We recently connected with Abbey Dufoe and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Abbey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I moved to Baltimore in 2021 and started playing on local teams. Through that, I started meeting women who lived in Baltimore and the surrounding areas. I started noticing a gap – there are teams in other metro areas of the DMV and Baltimore, but not in the city! That’s how Charm City Crush was born. I wanted to create a competitive team where people from Charm City could show their pride for this amazing place.

Earlier this year, I grabbed a few of my friends who live in the city and they were happy to join a team if I started one – so the Charm City Crush was born! We are a C level women’s ice hockey team established in 2024 in Baltimore City that plays in the MAWHL league.

I’ve been playing hockey for 18 years, and I love the sense of community it brings. I’m happy to bring a women’s C team back to Baltimore!

Abbey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a queer, female hockey player who finds her community through sports. Whether it’s through getting on the ice, joining a local bowling league with the team, or just sitting in the parking lot after games, I find that the best memories are made with my favorite people in these moments.

I am most proud of the women who joined the team with me. We are extremely proud of our name (Charm City Crush), which incorporates the love we have for Baltimore (Charm City) and the name of a famous drink from around here (Crush).

Our colors are purple, orange, black, white, and gray, which pull from iconic sports teams in the city as well as make us stand out in our league. Our main logo is “CRUSH” in the middle of a squeezed orange, while our shoulder patches on our jersey boast a city of Baltimore crest, where we’re proud to represent!

We incorporated as a team in the spring, with our induction into our league. Shortly after in August, we went undefeated in our first tournament in Pennsylvania. Now, we are three games into our season and we are undefeated.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

To build Crush’s audience, I started knowing that most of our followers at first would be our peers and partners. However, I had a very clear vision.

Since we have plans to play specific days and times, I coordinated with some of my players who created schedule graphics for me. I also coordinated with local photographers to do a “Media Day” at our first game so we could have photos to use throughout the season.

Before every game, I post game reminders. After every game, I post the win (we haven’t lost yet!!) graphics.

One fun thing we have been working on is reels/TikToks. We take inspiration from other hockey teams and trending sounds on these platforms and make videos before and after games. It is a fun way to get the whole team involved.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

It’s been a pretty smooth road so far: hockey players are a dedicated bunch. The hardest part about starting an organized sport is getting all our ducks in a row with uniforms, ice time, and scheduling.

Since we are so dedicated, morale is high!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.charmcitycrushhockey.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cccrushhockey/