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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:51 pm 
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Habs & Bruins auction off Winter Classic jerseys & give the resulting $63k to Laing. Well done.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:07 pm 
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Got tickets to Friday's playoff game between the CT Whale & Buffalo Beauts. I believe this is the first playoff game in league history. They are having 3 game series for the first round matchups, with the higher seeds (CT and Boston) hosting all 3 games. The 2nd round are the finals, to be played on neutral ice at the Devils practice facility at the Prudential Center in Newark. Unfortunately I won't be able to make any of those games due to Miss 18.1's end of year tournament.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:43 am 
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We went to the Whale-Beauts playoff game last night. The Whale won 3-0 despite being outshot something like 34-26. It's a very high level of play. The very minor league atmosphere is impossible to shake though. The game was played at Chelsea Piers South, which is a huge multi-sport facility, with 2 rinks, and is a nice place. But, there is seating for about 500 max. The arena staff saw that the majority of the 400 seats in the aluminum bleachers were full, opened a garage door, and after a 78 point turn, wheeled in another set of bleachers to set up by the end boards. The bleachers along the side of the rink are about 3' off the glass, which is nice when the play is close to you, but when it's at the other end, you mostly see slightly warped glass as you look down. And for my 41 year old ass, aluminum bleachers for 3 hours isn't exactly comfy. It also makes it feel like you're at a high school game or something. Good hockey, but, well, bleachers. There was probably about 450 people there. That's an estimate and I could be way off. They had a neat press area up high, which allows them to see the play develop better. We sat down below that, and it was kind of cool that we did, because some dude was yelling play-by-play into his phone for some web broadcast. So we got to know player names, etc. They have the jerseys down low so ponytails don't cover them, but the jerseys often get folded or tucked into pants accidentally. There was a bar/restaurant that we ate in prior to the game that overlooks the ice. We should have stayed up there to watch as the seats were better and we had a better view of the whole ice surface. Oh well. That lead to the more minor league feel though- there was a mite practice before the pro playoff game, and a beer league game after it. There was far more video coverage than I had expected. I should check if they have the game on the NWHL site. The camera guys came through our section like 10 times. He had to, as it was the only way to get around the rink.

Some player notes. The Buffalo Beauts goalie is really good & her retro-look pads were awesome. Just plain brown pads. #43 on the Beauts is fucking fast. Really fucking fast. Kelli Stack is really good & had the Whale's first goal. There were a few good collisions and a few incredibly hard shots taken. The majority of the fans were players' friends & family. The Beauts had some fans there, and I eventually noticed they were mostly made up of player parents, both wearing replicas of their daughter's Beaut jersey. Kind of cool, really minor league. But, the players get royalties off jersey sales, so I could certainly see why mom & dad would buy them.

Overall a fun night out. Our girls had a really good time and truly appreciated seeing women play at such a high level. My wife & I are both really sore from the bleachers. The league should get an Aleve sponsorship for its fans. :lol:

As much as I'm complaining about the seating, the potential is there for this league to become a lot bigger. The WNBA are sponsored by the NBA, and from what I hear (I didn't fact check this) most of its teams play in mostly empty NBA arenas. I see no reason why the NHL shouldn't step in and help the NWHL and/or the CWHL, and have them do something similar. It would be great for helping the game grow, bring in new fans who may not, as Gary Bettman says, appreciate the hitting & fighting aspect of the NHL. Even if they moved the home rinks to college or AHL arenas, it would be a huge improvement. Attendance isn't currently high enough to warrant that, but it's a Catch 22. Attendance isn't high because the arenas are uncomfortable and only seat like 500. Most people don't want to be shoe-horned into bleachers, and a few I've spoken to assume games are sold out. They also need better advertising. Every rink around here has Rangers banners hanging all over the place. Nothing for the NWHL teams, 2 of which are within an hour (Brooklyn & Stamford, CT). The league obviously needs more funding. I'd like to see the NHL step in & help both the NWHL & CWHL, merge into 1 league, contract or move 1 of the Boston teams, or have them play on opposite sides of the city if there really is enough of a fan base to support both. One of the NWHL's big problems is that the 4 teams are in such a small area: Buffalo, Brooklyn, Boston & Stamford, CT. If they had Chicago & Detroit teams, it would add fans from big hockey cities, increase awareness of the league, and hopefully help grow the interest. Wow. This is a lot more than I meant to write. :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:55 pm 
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Good stuff, Chris. It would be great to see some support from the NHL to grow the NWHL. The NHL barns might be too expensive to have the games there, but the AHL/ECHL barns might not be so bad. Nice to hear that the level of play is great so both young and experienced fans can enjoy. Expansion that far west might be tough for travel costs if the league doesn't have a lot of funding :(

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:55 pm 
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Despite winning Game 1, the Whale lost the series in 3 games. Beauts vs Pride in the Finals, with the 1st place Pride being the favorites over the 3rd place Beauts.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 9:43 am 
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As expected, the Boston Pride won the Isobel Cup. For those who don't know, Isobel was Lord Stanley's daughter. I see what you did there NWHL.

