For Nora Corthren, the work goes far beyond organizing events or telling stories. It’s about helping people see themselves in hockey.

As the NHL’s Manager of Content, Audience Development, and Social Impact, Corthren works at the crossroads of storytelling and community engagement, helping shine a spotlight on initiatives that make our game of hockey more welcoming and inclusive. From Pride programming to the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award and Hockey Fights Cancer, her role focuses on highlighting the people and organizations making a difference throughout the hockey world.

Over the past four years, Corthren has witnessed meaningful growth across the sport.

“It really has been wonderful to just see the hockey world continue to grow and develop and become more welcoming and more diverse and more inclusive,” she said.

Much of that progress comes from grassroots organizations working to create safe and welcoming spaces for players and fans from all backgrounds. Corthren’s job often involves identifying those stories and using the NHL’s platform to amplify them.

“I think it’s something that a lot of people who do the grassroots work of trying to make the game a more inclusive and welcoming space, they don’t do it for the attention,” she said. “They very much do it for the impact.”

That ability to elevate organizations and individuals making a difference has become one of the most rewarding parts of her work.

Among the initiatives closest to Corthren’s heart is the NHL’s continued involvement in Pride celebrations, including the annual New York City Pride March. For years, the league has marched alongside local hockey organizations and teams from across the New York metropolitan area, including the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Sirens, and New York Rangers.

For Corthren, the importance of that presence cannot be overstated. Seeing the NHL shield, the NHL teams’ logos, and even, yes, NJ Devil, are important parts of representation to a marginalized community.

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) — When the world’s top soccer players take the field in Philadelphia, the goals they aim for will have already been crafted in Pennsylvania.

Kwik Goal, a family-run company based in Quakertown, is the official goal maker for U.S. Soccer and supplies equipment for the FIFA World Cup.

Inside the company’s test area, workers check the strength of nets and frames.

President and CEO Anthony Caruso says the goal shown in the testing zone is the same model that will be used during the tournament.

Kwik Goal has been building soccer equipment for decades, but its story began far from Pennsylvania.

Caruso said the company started 30 years ago on Long Island, New York, when his uncle needed a portable goalpost for coaching.

“My uncle had the need for a portable goalpost. He was coaching my youngest cousin,” Caruso said.

His father stepped in to help.

“My father took out a tape measure. He went to a tube house, bought some pieces of aluminum, made this gold frame, and scrounged up a net somewhere,” he said. “And I was in welding school, and I could weld aluminum. So this prototype was built, and my uncle took it out to the field.”

The company later moved to Pennsylvania.

“Here we are today. We moved here in November of ’88 after being on Long Island from our inception. And we’ve been here ever since,” said Caruso.

Today, Kwik Goal operates out of four buildings and produces about 7,000 goals each year.

Its reputation for quality led to a partnership with the U.S. men’s national team three decades ago, followed by the U.S. women’s national team.

“We supply all their training sites, and actually, the new facility that they just built in Georgia, we did all the equipment for that,” Caruso said.

The World Cup, however, is the company’s biggest stage. In addition to manufacturing the FIFA game-day goals, Kwik Goal also produces the portable and pre-game models used throughout the tournament.

“This is a portable goal that mimics the game goals here, that are on the practice fields and what they’ll be using at the 60 training sites,” Caruso said. “And then this goal here that we have in the back is actually what we call a pre-game goal. So when they warm the teams up before the tournament, the day of the game on the field, before that, before the game, they actually bring this goal out.”

For employees, seeing their work on the global stage is a career highlight.

“Well, it is the pinnacle of my career,” one worker said.

“There’s a great amount of pride here at Quick Goal, and everybody who’s been here. We have a lot of long-term employees, and they’re just thrilled to be a part of this project,” said Caruso.