Sponsorship funds keep women's team on the ice

TORONTO, March 30 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire today announced its commitment to the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team by backing the program slated to be eliminated by the end of this month with a donation of $60,000. Earlier this month, it was reported that the women's hockey team and its 14-year head coach, Lisa Jordan, would be terminated due to lack of funding.

As Canada's 'home of hockey', Canadian Tire is deeply committed to the passion of the sport, including safe play, skills development and promoting team work. For almost 90 years, millions of Canadian families have purchased their first skates and sticks at Canadian Tire, and it is this strong hockey heritage that has propelled the company to step forward and help save the Saint Mary's team.

"At Canadian Tire, hockey is in our DNA. The loss of a team like this would be detrimental to the community, the players, the coach, the fans and the young women who may never get a chance to play at the university level," said John Jobin, Vice President, Merchandising, Canadian Tire Retail. "We are proud to have the opportunity to support the Saint Mary's team and keep these talented women on the ice."

Canadian Tire's donation will enable the Saint Mary's team to continue to play within the league. The team is also very active within the community, assisting local youth hockey teams with coaching and skills training. Each year, the players on the SMU women's team interact with more than 1,000 youth hockey players within the community.

"We can't express how pleased and relieved we were to hear from Canadian Tire," said Steve Sarty, athletic director at Saint Mary's University. "Cutting a team is never an easy decision, and the outpouring of public support demonstrates that it's also not a welcome decision. We are thrilled to announce that thanks to Canadian Tire our women's hockey team will continue to skate and represent Saint Mary's University within the community."

Canadian Tire is committed to hockey and education. The company is continuing to build on its hockey roots and develop a lifelong enjoyment of the game through the Canadian Tire Hockey School. The program provides parents with information on the game and focuses on creating a fun and safe team environment for young hockey players to grow their skills on and off the ice and to learn to respect the game and their peers.

About Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC), is one of Canada's most shopped general retailers with 482 Canadian Tire stores across the country. Our core retail and automotive operation is strengthened by PartSource, an automotive parts specialty chain; Canadian Tire Petroleum, one of the country's largest independent retailers of gasoline; Mark's "Clothes That Work," a leading retailer of men's, women's and work apparel; and Canadian Tire Financial Services, which has issued over four million Canadian Tire MasterCard credit cards. More than 58,000 Canadians work across Canadian Tire's organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail, financial services and petroleum businesses.