Hi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. With the NHL starting back up I would like to acknowledge all the women working in leadership roles within the NHL. We are in a new era with Covid-19 and change is happening everywhere. It is time to see more women take on leadership roles in all sports organizations.
Most people don’t realize that on average, there are 46.6 people working in each NHL team’s hockey operations – two of which are women – making the average hockey operations department 96 percent male.
I recently read an article written by Kevin Allen in USA Today and he laid out the different areas in which women have leadership roles within the NHL.
The headline was “Still a long way to go,” but women are gaining ground with new roles in the NHL.
Below highlight a few female leaders making a difference in the NHL.
- Hall of Fame player Cammi Granato was hired by the expansion Seattle franchise as the NHL’s first female pro scout.
- Hayley Wickenheiser is the Maple Leafs’ assistant director of player development.
- Kim Davis (executive vice president, social growth, growth initiatives) and Heidi Browning (chief marketing officer) both hold league senior management positions, reporting directly to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
- Sabres owner Kim Pegula also serves as president of the NFL’s Bills and the Sabres.
Women play hockey and understand the game
We must remember that girls and women play hockey and understand the game. Roughly 40% of NHL fans are female. Furthermore, girls and women’s hockey are growing three times faster than the men’s game.
“Before, women didn’t have the experience or it was all about who you already know; now there is more openness to saying, ‘Who is out there who can help our organization be better,’” said Aimee Kimball, the Devils’ director of player and team development. “Now, more women have various experience, whether it’s through education, playing or through other jobs, to put them into a position to influence hockey.” When Kimball was a junior in high school, playing soccer, basketball and softball, she took a psychology course and became fascinated by the brain and how it contributes to an athlete’s success. She has been working with players for 13 years, starting in 2006 with the Penguins. She believes women offer a different perspective.
“I think if it were my 18-year-old, 19-year-old or 20-year-old (self), what kind of support would I think they would need?” she said.
The NHL and NHLPA
The NHL and NHLPA created a female advisory board in March 2019 to help promote that idea. The committee doles out grant money, and it is having an impact. In 2018, only six of the 31 NHL teams had all-girl youth hockey programs. In 2019, 24 teams have all-girl programs.
The NHL & NHLPA Female Hockey Advisory Committee includes 11 women with varied backgrounds and experiences: Michele Amidon, Annie Camins, Maria Dennis, Mandi Duhamel, Lyndsey Fry, Angela James, Tarasai Karega, Kelsey Koelzer, AJ Mleczko Griswold, Caroline Popilchak, and Kristen Wright. This esteemed group of women has a combined 50-plus years of professional hockey playing experience, 30 years of professional hockey coaching experience, four Olympic medals, and 26 World Championship medals.
I would like to congratulate all the women mentioned and all others working to elevate women in hockey and women in leadership roles within sports organizations.
A Heartwarming Testimonial: Alex’s Family Skating Experience with Skate Helper in Whistler
/in Community, Testimonials/by Heather LoganI want to share an email that I received last year. It makes me so happy to see families enjoying skating while using the Skate Helper. I was so touched to hear from Alex and his experience in Whistler. Below is the email he sent me.
“Heather,
I don’t mind at all if you share the story. We were actually on vacation in BC and it was my daughters first experience ice skating. We had so much fun we wanted to continue going when we got back to Vancouver, WA where we live. It was at this point we discovered that not all of the helpers are created equal and it was very difficult to safely skate (the styles available didn’t allow free forward movement of the legs or anywhere for me to support her from). I am not sure if you serve any of the rinks near here but if there is anything viable, I would love to purchase one. Included some pictures from our trip.”
Discovering Community and Confectionery Delights at Sno-King Ice Arenas in Kirkland, WA
/in Community, Ice Rinks/by Heather LoganI recently visited the Kirkland, WA location of my new customer Sno-King Ice Arenas. They have three locations in WA.
They offer learn to skate and learn to play hockey programs. They are truly a community rink. The Kirkland location is in a mall, which is interesting. There were lots of food options for parents waiting during practices. Factory Donuts next door was a big hit with the kids and parents. I did try the glazed donuts and they were amazing.
Sno-King does a great job at advertising their programs. Lots of flyers were at the entrance listing camps and classes available.
The facility was clean and inviting. Lots of parents were there the day I visited as there as a figure skating competition taking place.
Ice arenas can do so much with marketing and social media to remind parents of all the different programs being offered. Sno-King is a great example of a community rink that brings the community together.
Skate Helper Partners with Desjardins Financial Group for Toronto’s Skate Lending Library Initiative
/in Community/by Heather LoganBlack Bear Sports Group
/in Ice Rinks, News/by Heather LoganBlack Bear Sports Group owns, manages and operates twenty-five ice rinks and, where applicable, their affiliated teams, in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware.
Many of these ice arenas offer the Skate Helper to their customers. The Printscape Ice Arena in Canonsburg, PA offers many programs including public skates, summer camps, birthday parties, and corporate events. Check out their website and program listings
www.printscapearena.com/public-skating.html
Unique events include Paint the Ice Night for the community held on April 11th.
