Boston Pride D Mallory Souliotis said she now realizes she made a mistake in joining the boycottMALLORY SOULIOTIS
NWHL team execs have been "getting calls and emails from players expressing their regrets" in joining a boycott movement pushing for a unified North American women's league, with players now "asking to come back," according to Hailey Salvian of THE ATHLETIC. When the boycott was first announced in May, a number of NWHL players said that they "abstained from joining the movement because of a lack of concrete details." They also said that they "felt rushed to make a decision." NWHL Boston Pride D Mallory Souliotis said that after she took a few weeks to think, she "realized she made a mistake" in joining the boycott. Meanwhile, the players in the For The Game movement have "established themselves as a professional association ... as well as a not-for-profit." Players involved said that the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association was a "natural progression and a necessary step for the player to stay organized and in communication during the gap year" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/10).
NECESSARY MEASURE: Maple Leafs Assistant Dir of Player Development Hayley Wickenheiser said the women's hockey boycott "had to happen." She said, "The players had to take a stand or nothing's going to change. So now I think we'll actually see progress." Wickenheiser added, "Neither the Canadian Women's Hockey League nor the National Women's Hockey League is the league that's going to take women's hockey forward in the future." She said, "I think the NHL has a plan and they need everybody else to really just get out of the way and allow them to execute and do the job that needs to happen to put the best players on the ice" (TORONTO STAR, 6/8).
