To be honest, as much as I love hockey I don't know whether my kids will be hockey players in the sense that they will be enrolled in a USA Hockey program. For us the barrier is proximity to a rink, the length of season, and frequency of hockey each week, considering it's a household with two working parents and not a lot of family support nearby. My guess is we'll get them in at some point, we'll give it a try, but it's daunting right now.
But fear not, in the here and now my kids are undoubtedly hockey players, and yes I love to see it.
My son recently turned three. His developmental milestones in the last year include all sorts of things, one of which is an affection for hockey. He wants to be a Blue Jacket. He first said this during the playoffs, and has repeated it since. I am trying to pick a favorite for him to idolize. The pool is Nick Foligno (my favorite), Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, or Cam Atkinson. Of course, they can all be his favorites. I am drawn to scrappy underdog Cam Atkinson, but also dual citizen and heart and soul guy Nick Foligno. The two d on the list, well they are d, they never get the glory (if I had to pick one, I'm on team Seth). Not his fault, he didn't build the culture, but Werenski's broken face in the playoffs a couple years ago irritated me. Guys, just wear cages.
If this is about my son, perhaps I should let him pick.
In addition to the real live Blue Jackets, the kids have taken to a little plastic hockey game they got for Christmas, with the players affixed to pegs and poles that can be pulled back and forth to "skate" the players and twisted to make the players "shoot." The game might look like it's the Maple Leafs against the Canadiens, but don't be fooled, it's actually the Blue Jackets vs Les Canadiennes. In it's normal state the players are ripped off the pegs and cast about, same with the nets, and good luck finding the mini puck it came with. But when Gran comes to town, the players are rounded up, nets and pucks and miraculously found, and it's game on. When I arrive home from work my son inevitably has an update about the Blue Jackets. When he is sent to bed before his sister (the trials of being the baby) he is promised he can play in the morning. And when he wakes up, he remembers. Gran didn't make it downstairs yesterday before putting in her first game and the boys in Union Blue.
My favorite hockey with my budding hockey players is in the driveway. In my youth we played in the street. Wouldn't dream of that today, but we do park the cars one behind the other to clear up a stretch of safe pavement to play on, in the driveway. We drag out the red Bauer net, and put it back together - like the players ripped off their pegs, the net is always in some state of disarray. I find the ball hockey balls and sound my threat about not chasing them into the street, as I deliver them to the kids. I try to convince each child to use a size appropriate stick. Sometimes they listen.
And then I watch them play, and heed any calls to join them. Recently, I enjoyed watching my daughter corral a ball a great distance from the net. She stick handled back and forth, and got her head up before she shot. She didn't like what she saw. The three year old was camped in front of the net. "Move your stick! It's going to block my shot!" Sweet, obliging little brother heaved the heavy, wooden and oversized stick up in the air, and spun around, his stick landing in the grass, the net now wide open and begging to be scored on.
So much for the value of a right handed D. But I would always draft him anyway, my little Blue Jacket.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Why I'm #ForTheGame: culture change is needed
I wanted to get down why I am for the game. Not to convince you how you should feel, but to remind myself.
I'm for the game because the slow growth model is not advancing fast enough, and any leadership group that accepts the slow growth model is on the wrong path. Because a culture change is needed across the board. That culture change can be ignited by #forthegame. For the game can start conversations that lead to action that change not just women's hockey, but the world we live in (look up the #DreamMaternity hashtag, and Nike's response yesterday as an example).
In one sentence, culture change is needed in the way society values women's sport. Specific to hockey, here is what we need: more coverage from media, more financial investment from...anyone, but specifically corporations, government and governing bodies. More fans. In the current state, no one is really socialized to value women's sport as a professional sport and we need to change that too. If launching women's hockey to the next level, involves calling people out and pointing fingers, yes we need to talk about we can inspire more women to watch women's sports.
