Experience Momentum owner leading effort to bring women’s hockey to Seattle

Kelly Stephens Tysland

A U.S. women’s hockey Olympian and Lynnwood business owner is leading the campaign to bring professional women’s ice hockey to Seattle.

Kelly Pierce Stephens Tysland and her husband Shanon own Experience Momentum (www.experiencemomentum.com), a fitness training facility with locations in Lynnwood and Seattle.

The winner of a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino, Italy, Kelley Tysland is serving as spokeswoman for NWHL to Seattle (www.nwhltoseattle.com), which just launched a campaign to bring a women’s professional hockey team to Seattle.

“Whether you see a game in person, online, or on TV, women’s professional hockey provides exciting, fast-paced entertainment, featuring some of the best players in the world,” Tysland said.

In announcing the campaign, NWHL to Seattle noted that interest in women’s hockey is at its highest mark in history, both among players and fans — thanks in part to the success of Team USA at the last Winter Olympics,  the NHL All-Star Game and the World Championships in Finland.

“These factors, plus the frenzy that the new NHL men’s team is bringing to our city, makes it the perfect time for women’s professional hockey to expand into Seattle,” Tysland added. “We believe Seattle can become a hub for training hockey players — both women and men. The professional players will serve as role models for up-and-coming players and the new world-class facilities will provide more access and opportunity to develop future college, professional, and Olympic athletes.”

Tysland won two IIHF World Women’s Championships medals — a gold medal in 2005 in Sweden and a silver in 2004 in Canada. She played for the University of Minnesota women’s ice hockey team from 2001 to 2005 earning back-to-back National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey titles in 2004 and 2005.

In 2004, she was selected to the All-Tournament Team honors as she scored five points in the Frozen Four, and in 2005 the team tallied a near-perfect record of 36-2-2 and were ranked as the top team in the nation for the entire campaign. She is listed on the team’s Top 10 Career Stats Record Board for: all-time points, goals, assists, as well as points per game, goals per game, power-play goals, shorthanded goals, game-winning goals, and penalty minutes.

The ultimate goal for the NWHL to Seattle effort, Tysland said, is to establish a women’s professional hockey team in Seattle with a strong ownership group and media coverage in place. “As we work toward that objective, we’re beginning by producing NWHL to Seattle gear that has a dual purpose—helping fans show their support of the campaign while also providing funding for promotional activities. Another intermediate step will be working to bring/host an NWHL All-Star game to the city prior to the NWHL Seattle’s inaugural season.”

Fans can purchase NWHL to Seattle gear and find out how to get involved at www.nwhltoseattle.com and can join the @NWHLtoSeattle movement on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

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