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Expansion
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Author:  Chris18 [ Tue May 15, 2018 9:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Expansion

NWHL adds a 5th team, the Minnesota Whitecaps.
https://www.nwhl.zone/news_article/show/918367?referrer_id=2739439

Author:  Pokecheque [ Wed May 16, 2018 12:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

Great. Now merge the damned leagues.

BTW, it's probably sexist of me to say this but the NWHL commissioner is super-hot.

Author:  Chris18 [ Thu Aug 16, 2018 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

The Whitecaps are affiliated with the MN Wild. So 3/5 teams are now affiliated with NHL teams.

Metropolitan Riveters - NJ Devils
MN Whitecaps- MN Wild
Buffalo Beauts- owned by Sabres ownership group.

Left unaffiliated as of now:
CT Whale
Boston Pride. The Bruins are the obvious potential NHL affiliate here, but they are in a tough spot, as the CWHL Boston Blades are also in town, so they may not want to choose one league over the other and have that be the league and/or team that folds. I doubt a team with an NHL affiliate would fold, so the concern is probably more about the league.

The lone team with a real issue is the CT Whale. The Isles & Rangers are both relatively close, although not that close. Also their colors are kind of tough to change at this point. They went with Hartford Whalers colors, which is a great scheme. Obviously an NHL affiliation likely means a color change. The Riveters have gone with red jerseys since the Devils affiliation, where they used to use navy blue. Although I just realized I don't think the Beauts are changing to match the Sabres, so maybe this is overthought.

I still think the NWHL & CWHL merging are the way to go and hope to see it happen down the road. The CWHL teams mostly have fairly obvious affiliation potentials: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal. They also have a team in Markham (?) and a new team in China! Okay, so those are much tougher to pair with. :lol:

Author:  Chris18 [ Sat Sep 01, 2018 8:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

The CWHL Blades have moved to Worcester, outside of Boston. No color changes though. Still very Bruins-ish.

Author:  scratchham [ Sat Sep 01, 2018 10:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

Chris18 wrote:
The lone team with a real issue is the CT Whale. The Isles & Rangers are both relatively close, although not that close. Also their colors are kind of tough to change at this point. They went with Hartford Whalers colors, which is a great scheme. Obviously an NHL affiliation likely means a color change. The Riveters have gone with red jerseys since the Devils affiliation, where they used to use navy blue. Although I just realized I don't think the Beauts are changing to match the Sabres, so maybe this is overthought.

I still think the NWHL & CWHL merging are the way to go and hope to see it happen down the road. The CWHL teams mostly have fairly obvious affiliation potentials: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal. They also have a team in Markham (?) and a new team in China! Okay, so those are much tougher to pair with. :lol:

They are all loose affiliations, more an agreement to help find training facilities and logistics support. Those 3 CWHL clubs you mention have those arrangements with the NHL clubs, the Toronto Furies practice out of the same facility the Leafs and Marlies do. KD, after some encouragement from a particularly handsome Leafs staffer, now meets regularly with the Furies management (did so last year, just did this year). There are limits to these arrangements between the NHL clubs and local pro women's leagues due to the fact the teams in each league are franchised out, but hopefully at some point we get to the point the Furies can grow their business ops and possibly get some other help in terms of shared staffing, etc.

Author:  Chris18 [ Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

scratchham wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
The lone team with a real issue is the CT Whale. The Isles & Rangers are both relatively close, although not that close. Also their colors are kind of tough to change at this point. They went with Hartford Whalers colors, which is a great scheme. Obviously an NHL affiliation likely means a color change. The Riveters have gone with red jerseys since the Devils affiliation, where they used to use navy blue. Although I just realized I don't think the Beauts are changing to match the Sabres, so maybe this is overthought.

I still think the NWHL & CWHL merging are the way to go and hope to see it happen down the road. The CWHL teams mostly have fairly obvious affiliation potentials: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal. They also have a team in Markham (?) and a new team in China! Okay, so those are much tougher to pair with. :lol:

They are all loose affiliations, more an agreement to help find training facilities and logistics support. Those 3 CWHL clubs you mention have those arrangements with the NHL clubs, the Toronto Furies practice out of the same facility the Leafs and Marlies do. KD, after some encouragement from a particularly handsome Leafs staffer, now meets regularly with the Furies management (did so last year, just did this year). There are limits to these arrangements between the NHL clubs and local pro women's leagues due to the fact the teams in each league are franchised out, but hopefully at some point we get to the point the Furies can grow their business ops and possibly get some other help in terms of shared staffing, etc.


Good info. Thanks!

Author:  Chris18 [ Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

The MN Whitecaps won the championship 49 seconds into OT. First year in the league.

Author:  Pokecheque [ Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

Not to shit on the NWHL in any way, but I read an article recently that geography plays a much more important role in determining what player plays where because they can't pay the players a livable wage. So I imagine that may have helped the first-year Whitecaps recruit some of the best hockey players in the country.

Author:  Chris18 [ Mon Mar 18, 2019 6:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Expansion

Pokecheque wrote:
Not to shit on the NWHL in any way, but I read an article recently that geography plays a much more important role in determining what player plays where because they can't pay the players a livable wage. So I imagine that may have helped the first-year Whitecaps recruit some of the best hockey players in the country.


They were also an established team that played together for years, including being in the CWHL for a while. I don't really get it, as they apparently were a "pro" level team, not getting paid for a while, but played lots of exhibition games vs college teams. Or something like that. But they're they first team to win the Clarkson Cup (CWHL) and Isobel Cup (NWHL), so that's pretty cool.

I still think there should be a "unification bout" between the CWHL and NWHL champion teams, and move forward with a merger from there.

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