Printscape Arena at Southpointe will be hosting Paint the Ice Night for the community. Paintbrushes and paint will be included.
Pre-sale tickets will be $5 a person, day of event will be $7 a person. With the purchase of each ticket for Paint the Ice Night you will receive a voucher that is valid for a FREE kids admission when you purchase an adult admission (Valid for public skate session on a future day).
Admission will be free for kids age 2 and under. Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a paying adult 18 and older.
*No one will be wearing skates for this event, it is not an ice-skating event, just painting of the ice.
Skate Helper is proud to have Printscape Arena as a customer and looks forward to working with them in the future.
Stay Safe and Be Kind
Here’s to Happy Days ahead!
From Heather at Skate Helper.
The Power Of Digital Media And Your Business
/in Ice Rinks, Personal/by Heather LoganHi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. It’s April 2021 and I really hope ice arenas all over the world can start planning for a full reopening in the 2021/2022 winter skating season.
It’s been a long road for sure and here at Skate Helper we have been hit hard but are continuing to plan for the future.
I had some extra time on my hands and decided to take an eight-week digital marketing boot camp. I learned so much in those eight weeks and I highly recommend getting some digital marketing training so you understand it and how it can really help your
business.
Below are the top 10 tips I learned from this boot camp.
After completing the digital marketing boot camp I have revised my website. I am going to plan and schedule email marketing campaigns and will mail brochures to ice arenas in Canada and the US.
Wishing you all great success in the future. We are almost at the finish line.
Stay Safe
Heather from Skate Helper
Trip to Chicago and Visit to the Fifth Third Arena
/in Community, Ice Rinks/by Heather LoganHi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. In January 2020, I had the pleasure of visiting the Fifth Third Arena in Chicago to see the First Stride program in action.
We shot a video testimonial at the rink on January 9th. After the shoot, Annie and Andrea who work for the Blackhawks gave us a tour of the Fifth Third Arena where the Blackhawks practice.
What an amazing facility. We saw the player dressing room with everything laid out for them. We saw their dryland training area. The equipment room where everything is stocked. The repair area where skates and other equipment can be repaired.
The players are really well taken care of. There is a chef’s kitchen where high-end nutritious meals are prepared. A video lounge where players can hang out and relax. It felt like a home away from home. Every detail had been thought of to make the players feel comfortable. It really is an inviting space and really well designed.
Afterwards, Annie invited us over to the United Center to check out the sports shop and have lunch. She also gave us tickets for the game that night.
Chicago loves their Blackhawks and they are the best sports fans I’ve ever seen. The energy in the building was electric and it was just a regular season game. It was very memorable too because it was the game that the goalie Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators scored a goal.
We decided to stay for the weekend and explore Chicago. We ate at some really good restaurants. Everything we ate in Chicago tasted great. The shopping on Michigan Avenue was excellent and on Saturday night we visited Second City.
Chicago is such a wonderful city and I would recommend a visit for sure. Aside from the iconic sports teams that the city has it offers amazing restaurants and lovely architecture. Chicago is a really good walking city and has wonderful and diverse neighbourhoods to explore.
Now it’s more than a year into the pandemic and that was the last time I was in a crowded arena. My trip to Chicago was a trip of a lifetime that I will never forget.
I want to thank Annie Camins and Andrea Hahn for making my Chicago trip a reality these are two women in leadership positions with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Women Leaders in the NHL
/in News/by Heather LoganHi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. With the NHL starting back up I would like to acknowledge all the women working in leadership roles within the NHL. We are in a new era with Covid-19 and change is happening everywhere. It is time to see more women take on leadership roles in all sports organizations.
Most people don’t realize that on average, there are 46.6 people working in each NHL team’s hockey operations – two of which are women – making the average hockey operations department 96 percent male.
I recently read an article written by Kevin Allen in USA Today and he laid out the different areas in which women have leadership roles within the NHL.
The headline was “Still a long way to go,” but women are gaining ground with new roles in the NHL.
Below highlight a few female leaders making a difference in the NHL.
Women play hockey and understand the game
We must remember that girls and women play hockey and understand the game. Roughly 40% of NHL fans are female. Furthermore, girls and women’s hockey are growing three times faster than the men’s game.
“Before, women didn’t have the experience or it was all about who you already know; now there is more openness to saying, ‘Who is out there who can help our organization be better,’” said Aimee Kimball, the Devils’ director of player and team development. “Now, more women have various experience, whether it’s through education, playing or through other jobs, to put them into a position to influence hockey.” When Kimball was a junior in high school, playing soccer, basketball and softball, she took a psychology course and became fascinated by the brain and how it contributes to an athlete’s success. She has been working with players for 13 years, starting in 2006 with the Penguins. She believes women offer a different perspective.
“I think if it were my 18-year-old, 19-year-old or 20-year-old (self), what kind of support would I think they would need?” she said.
The NHL and NHLPA
The NHL and NHLPA created a female advisory board in March 2019 to help promote that idea. The committee doles out grant money, and it is having an impact. In 2018, only six of the 31 NHL teams had all-girl youth hockey programs. In 2019, 24 teams have all-girl programs.