Now the gloves are off between the NWHL & CWHL, which has its finals this weekend. The war is over the NWHL expanding into Canada this year, which will be done because the CWHL has announced it plans to start paying players the year after. So the NWHL wants to "invade" now and get players to jump to their teams, getting a paycheck a year earlier, and hopefully, from the NWHL's position, make the NWHL the stronger league.

I still say the NHL should help the leagues combine into 1 healthy league that pays these women to play. I said after going to a game that the level of skill is very high. It's good hockey to watch and there's no reason both leagues, or 1 bigger league with more competition, wouldn't do well if given a legit chance.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 10:40 pm 
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The NWHL is now streaming all their games for free on their web site. www.nwhl.zone

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 10:41 pm 
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Cool...kinda depressing seeing such ridiculously empty stands though.

If I ever had the money for it I'd buy a Riveters jersey. No joke.


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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:24 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
Cool...kinda depressing seeing such ridiculously empty stands though.

If I ever had the money for it I'd buy a Riveters jersey. No joke.


They're really cool jerseys! Other than the third, which looks very Ranger-esque. :x

And yeah, the stands are sad. I wish the NWHL & CWHL would merge. The latter has a bigger fan base already, although that probably has to do with having most of their teams in Canada, vs the NWHL being all in the US as of now.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 10:05 pm 
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Heard the league has cut salaries in half due to funding issues. My girls watch the games and the arenas barely have anyone in them. The NHL really ought to step in and help, the NBA helps the WNBA.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 1:57 am 
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Chris18 wrote:
Heard the league has cut salaries in half due to funding issues. My girls watch the games and the arenas barely have anyone in them. The NHL really ought to step in and help, the NBA helps the WNBA.


They need to merge with the CWHL but Friedman wrote not too long ago that a lot of animosity exists between the two leagues, not sure why though.


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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:08 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Heard the league has cut salaries in half due to funding issues. My girls watch the games and the arenas barely have anyone in them. The NHL really ought to step in and help, the NBA helps the WNBA.


They need to merge with the CWHL but Friedman wrote not too long ago that a lot of animosity exists between the two leagues, not sure why though.


Because the CWHL existed before the NWHL, and called themselves a "pro" league, despite not paying the players. They didn't even sharpen their skates for them, supply tape, anything! So the NWHL came along and said they'd pay players, and a bunch of CWHL players (the likes of Hillary Knight) jumped ship to get paid for playing, and for now anyway, travel less. Instead of having to go from Boston to Calgary (taking time off work from their full-time jobs), someone like Knight gets paid to play and travels from Boston to Buffalo, NY, Newark, NJ & Hartford, CT. They don't make huge money, so they still have to keep at least part time jobs, but at least their 2nd career as "pro" players pays them something and supplies tape, sharpenings, etc.

So the CWHL was pissed about losing players, and that even some of their players who stayed with their league started asking to be paid since they could jump to the other league and get paid. I imagine there was some contract issues with players who jumped leagues, but am not 100% sure on that. I mean, if you're not getting paid, how could you really be under "contract"?

I'd love to see the 2 leagues merge & have one big, happy league, subsidized by the NHL. The only city that would have 2 teams is Boston. Could they support 2 teams? They're trying now; the only difference would be that the 2 teams would be in the same league. Both teams are black & gold, so that might be a small issue when they play (although the likes of the Bruins & Penguins don't seem to have a big problem). But besides that, the geography would be good for east/west conferences, which could set up more interesting playoff scenarios. Or they could make it one big open league. The trophy would probably turn into another pissing contest, with each league wanting their current trophy as the championship trophy. It's easy to say "make a new one" but they're both looking to maintain their brief histories.

My girls watch the NWHL games through their site (they stream all of them now, and have prior games archived). It's a good level of hockey. I hope both leagues can survive or settle their differences and merge.

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 Post subject: Re: NWHL
PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:47 am 
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Chris18 wrote:
I'd love to see the 2 leagues merge & have one big, happy league, subsidized by the NHL.


It would certainly be refreshing to see the NHL do something positive with women, as opposed to their usual awful standard.

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