Some of the country’s top female athletes will help kick off the 2020 IIHF women’s world hockey championship in Halifax next year.
Ellie Black, Colleen Jones and Tessa Virtue are among the women slotted to speak at the Women on Top of the World event at the Halifax Convention Centre on April 1.
Jennifer Jones, Chantal Vallee, Catriona Le May Doan, Reeny Smith and Carrie Cussons are to join the gymnast, curler and figure skater at the event’s head table.
Hayley Wickenheiser and Kia Nurse are on the event's wishlist.
Bruce Rainnie, president and CEO of the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, said he has been in contact with Wickenheiser and Nurse and is hopeful they'll be in attendance.
“Hayley was very clear on the phone that, ‘If they spring an exam on me April 1, I’ll be in trouble,” Rainnie said of the hockey player who is studying to be a doctor.
Nurse’s attendance will depend on her team’s performance.
Rainnie said the Women on Top of the World event came to mind after Nova Scotia’s 15 greatest athletes were named in 2017.
“It engendered a lot of debate and great discussion, plus it unearthed the female content in this province that is second to none,” Rainnie said at the announcement Monday morning.
“If it’s a kitchen party in Nova Scotia, you’ve got to have somebody singing,” he said.
“If you haven’t seen Reeny, she’s going to sing with a couple of her sisters that night, and the room is going to be rocking.”
Smith was one of the performers before former U.S. president Barack Obama took the stage at the Scotiabank Centre last week.
“To have that female presence, to inspire and share their stories and they all come from so many different backgrounds and have been able to be so successful, I think is going to be an incredible night,” Black said.
Black, wearing a walking boot and sporting crutches after recently undergoing ankle surgery, said she looks forward to the opportunity to show young athletes to “not be afraid to go for their dreams.”
Karen Furneaux, a two-time world champion kayaker, is to co-host the event with Rainnie.
Tickets are $225 for adults and $100 for youth. They can be purchased through Ticket Atlantic.
All proceeds from the event will go toward the creation of a women’s of excellence wing at the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.
“It’ll be a full section of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame devoted to the women in this province who have reached just levels of a plane that are really unparalleled,” Rainnie said.
“We want a specific area where young girls will walk and be inspired.”
Rainnie said the hall of fame is to undergo a major transformation within the next 18-24 months.
Cussons, president and CEO of Events East Group and chair of the 2020 IIHF women’s world hockey championships, also announced a female leadership summit, It’s Our Time, will take place on March 31 - the first day of competition.
The summit is “designed to encourage participants to start thinking about their leadership, their contributions and most importantly to remember that the ingredients to success are all the same no matter your gender,” Cussons said.
The 2020 women’s worlds will be played at the Scotiabank Centre and the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro from March 31 to April 10.
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