The NHL & NHLPA Female Hockey Advisory Committee includes 11 women with varied backgrounds and experiences: Michele Amidon, Annie Camins, Maria Dennis, Mandi Duhamel, Lyndsey Fry, Angela James, Tarasai Karega, Kelsey Koelzer, AJ Mleczko Griswold, Caroline Popilchak, and Kristen Wright. This esteemed group of women has a combined 50-plus years of professional hockey playing experience, 30 years of professional hockey coaching experience, four Olympic medals, and 26 World Championship medals.
I would like to congratulate all the women mentioned and all others working to elevate women in hockey and women in leadership roles within sports organizations.
Skate Helper Video Premiere with The Blackhawks
/in Ice Rinks, News/by Heather LoganWe invite you to watch and see The Skate Helper in action with the Chicago Blackhawks First Stride program!
Today we are extremely excited to share with you a video that was shot at the Fifth Third Arena in Chicago this past January. You can learn more about my visit to Chicago and filming at the Fifth Third Arena in our previous blog post.
First Stride Program
First Stride Program allows 4th and 5th grade students with floor hockey experience a chance to take the ice! Each week 360 Chicago Public School Students will visit Fifth Third Arena, the new Chicago Blackhawks Community Ice Rink, to further their hockey education on and off the ice.
We are honoured that Skate Helper is part of this incredible program.
Watch the Video
My visit to Fifth Third Arena in Chicago
/in Ice Rinks/by Heather LoganHi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. I am so excited to be able to finally share a video on Monday August 3, 2020, that we shot at the Fifth Third Arena in Chicago this past January.
How this project came together
Last year, I reached out to Annie Camins the Senior Executive Director, Fan Development for the Chicago Blackhawks and asked if I could visit the arena to see the First Stride program in action and to shoot a video showing how they use the Skate Helper.
Annie said yes and off I went in January to the windy city. Annie and her team organized everything. They were extremely welcoming and very professional. I quickly realized how progressive the Blackhawks organization is.
I was blown away!
The arena and the First Stride program are first class all the way. Prior to Covid, the First Stride program had 360 Chicago public school students visiting the Fifth Third Arena every week. The programming for First Stride starts off by welcoming the students to the arena where they are then escorted into the locker room. In the locker room their name is proudly displayed on the cubby along with a First Stride shirt, ice skates and gloves.
After skating the students spend time in the classroom learning a S.T.E.M program. The day I visited, the students they were building robots. The students are also provided a healthy snack and a school bus ride back to school. This is all paid for by the Chicago Blackhawks. This program is so impressive and the kids love it.
First Stride is a progressive community program that engages and inspires local youth. In my opinion, this program should be rolled out to all communities where the NHL has teams.
Chicago sports fans are serious and they really love their teams
I live in Canada and had visited Chicago before but I never had an experience like this. Chicago sports fans are serious and they really love their teams. I was fortunate enough to attend a game at the United Center and it was unlike any other NHL game I’ve been to. I remember the game vividly as Predators goalie Pekka Rinne scored a goal on an empty net. Chicago lost 5-2. Chicago has some of the BEST fans anywhere and the best stadium food. The energy in the building played like a game 7 of the playoffs.
Gratitude
I want to shout out a HUGE thank you to the two women leaders at the Chicago Blackhawks who made the video happen. Annie Camins Senior Executive Director, Fan Development for the Chicago Blackhawks and Andrea Hahn – the General Manager of the Fifth Third Arena – you both are truly trailblazers working in the NHL. Thanks for sharing your positive feedback on the skate helper. I am extremely proud that the Skate Helper is part of this important community initiative.
Inspiration through sport is what First Stride is all about and I think that’s what the Chicago Blackhawks is all about. Get your Hockey Hit this upcoming week! Go Blackhawks!
Let’s Celebrate Canada Day and 4th of July
/in Community/by Heather LoganHi, it’s Heather from Skate Helper. I hope you and your families are safe and well.
To my Canadian and American customers
I am looking forward to the reopening of your ice arenas and getting kids and families back on the ice.
If there has ever been a Canada Day and Independence Day to celebrate it’s this one for sure. After all, 2020 hasn’t been a great year for anyone on the planet. Sure, we can still fire up the grill and figure out where to watch fireworks from a distance, but most of us could really use a good celebration with our extended family and friends.
Gratitude
We have so much to be grateful for. Both Canada and the US are two of the most beautiful countries in the world. We share one of the world’s longest, unprotected border. As both countries are focused on past transgressions, I believe we will make positive change. We know we can all be better, kinder more inclusive people.
We are in this together
We can do so much in our own communities. It’s time to participate and get out into your community, say hello to your neighbour and help make the change. 2020 has definitely taught us that we are in this together. We need one another more than ever before.
Canadians and Americans love the same sports, movies, music and freedoms. We cherish our freedom to choose where to live, where to worship, how to dress, who to love, where to go to school, and where to work. Hopefully, one day soon we will be back travelling freely within our two great nations.
As we celebrate our countries birthdays please take time out to connect with your family, friends, and neighbours in your community.
We are stronger together! Stay Safe and Be Kind.
Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th of July
From Heather at Skate Helper.