Tim Hortons and Barbie join forces with the PWHL

Photo courtesy of Courtney/Wikimedia Commons

The PWHL partnered with Tim Hortons and Mattel to launch Barbie dolls of Sarah Nurse and Marie-Philip Poulin. Each sale helps fund opportunities for young girls in hockey through the Grindstone Award Foundation.

Since its inception in 2023, the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) has been paving the way for women’s sports and young girls around the world. The PWHL has partnered with Tim Hortons and Mattel to create two Barbie dolls inspired by two of the league’s most influential players: Vancouver forward Sarah Nurse and Montréal Victoire center Marie-Philip Poulin. The dolls come with skates, hockey sticks, and uniforms with the PWHL logo. 

This move by the PWHL opens up a whole new world for young individuals to get into the game. They have tapped into one of pop culture’s most recognizable symbols of female empowerment and creativity. By also teaming up with Tim Horton’s for this collaboration, the impact will go far beyond just capitalization.

For each doll sold at Tim Hortons locations and the PWHL website, five dollars will be donated towards the Grindstone Award Foundation, a Canadian-based charity that raises money to provide grants to girls under 19 years of age to play hockey. 

As with any sport, the cost of equipment, travel, and quality programs can be a make-or-break factor that prevents children from participating. For girls interested in playing youth hockey, it is a whole different realm. There are limited opportunities for girls to play, with limited ice time and access to teams, which makes breaking down those barriers even more challenging. This collaboration provides young girls with players to look up to and imagine themselves as one of them.

The Grindstone Award Foundation is unique in that they are designed specifically for female youth in hockey. Since its founding in 2015, the organization has awarded over 200 grants to young female hockey players across Canada. 

Danielle Bell, President of the Grindstone Award Foundation, said, “As a national charity, we’re proud to partner with organizations that not only support gender equality in sport, but understand that when girls are given the chance to play hockey, they gain confidence, build resilience, and grow into future leaders. This collaboration will help more girls access the game and discover all that Grindstone has to offer.”

This collaboration will have long-term effects not just for the PWHL, but for young girls everywhere. Barbie dolls were first introduced in 1959, and since then, they have evolved with the landscape of the world and feminism itself. From astronauts to PWHL hockey players, the Barbie doll has stood the test of time as a symbol of female empowerment.

Tara George, the General Manager at Mattel Canada, spoke on the collaboration, saying, “Our goal is to inspire the next generation of hockey players by bringing these Barbie dolls to life in partnership with Tim Hortons and the PWHL…These Barbie dolls reflect our commitment to championing the belief that a girl can be anything she wants to be—including a hockey player—in and outside of the playroom.”

The money raised from the doll sales will help the Grindstone Award Foundation fund hundreds more grants each year, becoming a pipeline for young girls to receive the advocacy and opportunities needed to make it all the way from youth hockey to college or professional hockey.

This type of exposure to young girls everywhere is what is needed to not only grow the game of women’s hockey, but also break down the barriers of limited access and representation. It is things like this that not only eliminate the boundaries, but push forward the larger movement of equity in sports and representation in the world.