The LA Kings will host their Women’s History Celebration when they play the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, March 5 at Crypto.com Arena. The event will highlight several of the team’s hockey initiatives focusing on women and girls. Kings players will arrive at that the arena ahead of that game wearing special jerseys to commemorate the evening, designed by LA Kings Sr. Graphic Designer Erin Hill.
Hill’s jersey design was inspired by symbols of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and created in the purple and gold colors used by the movement and reference the LA Kings heritage scheme. The symbols include yellow rose-shaped pins worn by suffragists, stars from the suffrage flag, and slogans used in the fight for gender equality. Those limited-edition jerseys will be auctioned off with proceeds to benefit the Kings Care Foundation.
The team’s Women’s History Celebration comes a few short weeks after the LA Lions 12u AAA program captured the Girls’ Class championship at the 65th edition of the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. Playing on a stage that drew 206,698 total spectators across the 12-day competition, the Lions never trailed throughout their championship run at the prestigious youth tournament, defeating the Connecticut Juniors Rangers 4-0 in the final. Former professional players and current LA Kings Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor Manon Rhéaume and Community and Hockey Development Specialist Blake Bolden both serve as advisors for the Lions program.
Earlier this season, the Kings hosted Girls Try Hockey for Free Day, an open event for girls aged 5-9 that runs in September and October each year. Featuring guest coaches like Bolden and Chelsey Goldberg, the sessions provide girls with a strong, encouraging presence from the coaching staff and offer fun activities like ball hockey, a learn-to-skate practice, and a bedazzling station. Toyota Sports Performance Center, LA Kings Iceoplex Ice Arena, and The CUBE Santa Clarita are among the local rinks that hosted these events.
The team has invested in multiple programs that provide girls the opportunity to continue to play hockey. Following Girls Try Hockey for Free Day, the team’s Little Kings Learn To Play - Girls Only Sessions run each year from March through May, offering girls aged 5-9 the opportunity to play with minimal barriers to entry in a safe, female-focused environment. Following completion of this program, Bolden Girls Continue to Play offers a continuation program of the girls’ hockey pathway for participants at Toyota Sports Performance Center, LA Kings Ice at Promenade on the Peninsula, and LA Kings Iceland at Paramount.
In addition to encouraging player participation among girls and women, the Kings host a yearly Free Female Coach and Referee Certification. The sessions are held each August to make it more accessible for women to become accredited coaches and officials.
The team will cap off their regular-season calendar of female-focused programming with the inaugural Women’s Hockey Retreat Weekend this upcoming May. Led by Manon Rhéaume and the women of the LA Kings Hockey Development Staff, the weekend will gather adult women’s hockey players and feature special guests from across the collegiate and professional women’s hockey community. More information on how to participate in that program will be made available on Saturday, March 15.
