2,000 Young Female Hockey Players Descend on Calgary for Canadian Tire WickFest

Wickenheiser Dedicates Annual Hockey Festival to Grace Bowen with the
Launch of the Grace Bowen Courage Scholarship

CALGARY, Nov. 26, 2015 /CNW/ - Today, Canadian Tire and four-time Olympic Gold medallist and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities Ambassador Hayley Wickenheiser, kicks-off the sixth annual Canadian Tire Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival (Canadian Tire WickFest). 

Canadian Tire WickFest runs from November 26-29 in Calgary, bringing together over 2,000 female hockey players between the ages of eight to 18 to compete and connect while building positive hockey experiences across all levels. Almost 100 teams from as far away as Mexico and the Czech Republic will participate, along with Canadian teams from coast-to-coast.

"At Canadian Tire, we believe that participation in sport and physical activity helps develop essential life skills such as discipline, confidence, and team work," says Jessica Pellow, Associate Vice-President, Canadian Tire Corporation. "As a presenting sponsor of Canadian Tire WickFest for three years running, we are proud to join Hayley to celebrate our national sport with the next generation of young female hockey greats."

This year's tournament is dedicated in memory of Grace Bowen, a young hockey player from Cobourg, ON, who lost her life to osteosarcoma this year. To honour Grace's love of hockey and contagious spirit, Hayley is launching the $500 Grace Bowen Courage Scholarship which will be presented annually to a deserving young female athlete in need.

"I'm so proud to dedicate this year's tournament to Grace, one of the toughest, most resilient and inspiring young women I've ever met," says Hayley Wickenheiser, four-time Olympic Gold medallist and Jumpstart Ambassador. "To honour this brave, young athlete, we have invited her hockey team, the West Northumberland, to play at this year's Canadian Tire WickFest and are thrilled to launch the scholarship in Grace's name."

Canadian Tire WickFest is the only festival of its kind and continues to draw substantial interest from the international female hockey community. While Markin MacPahil at WinSport is Canadian Tire Wickfest's primary venue, over 210 games and festival activities will take place at more than seven arenas across the Calgary area during the four-day festival.

About Canadian Tire Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival (Canadian Tire WickFest)
Canadian Tire WickFest is the dream come-to-life of six-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser and is run in partnership with Girls Hockey Calgary and Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League. Over four days more than 2,000 players will compete and connect while building positive female hockey experiences across all levels. Further details at: www.wickfest.com.

Follow the tournament on Facebook and Twitter using #ctwickfest.

Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited, (TSX:CTC.A) (TSX:CTC) or "CTC," is a family of businesses that includes a retail segment, a financial services division and CT REIT. Our retail business is led by Canadian Tire, which was founded in 1922 and provides Canadians with products for life in Canada across its Living, Playing, Fixing, Automotive and Seasonal categories. PartSource and Gas+ are key parts of the Canadian Tire network. The retail segment also includes Mark's, a leading source for casual and industrial wear, and FGL Sports (Sport Chek, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts, National Sports, Intersport, Pro Hockey Life and Atmosphere), which offers the best active wear brands. The nearly 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets are supported and strengthened by our Financial Services division and the tens of thousands of people employed across the Company. For more information, visit Corp.CanadianTire.ca.

SOURCE CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION, LIMITED

Trevor Beckman, Media Relations, Canadian Tire WickFest, 403-461-7733, [email protected]; Candice Bruton, Canadian Tire Corporation, 416-520-3184, [email protected]