The 2020–21 PWHPA season was the second season of the strike by the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.
Formed after the collapse of the CWHL in 2019, the organisation consists of over 150 women's ice hockey players sitting out current leagues in North America. For the 2020–21 season, the PWHPA is organised into five different hubs, each of which fields a roster that will compete in exhibition games across North America and in the Dream Gap Tour tournament against each other.
Business
On September 2, 2020, the PWHPA released a statement condemning police brutality and racial injustice. The same day, Liz Knox resigned from the PWHPA board in order to cede her seat to Sarah Nurse, one of the few Black players in the organization.
In August 2020, the PWHPA partnered with Elites Optimization Services to help players find individual sponsorships. After sponsoring a showcase the previous season, deodorant brand Secret agreed to a sponsorship deal with the PWHPA for $1 million on October 22, 2020, the largest corporate commitment in North American women's hockey history at the time. The sponsorship deal includes prize money for the Dream Gap Tour, planned to start in early 2021 with a minimum of six showcases. The organization also added partnerships with Noble Estates Wines & Spirits, Canadian Tire, and Sportlogiq.
On February 23, 2021, the PWHPA announced the February 28 game of the 2021 Dream Gap Tour, played at Madison Square Garden, would be aired live on the NHL Network in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada.
Teams
Of the five regional hubs, three are in Canada: in Montréal, Toronto, and Calgary; and two are in the United States: New Hampshire and Minnesota. PWHPA players competed in try-outs for 25 spots on the official rosters for each hub. In late October, the PWHPA announced the full rosters for each hub as well as coaching staff. Players who did not make the rosters continue to be members of the PWHPA as independents.
In the previous season, each team was named after player who was acting as captain for each series. For this season, the regional hubs made sponsorship agreements for team names. The Toronto hub made a sponsorship deal with insurance company Sonnet and was branded as Team Sonnet with the hub's jerseys featuring turquoise and white. The Calgary hub was branded Team Scotiabank, with red and white jerseys, in a partnership with Scotiabank that includes a mentorship program for young female players. On February 25, 2021, before the tour's first games, the Minnesota and New Hampshire-based teams announced their sponsored names as Team Adidas and Team WSF (Women's Sports Foundation), respectively. The Montréal team was announced as Team Bauer on March 3.
Exhibition games
The first exhibition games of the season took place in late September, as PWHPA teams faced off against teams from the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL), an under-21 junior ice hockey organization. One week after tryouts, the New Hampshire team faced the Islanders Hockey Club's National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) team and the Boston Junior Bruins' NCDC team, losing to both 5–0 and 5–1, respectively. The Minnesota PWHPA team faced the USPHL's Premier Division team, the Minnesota Mullets, on September 19 and 20, winning both games by scores of 8–1 and 9–3.
A PWHPA All-Star team of 24 players from the Minnesota and New Hampshire hubs participated in six games at the USPHL's Hub City Tampa from January 7 to 15, 2021. The USPHL teams in Hub City Tampa were from the organization's top-level NCDC and second-level Premier Division. The PWHPA team earned a 2–3–1 record with wins over the Tampa Bay Juniors' Premier team and the Boston Junior Bruins' NCDC team. The PWHPA All-Star team played another five games against USPHL NCDC and Premier teams in Tampa from February 10 to 17, going 1–4 with a win over the Islanders Hockey Club's Premier team.