll be keeping a close eye on in this weekend's event.
Olympic 500m Champion Nao Kodaira of Japan was out last year and in her absence, the new kid on the block, Femke Kok of the Netherlands was in a league of her own. AND NOW with Kodaira back in business, the women’s sprint events will be highly competitive with previous World Champions Angelina Golikova of Russia and Vanessa Herzog in the mix for medals as well. The competition is TOUGH… and that’s just the 500m event!
But of course, the middle distances will be highly contested as well. I’ll have eyes on USA’s Brittany Bowe, Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam and Japan’s Miho Takagi. AND in the long distance battles, I’ll be looking at Irene Schouten from the Netherlands, Natalia Voronina of Russia, Martina Sáblíková from the Czech Republic as well as Canadians Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann as serious medal contenders.

Tune in to the ISU Speed Skating World Cup, Friday, Saturday and Sunday on CBC Sports and CBC Gem!
NWSL
This weekend, the NWSL’s expanded postseason continues. Last weekend, the No.4 seed Chicago Red Stars knocked out the No.5 Gotham FC while the No.3 seed Washington Spirit eliminated the No.6 North Carolina in extra time.
Chicago now travels to Portland to take on the mighty Thorns, while Washington heads over to Tacoma for a matchup against the OL Reign for the SEMIFINALS!
Both games kickoff on Sunday and these teams are battling for a spot in the finals taking place on November 20 in Louisville. My question is WHO will come out victorious this weekend?!
I might be totally off but here’s what I think 👉
The match between the OL Reign and Washington Spirit will be tight but I think the Reign’s experience and depth (particularly up front) will be too much for the Spirit to handle. In the end I think the Reign will seal a spot in the NWSL Finals next weekend.

And between the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars… I might make a wild choice and go with the Red Stars here! Of course, the Thorns were at the top of the league all season BUT the Red Stars weren’t far behind and I think their momentum after last weekend’s win will be what they need to take the W at Providence Park.
Matches this weekend:
OL Reign vs. Washington Spirit - Sunday at 3pm ET
Portland Thorns vs. Chicago Red Stars - Sunday at 5:30pm ET
Tune in to these weekend fixtures, Sunday on Twitch, Radio-Canada Sports, Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network.
PHF
After last weekend, it’s really starting to set in… the new era of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) has finally arrived and I’m here for it!
The athletes that are a part of the PHF are phenomenal. Their talent, skill, hard work and passion for the game makes this league so fun to watch! If the competitiveness of the first five games is any indication, we’re going to have a fierce pursuit of this year’s title.
This weekend the Boston Pride and the Connecticut Whale are facing off on Saturday AND Sunday. I’ll have to see how these two teams perform throughout the season before I can start making predictions but I think it’s safe to say both teams will come into the game hungry for a win.
Weekend matchups:
Boston Pride vs. Connecticut Whale - Saturday at 2pm ET
Boston Pride vs. Connecticut Whale - Sunday at 3pm ET
Check out this weekend's PHF games, Saturday and Sunday on Twitch and ESPN+.
A Quick Look Back: “You go girl!” moments from this week
🏃♀️ ICYMI Shalane Flanagan completed her sixth marathon in 42 days this week after three years of retirement and two knee surgeries! WOW. Talk about a ‘you go girl’ moment! Her goal was to run each marathon in under three hours… and SHE DID IT. Following the NYC Marathon she posted to Instagram saying, “I knew going in that today was going to be my favorite, but I had no idea just how much it would fill my heart.”


🏀 In honour of college hoops back in full swing, can we really not talk about Paige Bueckers?! Nope - don’t think so. The breakout star from UConn landed her first endorsement deal with StockX. The company’s spokesperson said this multi-year partnership with the 2021 John Wooden Award winner will focus on women's sports and basketball. You go girl!

⚽️ Last weekend Kim Little joined the 50 goals club during Arsenal's 4-nil takedown of West Ham by scoring a brace. Little scored her 49th and 50th WSL goals. She opened the scoring with a VIRTUOSO sight to see, squeezing between two West Ham defenders. That’s right - show off your moves!

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As a 68 year old who took up Olympic lifting this year, I can tell you girls and women need to see more body types doing more sports in order to really understand the choices they can make! Who knew it’s not all about cardio and yoga ;). Let’s go!