I don't know how anyone can look at the investment in women's pro hockey and men's pro hockey and conclude that the status quo is ok. There are a lot of factors at play that hinder investment (unproven market) but sexism is one of them. I don't know what group needs to be called out the loudest (I won't let the fans off the hook), but a group that has power to make change, whose reticence to invest has held women's professional sport back is corporations.
Compare the sponsors of the NWHL to the NHL:
NWHL: Sponsors include the NHL (100k, biggest sponsor). Additionally on the footer of their website they list NYU Langone Health, Dunkin Donuts, MeiGray Group, Veda, Wiss, Legend Rings, Chipwich, Sparx. A total of 9 companies, and you know the NWHL has hustled for 5 years to get that, in an environment that had a lot of things working against them. What they have done is impressive given the barriers they've faced. But it's time to remove some of the barriers.
NHL: Corporate Marketing Partners webpage
Marketing partners include: Adidas, Apple, O.R.G., SAP, Bridgestone, Chemours, Coors Light, Enterprise, Federal Mogul, Honda, Kraft Heinz, Las Vegas, MGM Resorts, Molson Canadian, PepsiCo, PPG, TicketMaster, Travel Nation Hockey, Upper Deck, Cigna, Dunkin, Discover, Geico, FanDuel, Jagermeister, Navy Federal Credit Union, New Amsterdam Vodka, Canadian Tire, Esso, Danone, Kellogs, Reese, Kruger, Mitsubishi Electric, Rogers, Scotiabank, Tim Hortons, VISA. 39 companies, including global brands.
I just don't know how you can look at that, and think it makes sense.
In the mid nineties, Nike released an ad about getting girls into sport with a tagline that became iconic: "If you let me play."
More than twenties years later, the if statement needs to evolve:
If media covers their sports.
If corporations invest in their sports.
If we watch them play.
#ForTheGame can change women's hockey, can launch it to the next level. Not just for little girls in a park saying "if you let me play," but for the women they grew up to be.
I'm for the game because the slow growth model is not advancing fast enough, and any leadership group that accepts the slow growth model is on the wrong path. Because a culture change is needed across the board. That culture change can be ignited by #forthegame. For the game can start conversations that lead to action that change not just women's hockey, but the world we live in (look up the #DreamMaternity hashtag, and Nike's response yesterday as an example).
In one sentence, culture change is needed in the way society values women's sport. Specific to hockey, here is what we need: more coverage from media, more financial investment from...anyone, but specifically corporations, government and governing bodies. More fans. In the current state, no one is really socialized to value women's sport as a professional sport and we need to change that too. If launching women's hockey to the next level, involves calling people out and pointing fingers, yes we need to talk about we can inspire more women to watch women's sports.
I don't know how anyone can look at the investment in women's pro hockey and men's pro hockey and conclude that the status quo is ok. There are a lot of factors at play that hinder investment (unproven market) but sexism is one of them. I don't know what group needs to be called out the loudest (I won't let the fans off the hook), but a group that has power to make change, whose reticence to invest has held women's professional sport back is corporations.
Compare the sponsors of the NWHL to the NHL:
NWHL: Sponsors include the NHL (100k, biggest sponsor). Additionally on the footer of their website they list NYU Langone Health, Dunkin Donuts, MeiGray Group, Veda, Wiss, Legend Rings, Chipwich, Sparx. A total of 9 companies, and you know the NWHL has hustled for 5 years to get that, in an environment that had a lot of things working against them. What they have done is impressive given the barriers they've faced. But it's time to remove some of the barriers.
NHL: Corporate Marketing Partners webpage
Marketing partners include: Adidas, Apple, O.R.G., SAP, Bridgestone, Chemours, Coors Light, Enterprise, Federal Mogul, Honda, Kraft Heinz, Las Vegas, MGM Resorts, Molson Canadian, PepsiCo, PPG, TicketMaster, Travel Nation Hockey, Upper Deck, Cigna, Dunkin, Discover, Geico, FanDuel, Jagermeister, Navy Federal Credit Union, New Amsterdam Vodka, Canadian Tire, Esso, Danone, Kellogs, Reese, Kruger, Mitsubishi Electric, Rogers, Scotiabank, Tim Hortons, VISA. 39 companies, including global brands.
