CRANBERRY, Pa. -- A couple of major changes happened in the professional women's hockey landscape in the spring of 2019
On March 31, the Canadian Women's Hockey League announced that it would cease operations on May 1, after 12 seasons. The six-team league had paid its players a stipend in its final two seasons in existence. The CWHL's folding left the five-team National Women's Hockey League as the only organized professional women's league in North America.
On May 2, hundreds of women's players from North America and Europe announced that they would not be playing in any North American professional league in the 2019-20 season, with the goal of bettering the current landscape and future of the women's game by creating a more sustainable professional league:
Team USA forward Hilary Knight has been one of the most prominent leaders of the movement.