Led by president Miles Arnone, a predominantly US-based group is working to launch a National Women's Hockey League expansion team in Montreal. An official announcement from the league is expected to come shortly.
Arnone, managing partner of Cannon Capital, also leads the ownership group of the Boston Pride. Directors of the Montreal Women's Hockey Team include Massachusetts-based Toronto Six owner Johanna Boynton and husband John Boynton, who serves on the NWHL's Board of Governors. Ontario-based entrepreneur Ted Hastings rounds out the group, and is the lone Canadian resident. The team's single shareholder is a Delaware-based limited liability corporation, BTM Partners LLC, which was incorporated 11 days before the team was legally constituted in Canada.
The name Association Nationale de Hockey Féminin, inc., a French translation of National Women's Hockey League (although notably not the direct translation), has also been reserved in the province of Quebec. It is unclear whether the NWHL is behind the reservation.
Prior to the initially-planned announcement in early February (which was postponed due to the suspenson of the NWHL playoffs in Lake Placid, New York), Montreal-based members of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association training with the Centre 21.02 said they had not been contacted by the NWHL since last year and were unaware of the league's expansion plans at that time.
An interview with Arnone was cancelled in February, one day before the league's COVID-19 shutdown. Recent requests for comment from Arnone have not been returned.
(Photo credit: Michelle Jay)