I just don't know how you can look at that, and think it makes sense.
In the mid nineties, Nike released an ad about getting girls into sport with a tagline that became iconic: "If you let me play."
More than twenties years later, the if statement needs to evolve:
If media covers their sports.
If corporations invest in their sports.
If we watch them play.
#ForTheGame can change women's hockey, can launch it to the next level. Not just for little girls in a park saying "if you let me play," but for the women they grew up to be.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
US Olympian Shelley Looney Gets New Title: Lindenwood Lions Head Coach
On June 27th, Lindenwood announced two time US Olympian Shelley Looney as the new head coach of their NCAA Division I ice hockey program. There was excitement in the women's hockey community that day, to see a big name in women's hockey move to the head coaching ranks. That excitement is shared by Coach Looney:
"This is an exciting time for the Lindenwood Women’s Hockey program with a new coach and rink. I will bring years of hockey experience as both a player and a coach. Additionally, I believe that successful teams are a result of a positive team culture. I am very excited about joining the Lindenwood University community. Lindenwood offers amazing opportunities for student athletes and I look forward to working with the team daily to assist each player to be the best person and athlete that she can be."
Lindenwood is the third CHA program in as many years to hire a new head coach, following RIT in 2018 and Penn State in 2017. The hires suggest these schools want to win and get results that reshuffle the CHA standings, as these three are typically in four to sixth place. However, the CHA is coming off a year where last place Lindenwood earned wins against the top two teams in the league, and fifth place RIT took seven out of eight league points from eventual CHA Tournament champion Syracuse. Anyone can beat anyone in the CHA, and that wasn't always the case.
Looney is aware of that changing landscape within women's hockey and looks to help strengthen the CHA. "Collegiate women’s ice hockey has changed a great deal since my playing days and its growth has been amazing. As a youth program director, I have watched the college game closely and have many colleagues and former teammates spread throughout college hockey. I am looking forward to joining college hockey and being a part of the CHA to help the conference continue to become stronger."
As a player, Looney is best known for scoring USA's winning goal in the gold medal game at the 1998 Olympics. She played for Northeastern, graduating in 1994, and was a mainstay with Team USA in the nineties and early aughts. Looney retired from playing hockey in 2005, after winning a World Championship gold medal with Team USA. In all, Looney retired with an Olympic gold and silver medal, and one gold and seven silver medals at the World Championships.
Looney's coaching career began alongside her playing career, and includes NCAA Division I experience with Hockey East's Vermont Catamounts in 2004-2005. Since then she has coached at Nichols School, coached with USA Hockey's high performance programs and at the World University Games, and been the Director of Buffalo Women's Hockey.
With her name recognition, accomplished playing career, and lengthy coaching career, Looney is a logical hire at the NCAA Division I level. While there is reason for the Lindenwood program to be optimistic about the future, first some sobering facts:
At Lindenwood, Looney inherits a team that has never had a winning record in its 8 years of NCAA Division I play (Independent in 2011-2012; CHA past 7 seasons). Its best overall season at the NCAA level was 2017-2018, when it finished with a 10-20-1 record (8-12 in conference). This past season, the team regressed to 7-22-4 overall, and their 3-14-3 conference record produced a last place finish. Lindenwood has never finished better than 5th place in CHA play, in a six team league.
Additionally, Lindenwood has lost Taylor Girard as a transfer to Quinnipiac this summer. Girard finished her sophomore season with a team leading 24 points in 25 games in 2017-2018. She played only 8 games in her most recent season, scoring 7 points. There may be other transfers, not yet made public.
