Senior management of the Professional Women’s Hockey League met with media representatives on Friday to take stock of the first season in the history of the circuit, which will conclude in a few days. Overview of the issues addressed, starting with some good news of the day: the teams will soon have names!
Published at 7:15 p.m.
Team Names: A Question of “Days”
The unveiling of club jerseys with only market names last November left many fans hungry. Since creating a league from scratch in a few months was already a feat, the circuit management had chosen to leave this project on hold for the inaugural season. The terms Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, New York, Minnesota or Boston finally came into use.
This era, however, is ending. Friday, a few hours before the third game of the final series between Boston and Minnesota, Jayna Hefford, vice-president of hockey operations for the LPHF, confirmed that names and logos would be revealed soon. “During the summer. You can count the days! », added Stan Kasten, representative of the league’s board of directors. The latter was delighted with the fact that this time spent without a visual identity for the clubs allowed the LPHF to establish its notoriety.
A repechage on June 10
Moments before the press conference began, the league released a press release in which it revealed the date of the draft. It is therefore on June 10 that players and managers will meet in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for the second draft in the history of the circuit.
At this time, each franchise will choose seven players. New York will have the first right to speak in each round, and Montreal, the fifth.
PHOTO GRAHAM HUGHES, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Marie-Philip Poulin is in the running for the titles of MVP and Most Valuable Player for her team.
The league will take advantage of the opportunity to hold a banquet the following day to present individual trophies. As for the Montreal team, Marie-Philip Poulin is in the running for the titles of MVP and Most Valuable Player for her team, while Erin Ambrose could well be crowned best defender, and Kori Cheverie, coach of the year.
An “ecosystem” to build
The list of athletes eligible for the draft has not yet been published, but it is expected that around 150 names will be included. All those who are not chosen by clubs will have the chance to sign a contract as a free agent or even accept invitations to training camps.
All these people will be added to the 160 players who have already played in the league this season, more than half of whom will soon find themselves without a contract. This will therefore leave several dozen athletes in the lurch, without a team to play with in North America, where the LPHF is the only existing circuit.
Jayna Hefford indicated that one of her current priorities was to find “the right short-term solution” to “allow more women to play at a high level”.
However, expansion is not immediately planned, and it is unlikely that a development league will magically appear for players awaiting a call-up.
“We built a league in nine months, but we couldn’t build an entire hockey ecosystem right away,” explained Hefford. We will have to use creativity so that the players can play [quelque part] if they are not part of the training” after the selection camps.
The manager predicts, however, that with the amount of talent that the draft will bring, the product on the ice will be “considerably better” next year. Only when the “depth” of the clubs is “where we want it” will expansion be considered.
“We learn from each post”
There is a consensus on the popular success that the LPHF experienced in its first season. The packed houses at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and the Bell Center in Montreal captured the imagination. The sparse crowds in Boston and Minnesota in the playoffs, however, left a very different impression.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The April 20 game between Toronto and Montreal attracted a record crowd to the Bell Center.
Asked about this, Stan Kasten recalled the speed with which the markets and arenas were chosen – those of Boston and New York are very far from their central cities, in particular.
“We learn from every ticket we sell and from every ticket we don’t sell,” he philosophized. We will try to understand what we can do better. We have to think about everything: the arena, the dates, the prices, the access… I think we did a good job having only four months. Now, with more time, we will do even better. »
The league will also seek to regularize the situation of the New York team, which complained of long travel times between its training center and the three arenas where it played its local matches.
On another note, Jayna Hefford said she was “satisfied” with the refereeing, the quality of which has been roundly criticized this season. “There has never been a consensus on refereeing, in all sports or in all leagues,” she said with a smile.
“Ecstatic” investor
Moreover, the two leaders give an almost exclusively positive assessment of the last few months. Billionaire Mark Walter, the circuit’s sole investor, is “ecstatic” about the success of the league, reported Stan Kasten, who is also president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a major baseball franchise of which Walter owns. “We have his 100% support,” he insisted.
Jayna Hefford, for her part, was delighted with the “creativity” that was demonstrated throughout the process. “We wanted to respect tradition, but also do things differently,” she explained. The response was overwhelmingly positive. […] I have never participated in a project of this magnitude. »
