Worcester Blades, Canadian Women's Hockey League, fold
Photo | Grant Welker
The Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center
The Canadian Women’s Hockey League and the Worcester Blades will discontinue operations next month.
The six-team league announced the decision of its board of directors on Sunday due to a business model that “has proven to be unsustainable,” the league said.
The league, founded in 2007, installed new management and directors in the summer and fall of last year to help drive revenue, establish policies and improve the quality of the product, but that initiative was short lived.
“Unfortunately the business model that has been the foundation of the League is not sustainable financially,” the league said in a press release.
The folding of the women’s hockey league leaves four current sports teams in Worcester: the Massachusetts Pirates, the Worcester Railers, the Worcester Bravehearts and the Worcester 78s.
The Worcester Red Sox, currently the Pawtucket Red Sox and top farm team of MLB’s Boston Red Sox, are expected to begin playing home games in Worcester in 2021.
The Blades enjoyed just one season in Worcester, calling the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center home. The team relocated from the Boston area, where it last called Winthrop’s Lawrence Larsen Rink home ice.
The August announcement of the relocation came after the team hired a new coach, Paul Kennedy, the former skating coach for the U.S. National Team before retiring from that post in 2014.
The team also announced a new general manager with Worcester ties, Derek Alfama. He previously worked with the hockey team at College of the Holy Cross from 2012 to 2013.
Alfama could not immediately be reached for comment, but previously acknowledged the lackluster sponsorship and attendance, which was about 300 fans each game.
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