According to a report from ESPN, this year's NHL All-Star Game will feature a three-on-three scrimmage between top American and Canadian women's players in addition to the established three-on-three tournament between stars from the league's four divisions.
The report says the league expects to announce full details of the new event and a new element to the skills competition later this week. All-Star Weekend falls in just under two weeks, with the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues hosting festivities at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
This will be the third consecutive All-Star Weekend in which the NHL has invited top women's players to participate. In 2018, players for Team USA demonstrated drills for the skills competitions ahead of their gold-medal run at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Last year, Kendall Coyne Schofield made waves when she participated in the fastest skater competition and bested Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller. In the premier passer event, Brianna Decker recorded a better time than winner Leon Draisaitl when she demonstrated the drill.
MORE: Full NHL All-Star Weekend rosters
History was made and barriers were broke. It was such an honor to be the first woman to compete in the @nhl All Star Skills Competition last night. I can’t wait to see what the future holds! #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/Sc125oBGCx
— Kendall Coyne Schofield (@KendallCoyne) January 26, 2019
According to ESPN, all players that will participate in this year's All-Star Weekend play for either the American or Canadian national teams and are members of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, which has been boycotting professional hockey in search of a league with a sustainable business model that can pay athletes appropriately.
The NHL's All-Star Weekend will be held from Jan. 24-26 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.