Women's professional hockey - will it ever work?

[Pizza]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Everyone agrees women's professional hockey is a vital and necessary sport... for other people to spend their time and money on.

That and someone else needs to spend their money to raise Capital for this new league for them... which nobody will spend money on

[johnnyrocket03]

My 2 cents...they need to differentiate the women's game from the men's. Its already different in play style. I love the women's game relying more on speed and stick work but they need to amend the rules in a non-gimmicky way in order to make it a completely separate sport with a compelling reason to watch other than the gender difference. I am happy to support and would have gladly been an Inferno season ticket holder if the games weren't all the way up at Winsport. I love the game but I am realistic on what it will take in order to achieve the mass popularity that they are going for and will need in order to reach their objective.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by soulchoice

Keep in mind even when they play the AAA boys teams, the boys are at a disadvantage being they aren't allowed to hit. It's an entirely different game when it's non contact. Especially since these boys have been playing contact hockey since they were 12/13. If it was contact hockey, no chance the women's teams would even come close to winning.

As far as those who state the womens game would be better if there was contact allowed. These pro women for the most part have never played contact hockey, so it's not like the top players currently would be able to just adjust that quickly. Learning to play contact, hitting and absorbing a hit starts at a young age. Itd be the next generation of girls who would benefit from instituting contact as they can learn that fundamental from a young age. Good luck figuring it out at 25.

It's really not that hard. I played goalie most of my life, and my last year I played forward because I was tired of sitting out half the games every year.

These girls already do physical board work and whatnot. It's just that now it wouldn't be a penalty.

We're not talking about splitting atoms here, it's body checking.

[Flamenspiel]

It’s a good someone made above, if you cannot get women interested as fans, then they have no hope. I would expect that as women continue to play as girls and these numbers grow they will eventually become fans.

Women’s soccer is a good example, there is not a lot at men’s games(maybe 10 percent), but the numbers really pick up when I have been to women’s games(60 percent or more).

[GioforPM]

You could get success if they played in some satellite cities like Airdrie that (a) don't have a AAA team or better; and (b) are close enough to draw from a bigger city for those who have an interest. The women's team becomes the local team, a weekend draw, something to get seasons tix for. So Maybe Airdrie, Leduc, Abbotsford, etc.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

You could get success if they played in some satellite cities like Airdrie that (a) don't have a AAA team or better; and (b) are close enough to draw from a bigger city for those who have an interest. The women's team becomes the local team, a weekend draw, something to get seasons tix for. So Maybe Airdrie, Leduc, Abbotsford, etc.

Really depends on the price. When you live in those areas you become accustomed to driving to do anything, so a team in Airdrie would be competing with (in addition to their Midget AAA and Junior B team) all of the entertainment Calgary has to offer.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Deegee

Really depends on the price. When you live in those areas you become accustomed to driving to do anything, so a team in Airdrie would be competing with (in addition to their Midget AAA and Junior B team) all of the entertainment Calgary has to offer.

I didn't think Airdrie had a midget AAA team, but they do, so my bad. But they do support local stuff - they have a symphony orchestra that doesn't lose money to Calgary, there is an active theatre.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Everyone agrees women's professional hockey is a vital and necessary sport... for other people to spend their time and money on.

This. I wonder how many of the people clamouring for the NHL to take this over have even been to a women's game? At any level? But if the NHL shield is there, that will somehow change?

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by chedder

My 15 year old daughter asked me during the all star women's game, "why is there no hitting and why are they wearing full cages?" She thought both were silly.

Women's hockey definitely should have hitting. Women can take contact, and it's incredibly outdated that they don't allow it.

But the full cages actually is smart, and it's more so silly that the men's game doesn't have it. Football has full cages, and in hockey, the face is at more risk than it is in football. It's surprising how acceptable it is for players to get sticks up to the face, teeth (and lose them), and possibly skates, with no protection at all.

I wonder if there will ever be a time that the men's game does make full cages mandatory like helmets and goalie masks have.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Joborule

Women's hockey definitely should have hitting. Women can take contact, and it's incredibly outdated that they don't allow it.

But the full cages actually is smart, and it's more so silly that the men's game doesn't have it. Football has full cages, and in hockey, the face is at more risk than it is in football. It's surprising how acceptable it is for players to get sticks up to the face, teeth (and lose them), and possibly skates, with no protection at all.

I wonder if there will ever be a time that the men's game does make full cages mandatory like helmets and goalie masks have.

Right now NHLers aren't even legally allowed to wear full face masks which is beyond stupid.

[bdubbs]

Originally Posted by Joborule

Women's hockey definitely should have hitting. Women can take contact, and it's incredibly outdated that they don't allow it.

But the full cages actually is smart, and it's more so silly that the men's game doesn't have it. Football has full cages, and in hockey, the face is at more risk than it is in football. It's surprising how acceptable it is for players to get sticks up to the face, teeth (and lose them), and possibly skates, with no protection at all.

I wonder if there will ever be a time that the men's game does make full cages mandatory like helmets and goalie masks have.

I think the bolded part has more to do with the NHL needing to display the players faces for marketing purposes. I watched the Elite women's game at the All-Star festivities and I couldn't tell you which player was which even though the name recognition was there for some of the players I'd recognized from the Olympics.

I think having no face masks for women would help market them better and remove the need to have floating graphics pointing out who is who on the ice.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by soulchoice

Keep in mind even when they play the AAA boys teams, the boys are at a disadvantage being they aren't allowed to hit. It's an entirely different game when it's non contact. Especially since these boys have been playing contact hockey since they were 12/13. If it was contact hockey, no chance the women's teams would even come close to winning.

As far as those who state the womens game would be better if there was contact allowed. These pro women for the most part have never played contact hockey, so it's not like the top players currently would be able to just adjust that quickly. Learning to play contact, hitting and absorbing a hit starts at a young age. Itd be the next generation of girls who would benefit from instituting contact as they can learn that fundamental from a young age. Good luck figuring it out at 25.

Also keep in mind that the Midget teams are playing the National team, the best female players in the country, essentially what a women's pro league All Star team would be. Not a watered down version of what a women's pro team will be. A Midget AAA team would wipe the floor with a profesional women's league team.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Deegee

Really depends on the price. When you live in those areas you become accustomed to driving to do anything, so a team in Airdrie would be competing with (in addition to their Midget AAA and Junior B team) all of the entertainment Calgary has to offer.

More importantly, Airdrie lacks a suitable facility. IMO, the city would be a good landing spot for the Calgary Canucks to get out from under the weight of everything else in the big city. But someone would have to build a decent 1500 seat arena first.

Also, as far as playing in a satellite town goes, the WWHL tried that with Strathmore. It didn't work either, as that team, along with the Edmonton Chimos, merged to become the Inferno.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

More importantly, Airdrie lacks a suitable facility. IMO, the city would be a good landing spot for the Calgary Canucks to get out from under the weight of everything else in the big city. But someone would have to build a decent 1500 seat arena first.

Also, as far as playing in a satellite town goes, the WWHL tried that with Strathmore. It didn't work either, as that team, along with the Edmonton Chimos, merged to become the Inferno.

It has to be the right mix, and I wouldn’t have predicted Strathmore would. It’s too far out and a little too rural based, as opposed to Airdrie which is full of Calgary employed people. Some with Okotoks but they’ve got lots of entertainment options too.

I’m a little surprised a place like Airdrie never built a decent sized arena.

[Resolute 14]

Probably for the same reason it never happened in Okotoks for the longest time - nobody made an effort to bring a team that needed one to the market. The rink in Okotoks was only built after the AJHL team was approved to relocate there.