BOSTON — Kristina Brown, a forward for the Boston Blades in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, also works full time as a project engineer on a 32-story condo and apartment complex being built near Fenway Park.

“It’s fun to see a building start from dirt, and then all of a sudden you have 32 stories of concrete poured,” Brown said.

Brown’s description aptly describes the league, or C.W.H.L., now in its 10th season.

Its younger rival in the United States, the two-year-old National Women’s Hockey League, recently announced substantial salary cuts that led to tension between players and the league office. But since it was founded in 2007, the five-team C.W.H.L., which does not yet pay its players, has believed that through patience and sacrifice it could become a centrally funded league that eventually offers sustainable careers in hockey for women.