The roster and schedule for the 2019-2020 season has not been released, but Looney indicated they would welcome six freshmen. Other schools published schedules reveal Lindenwood's non conference slate includes 10 games against WCHA opponents: Wisconsin, Bemidji, St. Cloud (4 games), and Minnesota State, and four games against Union and Clarkson of the ECAC.
It is a great task to turn Lindenwood into a winning program, but given recent wins against top teams in the league and recent program changes, one can envision a roadmap to getting there:
At the NCAA level for Lindenwood, there is no greater historical bright spot than Nicole Hensley. Former goalie Nicole Hensley (2012-2016) went on to Team USA and gold medals at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships, and 2018 Olympics. That narrative of individual success, delivered by fellow Olympic gold medalist Coach Looney may have some recruiting impact.
More recently Lindenwood placed four players on All CHA teams. Sierra Burt was named to the 2018-2019 2nd All CHA Team, and Taylor Kirwan, Sophie Wolf, and Jada Burke were named to the All Rookie Team. This speaks to the skill and potential of current players, which could also help recruiting.
Looney also needs to hire an assistant coach, which is an opportunity to better the skill within the program's coaching ranks. Former assistant Corey Whitaker has taken a head coaching position at Shattuck St Mary's. Greg Haney, who joined Lindenwood in 2018 as an assistant coach, is still listed as an assistant. This is conjecture, but I've wondered if Hensley might make a return as full time coach. Hensley was an assistant coach at Lindenwood in 2016-2017 before centralizing with the National Team. She is among the 200 athletes sitting out from North American pro hockey this year, and would be an asset to any college program.
Lindenwood will also be playing in a brand new rink, the Centene Community Ice Center,beginning this fall. The rink is located in Maryland Heights, seven miles from Lindenwood University and will also be the St. Louis Blues' practice facility, and home to the St. Louis Lady Cyclones, a local girls program. To date, Lindenwood played in a functional but plain off campus rink twenty miles from campus.
Playing at Centene will better impress out of town recruits, and playing in the same rink alongside the local girls hockey program, may attract some home grown talent. The area's most notable women's ice hockey product is All American Jincy Dunne of O'Fallon, Missouri, who plays for Ohio State. With a high profile coach and new rink, Lindenwood may be in the conversation to motivate players of her stature to stay home, in the future.
It will be at least a year before players Looney recruits matriculate at Lindenwood. Until then, she will need coach up the roster she already has, and her ability to do so remains to be seen, although her resume reveals obvious potential. Even if she improves everyone's play however, climbing the standings won't be easy given the dynamics of the CHA.
In 2018-2019, first year head coach Chad Davis improved RIT's goals against average from 4.03 to 2.4 per game, while increasing goals scored from 1.2 to 1.91 per game. It moved the needle on their record, but they still finished fifth in the conference. At Penn State there are obvious improvements in the past two years under Coach Kampersal, and yet they've not moved from fourth place. That said, the narrowing of the gap is evident, and one has to think change could happen any year now, particularly for Penn State, but the opportunity exists for RIT and Lindenwood too.
If Looney can shore things up with the existing talent, recruit based on her name recognition in women's hockey until she proves herself as a college head coach, and make smart hires, one can imagine this program improving and creating some movement in the CHA standings.
The long suffering St. Louis Blues recently delivered one coveted trophy to the area. Under Coach Looney, can the Lindenwood Lions deliver another?
"This is an exciting time for the Lindenwood Women’s Hockey program with a new coach and rink. I will bring years of hockey experience as both a player and a coach. Additionally, I believe that successful teams are a result of a positive team culture. I am very excited about joining the Lindenwood University community. Lindenwood offers amazing opportunities for student athletes and I look forward to working with the team daily to assist each player to be the best person and athlete that she can be."
