Part 1: The NWHL
Hello Blueshirt Breakaway fans! Wow, thanks for reading this!! If you don’t know me, my name is Hannah and you can find me on Twitter at @hannahbananas456 and on Instagram at hg_cello. And those of you in the Discord channel know me as CelloThere. Thanks to Drew, Ryan and Greg for giving me this platform to spread the good word about women’s hockey.
So you may be asking, “Hannah, how can you cover all of women’s hockey in one article? It is a immense topic with facets in college hockey, multiple professional leagues, not to mention the Olympic teams! How can that possibly be covered in one article?” And you are correct, it can’t possibly be covered in just one piece so we are going to be doing a series!!! That’s right, over the next few weeks, myself, Am Carroll (Rex) and Shannon will be bringing you articles about the various aspects of women’s hockey, so keep your eye out!! Today I will be giving you guys a overview of the NWHL, its history and set up, some of the awesome things it has done and how you can start to get involved!!
So let’s dive in. The NWHL was founded in 2015 by Dani Rylan. Rylan grew up surrounded by hockey, with her father working in the marketing department for the Tampa Bay Lighting. She played in elementary school with the Tampa Bay Junior Lighting, attended St. Mark’s Boarding School where she was captain of the girls team and then continuing on to play for the Northeastern University’s Huskies squad. Rylan graduated from college in 2011 which, for many other just like her, was the end of her professional hockey career. Asides from making the Olympic squad, there was never an avenue for women to pursue a professional hockey career after college. This lack of opportunity was what lead Rylan to create the NWHL and the rest is history (CRAZY FACT: Dani Rylan was only 28 when she founded the NWHL…like WHAT).
Dani Rylan is the current commissioner of the NWHL, also serving as the general manager for the NY Riveters in their first season. The deputy commissioner and director of player development is Hayley Moore, and the director of the NWHLPA is Connecticut Whale defender Anya Battaglino.
When founded, it was the first women’s hockey league to pay their players, starting the first season with a $270,000 salary cap and players being paid a minimum of $10,000. This fact is what set the NWHL apart from other women’s hockey leagues and is part of the reason why so many top level players joined the league. The salary minimum for the 2017-2018 season was $5,000, with figures for the 2018-2019 season not yet announced. Players are also given a cut of merchandise sales, receiving 15% from any jersey that is sold with their name on it (so buy your jerseys!).
The league started with 4 teams; the Buffalo Beauts, the Boston Pride, the Connecticut Whale (FINS UP Y’ALL) and the Metropolitan Riveters. It was announced in May of 2018 that the Minnesota Whitecaps would be joining the league for the 2018-2019 season. Operations are fairly similar to the NHL though on a much smaller scale. Games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with the season starting in late October and concluding in their final game, the Isobel Cup Final, in mid March. Prior to the 2018 season, all teams participated in the Isobel Cup Playoffs, but changes had to be made for this year’s season due to the addition of the Minnesota Whitecaps.
The playoff format is now the teams in fourth and fifth places at the end of the regular season will play a single game to determine who will continue on to the playoffs to face the team with the best regular season record in the semifinal round. The other semifinal game with be the teams that came in second and third, all games will be single elimination. The Isobel Cup is named after Isobel Gathorene-Hardey, the daughter of Frederick Stanley (namesake of the Stanley Cup). It was won by the Boston Pride in the inaugural season, by the Buffalo Beauts in the second season and most recently by the Metropolitan Riveters. The Buffalo Beauts and the Minnesota Whitecaps are heavy favorites to win it this year (more on that in other articles).
The NWHL has been a ground breaking organization since the start, but one thing that I find incredibly important is what they have done for the LGBT community. Not only are they partners with the You Can Play organization, but the NWHL are the first professional sports league to establish a policy for transgender athletes and the first to have a transgender player in their league. Links are below for the full policy and for a great article on Harrison Brown, the first transgender hockey player! The NWHL has made it clear that there is a place for everyone in this sport and this is one of the reasons why I am extremely proud to be a fan.
https://www.nwhl.zone/page/show/3786830-nwhl-transgender-policy
Games are played on weekends usually in the afternoons and are streamed on YouTube for free. All the team accounts, as well as the NWHL main account, tweet out the links to the streams the day of the games so it is incredibly easy to find! Twitter also features one of the games as their “game of the week” so you can watch directly on Twitter. Not to mention, going to games is incredibly easy and by far one of the best live hockey experiences I have had. Tickets are inexpensive, usually running about $20 and concessions are so much cheaper than any other professional game I have been too.
There are already tons of great people out there who cover the NWHL and womens hockey. I highly recommend giving them a follow on twitter and tuning into their podcasts.
https://www.nwhl.zone/fifthstarpodcast
https://www.nwhl.zone/page/show/2748687-news
