Nonetheless with no nickname, the town’s Skilled Girls’s Hockey League staff has bought out its debut sport.
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What’s in a reputation?
Ottawa’s latest skilled sports activities franchise has already completed a exceptional feat.
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Nonetheless with no nickname, the town’s entry within the six-team Skilled Girls’s Hockey League has bought out the 8,200-seat TD Place Enviornment for its debut sport on Jan. 2 towards Montreal.
“Now we have been blown away by that,” mentioned Jayna Hefford, the Hockey Corridor of Famer who serves because the PWHL’s senior vice-president of hockey operations. “We’re very pleasantly shocked there was this a lot noise and assist so shortly.”
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Certainly, nearly all the things concerning the upstart league has been on fast-forward since formally being launched in late August.
Solely a month earlier, Ottawa Sports activities and Leisure Group obtained an electronic mail, asking about its curiosity in internet hosting a possible franchise within the start-up. Adrian Sciarra, president of the Ottawa Redblacks and Ottawa 67’s, jumped on it instantly, eager to get in on the bottom flooring so as to add one other tenant at TD Place.
OSEG additionally works carefully with Atletico Ottawa and the Ottawa BlackJacks, which, like the brand new PWHL franchise, have their very own administration workers whereas working out of the services.
Few individuals, nonetheless, anticipated the brand new league to hit the ice so quick.
For the previous decade, the ladies’s skilled sport has been mired in dissension and controversy, with restricted possession and fan assist. Rival groups and leagues in Canada and america have come and gone, with out the required monetary backing to soak up losses.
Most importantly, the world’s high gamers had skated away from all of it for 2 years — they’ve barnstormed all through North America in separate All-Star contests — placing in protest towards low wages and unprofessional working situations.
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Whereas the Nationwide Hockey League had supplied consulting assist in the course of the mess, there was no money on the desk.
Into that void stepped Mark Walter, majority proprietor of Main League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and part-owner of the Chelsea Soccer Membership, to bankroll the brand new league. Groups, all nonetheless with out nicknames, are additionally based mostly in Toronto, New York, Boston and Saint Paul, Minn.
Walter secured former tennis star and cultural trailblazer Billie Jean King as an investor and well-respected professional sports activities government Stan Kasten sits atop the advisory board.
The sport’s greatest gamers, assured salaries of $35,000-$80,000, are again on board.
Final month, famend Hockey Evening in Canada broadcaster Cassie Campbell-Pascal, a three-time Olympian and two-time gold medallist, joined the PWHL as a particular advisor.
The league says it’s being modest in expectations for 12 months one and is dedicated financially long-term.
“The most important pleasure is that there’s actual cash behind (ladies’s professional hockey) for the primary time,” mentioned Mike Hirshfeld, basic supervisor of the Ottawa franchise.
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“There are actual subtle individuals concerned. The league owns all six groups, however each staff has its personal management group and a price range to construct out the group.”
Hirshfeld has an intriguing background out and in of sports activities, together with time as an government within the early days of the Ottawa Lynx, the town’s former Triple-A baseball squad. He frolicked with the Toronto Blue Jays, was a Bay Avenue lawyer for 14 years, and moved on to begin up the NHL Coaches Affiliation in 2016, enhancing salaries and advantages inside the business.
Hirshfeld firmly believes the PWHL can be a springboard for future feminine leagues.
“I’m enthusiastic about constructing one thing right here,” he mentioned. “I wish to assist this league achieve success. This league can have an enormous legacy for ladies’s sports activities globally.”
The Ottawa franchise can have gamers from Canada, the U.S., Japan, Germany, Czechia and Hungary. Canadian nationwide staff goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer — an ideal hockey title to make certain — carries the promise of being an early star.
Across the league, a dozen nations are represented.
Within the race to get began, Hefford says the founding group has been working “with two toes on the bottom, 24/7” for the previous 4 months. The league’s first sport was a New 12 months’s Day conflict between Toronto and New York.
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“One of the best gamers have been sidelined for 2 years and we needed to get them dedicated to taking part in,” she mentioned. “We needed to put the entire league collectively, getting (staff) workers in place, having a participant draft, getting gamers’ visas and coaching camps arrange.” Hefford provides that podcast and media protection can be “extra in depth than something we’ve seen earlier than.”
As for having official names that followers in every metropolis can cheer for — the PWHL has filed an utility to trademark the “Ottawa Alert” with america Patent and Trademark Workplace — Hefford says there’s no rush.
“Now we have an opportunity to construct the markets first,” she mentioned. “It’s one factor we don’t wish to get flawed.”
Ottawa has made a big mark within the ladies’s hockey world, taking part in host to the primary world championships in 1990 and once more in 2013. Pre-Olympic exhibitions between Canada and america at TD Place have been bought out.
Nonetheless, Ottawa was initially seen as a shock to be a part of the PWHL’s authentic six franchises as a result of the town didn’t have a staff in any of the earlier nationwide and worldwide leagues.
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OSEG’s push to be a associate within the enterprise performed a big position in making it occur.
“The management group realized there’s an actual alternative for a market right here, with all the children hockey and the historical past of ladies’s hockey,” Hirshfeld mentioned. “It’s an ideal sports activities city and there’s momentum globally, however I don’t assume anybody anticipated this.”
He’s “cautiously optimistic” about how Ottawa’s staff will stack up, stating that each staff has stars. He additionally predicts it is going to be an eye-opening expertise for followers who’ve beforehand solely watched ladies’s Olympic hockey.
“I believe followers can be blown away by the velocity and aggressive stage,” he mentioned.
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