A power play, by definition, is an advantage. NHL Power Players are no different.
For the fifth straight year, NHL Power Players, a youth advisory board made up of young hockey fans, is back to help add their invaluable personal perspective to the League.
The 26 members of the board, all aged 13-17 from the United States and Canada, were chosen from thousands of applications. Each Power Player will have a chance to have their voices heard by the NHL multiple times throughout this season.
"NHL Power Players bring unique insights and authentic feedback to the NHL. With each class, we learn more about the interests and behaviors of the next generation of hockey fans and are thrilled to continue this program for the fifth consecutive year," said Heidi Browning, NHL Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer. "We are excited to continue expanding NHL Power Players to engage young fans in the United States and Canada. We can’t wait to learn from this class of NHL Power Players, who have been given a critical voice to advance our incredible game while helping us connect with youth through this important initiative."
For Jaxon Pang, a 16-year-old from Kapolei, Hawaii, the opportunity to help improve upon his favorite sport is one he couldn't pass up.
"I have a few ideas," Pang, an avid Golden Knights fan who attended the team's inaugural home game in 2017, told NHL.com. "Maybe bringing teams here, doing clinics with the NHL. It's far away and expensive, but it’s worth talking about."
And while the weather in Hawaii may not be conducive to ice hockey, it doesn't quell the fandom -- or participation.
"Roller hockey is much bigger in Hawaii than ice hockey," Pang, who plays on a competitive roller hockey team that travels to tournaments as far as Florida, said. "The passion for hockey here is incredible. Hockey fans here, the community might be small, but we are just as passionate as fans on the mainland."
Earlier this year, the NHL launched NHL STREET, an NHL-licensed ball hockey experience that engages families with recreational programming that is fun, accessible, local, credible, and culturally relevant. NHL STREET is designed to put fun and excitement at the forefront of every player’s experience through music, fashion, food and other cultural elements. To date, there have been nearly 2,000 youth participants and 52 operators across 13 US states and seven Canadian provinces.
Doris Yuan, a 16-year-old Canucks fan from Vancouver, lives in a city where hockey is king, but sees no reason to not think about growing the game even more, especially with younger fans.
"The first thing I think of is affordability, making it easier for the younger generation to get to games more often," Yuan, who one day hopes to blend her loves of sports, photography and content creation into a professional career. "The second thing is representation. In Vancouver they do such an amazing job with representation. They embrace my culture with things like the special jerseys for Lunar New Year... I just think more representation of different cultures in general around the League would be a great thing."
All 32 National Hockey League Clubs hold cultural celebration and community theme nights throughout the season. These nights celebrate charitable causes, community initiatives, and the inclusion and contributions of underrepresented communities in hockey and beyond. During the 2023-2024 NHL season, there will be more than 340 of these nights held by NHL Clubs with special activations and community integrations.
Yuan said her father, who was never a hockey fan until she got into it with the 2011 Western Conference Champion Canucks team, now collects the Canucks special Lunar New Year jerseys.
"I was the trendsetter in my family," she joked.
Along with Pang and Yuan, the 24 other Power Players -- Miranda Backus, Emma Bracken, Chloe Brinson, Wilson Bryant, Dean Butler, Liam Caven, Annabel Curry, Isaac Edelman, Taj Gervan, Brandon Grill, Chloe Guagliano, Khaleela Hodge, Seth Hyde, Micah Jenkins, Eva Jurcevic, Olive Koerner, Kavan Mistry, Adryana Piccolo, Oliver Reid, Wyatt Ross, Aidan Sachs, Dilshaan Sandhu, Milan Shah and Ilan Shterenberg -- will look to bring their own unique, fresh ideas and make a lasting impact on the League for not only their own generation, but future ones as well.
