Dani Rylan Kearney (born August 5, 1987) is an American entrepreneur and former ice hockey player. She is the founder and former commissioner of the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

(NWHL), the first professional women's hockey league in the United States, and the first professional women's hockey league ever to pay its players in North America. Prior to launching the league in March 2015, Rylan attempted to bring a

CWHL The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and internationally i ...

expansion team to New York in 2014. She previously played with the

Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey The Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey team represents Northeastern University. The Huskies play in the Hockey East conference. History The women's varsity hockey program started in 1980 under Don MacLeod, who was named the coach the follo ...

program in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

play and was a captain in her final season.

Early life and playing career

Rylan began playing ice hockey with boys on the Tampa Bay Junior Lightning as an elementary school student. She attended boarding school at the St. Mark's School in New England and was captain of the girls' hockey team. Prior to joining Northeastern University, Rylan played one season with the Division II club program at the

Metropolitan State College of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado, United States. It is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver ...

, a men's team that competes in the

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegi ...

. She earned a broadcasting journalism degree at Metro State in 2010.

Career stats

Executive career

Rylan was inspired to create a women's league while watching the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

national teams play in the finals of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

and began researching the new business opportunity. She began calling people she knew in ice hockey circles and the plans for the league began within a year. She contacted players, conducted research on markets, held training camps, created four teams, and scheduled the venues. On October 12, 2020, Rylan stepped down as commissioner and was replaced by Tyler Tumminia as interim commissioner during a league reorganization. The league changed its governing model to an incorporated association overseen by a board of governors with one representative per team. Rylan remained with the league to oversee the Beauts, Whale, Riveters, and Whitecaps while it searched for independent ownership of the league-operated teams before resigning from that role in March 2021.

Personal life

Rylan grew up in

Indian Rocks Beach, Florida Indian Rocks Beach, or IRB, is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Indian Rocks Beach is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located on the barrier island Sand Key, it has over two mile ...

. Her father worked in marketing for the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the ...

. After college, she moved to New York City and opened a coffee shop named Rise and Grind in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

References

External links

NWHL bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rylan, Danis 1987 births Living people American sports businesspeople American sports executives and administrators American women's ice hockey players Edmonton Oilers scouts Ice hockey people from Florida Metropolitan State University of Denver alumni New York Riveters Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey players Northeastern University alumni Premier Hockey Federation

Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissi ...

Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida Women ice hockey executives American women sports executives and administrators