Lindenwood is the third CHA program in as many years to hire a new head coach, following RIT in 2018 and Penn State in 2017. The hires suggest these schools want to win and get results that reshuffle the CHA standings, as these three are typically in four to sixth place. However, the CHA is coming off a year where last place Lindenwood earned wins against the top two teams in the league, and fifth place RIT took seven out of eight league points from eventual CHA Tournament champion Syracuse. Anyone can beat anyone in the CHA, and that wasn't always the case.
Looney is aware of that changing landscape within women's hockey and looks to help strengthen the CHA. "Collegiate women’s ice hockey has changed a great deal since my playing days and its growth has been amazing. As a youth program director, I have watched the college game closely and have many colleagues and former teammates spread throughout college hockey. I am looking forward to joining college hockey and being a part of the CHA to help the conference continue to become stronger."
As a player, Looney is best known for scoring USA's winning goal in the gold medal game at the 1998 Olympics. She played for Northeastern, graduating in 1994, and was a mainstay with Team USA in the nineties and early aughts. Looney retired from playing hockey in 2005, after winning a World Championship gold medal with Team USA. In all, Looney retired with an Olympic gold and silver medal, and one gold and seven silver medals at the World Championships.
Looney's coaching career began alongside her playing career, and includes NCAA Division I experience with Hockey East's Vermont Catamounts in 2004-2005. Since then she has coached at Nichols School, coached with USA Hockey's high performance programs and at the World University Games, and been the Director of Buffalo Women's Hockey.
With her name recognition, accomplished playing career, and lengthy coaching career, Looney is a logical hire at the NCAA Division I level. While there is reason for the Lindenwood program to be optimistic about the future, first some sobering facts:
At Lindenwood, Looney inherits a team that has never had a winning record in its 8 years of NCAA Division I play (Independent in 2011-2012; CHA past 7 seasons). Its best overall season at the NCAA level was 2017-2018, when it finished with a 10-20-1 record (8-12 in conference). This past season, the team regressed to 7-22-4 overall, and their 3-14-3 conference record produced a last place finish. Lindenwood has never finished better than 5th place in CHA play, in a six team league.
Additionally, Lindenwood has lost Taylor Girard as a transfer to Quinnipiac this summer. Girard finished her sophomore season with a team leading 24 points in 25 games in 2017-2018. She played only 8 games in her most recent season, scoring 7 points. There may be other transfers, not yet made public.
The roster and schedule for the 2019-2020 season has not been released, but Looney indicated they would welcome six freshmen. Other schools published schedules reveal Lindenwood's non conference slate includes 10 games against WCHA opponents: Wisconsin, Bemidji, St. Cloud (4 games), and Minnesota State, and four games against Union and Clarkson of the ECAC.
It is a great task to turn Lindenwood into a winning program, but given recent wins against top teams in the league and recent program changes, one can envision a roadmap to getting there:
At the NCAA level for Lindenwood, there is no greater historical bright spot than Nicole Hensley. Former goalie Nicole Hensley (2012-2016) went on to Team USA and gold medals at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships, and 2018 Olympics. That narrative of individual success, delivered by fellow Olympic gold medalist Coach Looney may have some recruiting impact.
More recently Lindenwood placed four players on All CHA teams. Sierra Burt was named to the 2018-2019 2nd All CHA Team, and Taylor Kirwan, Sophie Wolf, and Jada Burke were named to the All Rookie Team. This speaks to the skill and potential of current players, which could also help recruiting.
Looney also needs to hire an assistant coach, which is an opportunity to better the skill within the program's coaching ranks. Former assistant Corey Whitaker has taken a head coaching position at Shattuck St Mary's. Greg Haney, who joined Lindenwood in 2018 as an assistant coach, is still listed as an assistant. This is conjecture, but I've wondered if Hensley might make a return as full time coach. Hensley was an assistant coach at Lindenwood in 2016-2017 before centralizing with the National Team. She is among the 200 athletes sitting out from North American pro hockey this year, and would be an asset to any college program.
