Shop Talk: Reflecting back on Behind The Mask Girls Hockey Weekend
Behind The Mask was proud to host the first-ever BTM Girls Hockey Weekend at the BTM Scottsdale location just a few weeks ago on Oct. 5.
In partnership with the Arizona Coyotes, Arizona Kachinas, Arizona State University women’s hockey and Grand Canyon University women’s hockey, this event was held to showcase the growth of girls hockey in Arizona and around the world, as part of the ninth annual IIHF World Girls’ Hockey Weekend – a global opportunity for girls to try out hockey as a new sport.
The Coyotes held on-ice events to provide a free opportunity for girls to try out the game for the day.
The cost of the game can be intimidating to first timers, but Behind The Mask has partnered with the Coyotes to help provide equipment to these programs and make the game more affordable for new participants.
It was amazing to see how many girls came out to BTM Scottdale for the event.
All girls who attended received a scratch-off ticket when they entered the door. The ticket revealed a variety of prizes available, like CCM Beats by Dre headphones, a new CCM SuperTacks AS1 stick, a Bauer Vapor Flylite stick, water bottles and apparel. Behind The Mask was able to showcase some of the new protective lines from Bauer specifically designed for girls and also the newest hockey apparel on the market from CCM and Bauer.
These women’s and girls’ products are something we are working to carry more of in all of our stores in the coming seasons.
The ASU and GCU women’s ACHA club teams set up booths and greeted everyone as they came in the door. Lots of people stopped to chat with the women’s players about their games the night before and let them know of the support they had for their teams.
We appreciate the teams coming out to showcase the future of women’s hockey in the state of Arizona and wish them all the best of luck this season.
The growth of the girls game has been more noticeable this year with the addition of the Arizona Coyotes Small Frys learn-to-play program and newly formed Arizona Kachinas girls hockey program.
Lyndsey Fry and Matt Shott with the Arizona Coyotes have done a fantastic job of putting together these programs to grow the game’s interest throughout the Southwest United States. The amount of talented young women leaving the state to join elite-level college and national programs is impressive and the future looks even brighter with the addition of these grassroots efforts.
We are proud to be able to help grow the game here in Arizona and have worked hard over the past 25 years in order to do so. We thank the Arizona Coyotes, Lyndsey Fry and Matt Shott and their entire staff for their partnership with us and their effort to grow this game we all love.
Thank you to all who attended the first of many BTM Girls Weekends!
Randy Exelby is the owner of Behind The Mask Hockey Shops.
(Nov. 11, 2019)
