Bauer Hockey, Canadian Tire, FanDuel and Harvey’s have come together to launch a new program to empower women leaders in hockey and expand opportunities and experiences in the game.

During its pilot stage this year, Accelerate will provide $25,000 to four athletes to design and execute programs that increase participation for girls new to hockey, create new introductions to a hockey experience and elevate the experience for high performance athletes. The goal is to expand the pilot into a larger program in Canada, the U.S. and globally with the addition of more sponsors and resources.

“The goal in bringing together powerful brand partners is to leverage the collective passion for faster change,” said Mary-Kay Messier, VP of global marketing at Bauer Hockey. “These leaders jumped on board immediately to support a pilot, which will help enable women leading the game on and off the ice to prioritize a professional career in hockey and utilize added resources to develop grassroots camps, programing, and other opportunities to welcome more young girls to our game.”

The four athletes in the pilot program are Olympic gold medalists Renata Fast and Brianne Jenner, Canadian women’s national para hockey team captain Alanna Mah and Ohio State University player Sophie Jaques.

The program was introduced following a panel discussion moderated by TSN’s Tekeyah Singh that highlighted the work still needed to achieve gender equity in hockey. The timing was also right for the announcement since the IIHF Women’s World Championships are currently in progress, running until April 16 in Brampton, Ontario.

All four brands involved in Accelerate have made hockey part of their broader sponsorship activity. Canadian Tire, in particular, has made supporting women’s sports a priority, while Harvey’s has previously sponsored a team as part of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association’s Dream Gap tour.