Canada's Hockey Store signs
Agreement to be Title Sponsor of Wickfest
CALGARY,
Aug. 27, 2013 /CNW/ - The Canadian
Tire Family of Companies today welcomes Hayley Wickenheiser to its team with a two year
partnership. As part of the partnership, Canadian Tire Retail will
become the title sponsor of Wickenheiser's annual hockey festival
and Hayley will also become a Canadian Tire Jumpstart
ambassador.
Canadian Tire continues to build momentum around its support of
sport in Canada and this
announcement is an extension of the sport partnership agreement
made earlier this year that positioned Canadian Tire, Sport Chek
and Sports Experts as official sporting goods retailers of
Canada's Olympic Team and Mark's
as the official casual and industrial wear retailer of Hockey
Canada.
"We are proud to be the retail authority in Sports and are
excited to celebrate and support athletes, like Hayley Wickenheiser," said Landon French, vice-president of sport
partnerships at Canadian Tire. "Hayley represents the pinnacle of
sports excellence. She is a tremendous contributor to hockey in
Canada and her work to encourage
young women to be active and play hockey is something we want to
celebrate and support."
In addition to a two-year partnership agreement with Hayley,
Canadian Tire has also signed a two-year title sponsorship of
Hayley's annual hockey festival. The 2013 Canadian Tire
Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival is a celebration of the
sport and the young women who play the game. The Festival
provides an opportunity for young women to engage in world-class
competition, make friends from around the world, improve their
hockey skills and learn from the best. Over the course of
four days, over 1,200 players compete and connect while building
positive female hockey experiences across all levels. This
year, the Festival is taking place November
21-24 at WinSport, Calgary,
Alberta.
"Partnering with such an iconic Canadian company provides a
great opportunity to continue to inspire young athletes to get
involved in sport," said Hayley
Wickenheiser. "Canadian Tire's push to getting kids active
further demonstrates their commitment to sport in Canada."
As a company, Canadian Tire has always supported play and
encouraged participation in sport. Whether Canadians aspire to
greatness in the playground or on a podium, Canadian Tire believes
it has a role in helping amateur athletes succeed and families stay
active. Active kids help build stronger families, which in turn,
builds stronger communities, contributing to a stronger nation.
This new partnership builds on a strong foundation of existing
partnerships not only with Hockey Canada but with the Canadian
Olympic and Paralympic Committees, Canada Games, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, Soccer Canada,
Snowboard Canada, Skate Canada, Alpine
Canada, the National Hockey League (NHL) and athlete
partnerships with Jonathan Toews,
Sidney Crosby, Rosie MacLennan, Christine Sinclair, Eric
Guay, Chris Del Bosco,
Charles Hamelin, Kaillie Humphries,
Meaghan Mikkelson, Jon Montgomery, Maëlle Ricker and Benoît
Huot.
About Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX:CTC, TSX:CTC.a) is one of
Canada's most-shopped general
retailers and the country's largest sporting goods retailer, with
nearly 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast. Our
primary retail business categories - Automotive, Living, Fixing,
Sports, Playing and Apparel - are supported and strengthened by our
Financial Services division, which offers such products and
services as Canadian Tire home services, credit cards, retail
deposits, in-store financing, product warranties, and insurance.
Nearly 85,000 people are employed across the Canadian Tire
enterprise, which was founded in 1922 and remains one of
Canada's most recognized and
trusted brands.
About Hayley
Wickenheiser
Four-time Olympic medalist, Hayley
Wickenheiser is regarded as one of the best female hockey
players in the world with an uncompromised determination and
dedication to her sport. However, it's not just her lethal slapshot
that is respected by her teammates, fans and peers; Hayley is also
an award winner, community leader, mentor, history-maker and an
accomplished businesswoman.
It all started at age 15 in Shaunavon,
Saskatchewan when Hayley was chosen for theCanadian Women's
National Team. She has since led the squad to six gold and one
silver medal at the Women's World Hockey Championships. As an
Olympian, she earned a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and
three Olympic gold medals in 2002, 2006 and most recently at the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Accompanying all that hardware, Hayley was also named the
tournaments' most valuable player in the 2002 and 2006 victorious
Olympic runs as well as in numerous Esso Women's Hockey
Championships.
Hayley Wickenheiser has proven to
be an elite athlete time and time again. Sports Illustrated
recently named her number 20 of the Top 25 Toughest Athletes in the
World. She is also a two-time finalist for the Women's Sports
Foundation Team Athlete of The Year and was recently named, for the
second time, among the Globe and Mail's "Power 50" influencers in
sport. Most recently, QMI Agency name Hayley among the top 10
"Greatest Female Athletes in the History of Sports." In the fall of
2011, Hayley was bestowed one the country's highest civilian
honours when she was amongst 50 notable Canadians appointed to the
Order of Canada "for her
achievements as an athlete and for her contributions to the growth
of women's hockey."
Along with hockey, Wickenheiser has mastered a number of sports.
An elite softball player, she participated in the 2000 Summer
Olympics as a member of Team Canada and worked as a Softball
Analyst with CBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Summer
Olympics.
Putting her pursuit of a BSc at the University of Calgary to good use, Hayley has led
numerous projects with the goal of raising the profile of women's
hockey around the world. She is constantly working to provide
mentoring opportunities for young athletes including her legacy
project, the Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival.
Hayley recently graduated with Honours with a degree in
kinesiology from the University of
Calgary with the ambition of attending medical school and
becoming a doctor. She is currently among several athletes who have
centralized in Calgary to train
for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
SOURCE CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION, LIMITED