Lindenwood will also be playing in a brand new rink, the Centene Community Ice Center,beginning this fall. The rink is located in Maryland Heights, seven miles from Lindenwood University and will also be the St. Louis Blues' practice facility, and home to the St. Louis Lady Cyclones, a local girls program. To date, Lindenwood played in a functional but plain off campus rink twenty miles from campus.
Playing at Centene will better impress out of town recruits, and playing in the same rink alongside the local girls hockey program, may attract some home grown talent. The area's most notable women's ice hockey product is All American Jincy Dunne of O'Fallon, Missouri, who plays for Ohio State. With a high profile coach and new rink, Lindenwood may be in the conversation to motivate players of her stature to stay home, in the future.
It will be at least a year before players Looney recruits matriculate at Lindenwood. Until then, she will need coach up the roster she already has, and her ability to do so remains to be seen, although her resume reveals obvious potential. Even if she improves everyone's play however, climbing the standings won't be easy given the dynamics of the CHA.
In 2018-2019, first year head coach Chad Davis improved RIT's goals against average from 4.03 to 2.4 per game, while increasing goals scored from 1.2 to 1.91 per game. It moved the needle on their record, but they still finished fifth in the conference. At Penn State there are obvious improvements in the past two years under Coach Kampersal, and yet they've not moved from fourth place. That said, the narrowing of the gap is evident, and one has to think change could happen any year now, particularly for Penn State, but the opportunity exists for RIT and Lindenwood too.
If Looney can shore things up with the existing talent, recruit based on her name recognition in women's hockey until she proves herself as a college head coach, and make smart hires, one can imagine this program improving and creating some movement in the CHA standings.
The long suffering St. Louis Blues recently delivered one coveted trophy to the area. Under Coach Looney, can the Lindenwood Lions deliver another?
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Episode 3: Danielle Grundy of the Grindstone Award Foundation
In Episode 3 of My Hockey Podcast, Danielle Grundy joins me as the first ever guest of the podcast!
You can listen to the episode on Itunes: Danielle Grundy and the Grindstone Award Foundation
or on the web by clicking here: Danielle Grundy and the Grindstone Award Foundation
Danielle is the president and co-founder of the Grindstone Award Foundation, a CRA registered charity based out of Kelowna, BC, that provides grants to girls across Canada. Grindstone was founded in 2014, and last year gave grants to 30 girls across Canada. Although it started with two co-founders today Grindstone has a team of people working hard to serve their mission.
On this 25 minute episode we talk about how the Grindstone Award Foundation raises money and provides grants to enable Canadian girls to play hockey, who would otherwise be unable to play due to financial hardship.
We discuss Grindstone's 3rd annual charity tournament happening July 19-21 in Kelowna, BC. Funds raised in the tournament go towards providing grants to deserving Canadian girls.
Canadian Olympic gold medalist Natalie Spooner will join Grindstone and participate in all three events of the charity tournament.
We also discuss the August 1st deadline for applying for a grant. The Grindstone Award Foundation team seeks to give out 50 grants this year, so share the word that girls should apply!
In the second half of the podcast we talk about how people can support Grindstone, what it was like to start a charity, navigating setbacks, being part of a movement within girls and women's hockey, and what it felt like to give that very first grant back in 2015.
Have a listen and then check out www.grindstoneaward.com to learn all about this charity. Follow the Grindstone team on twitter at grindstoneaward and instagram at Grindstone Award.
If you like what you hear please subscribe, rate and review My Hockey Podcast on Itunes. Finally, a big thank you to Danielle for joining me on my podcast today.
You can listen to the episode on Itunes: Danielle Grundy and the Grindstone Award Foundation
or on the web by clicking here: Danielle Grundy and the Grindstone Award Foundation
Danielle is the president and co-founder of the Grindstone Award Foundation, a CRA registered charity based out of Kelowna, BC, that provides grants to girls across Canada. Grindstone was founded in 2014, and last year gave grants to 30 girls across Canada. Although it started with two co-founders today Grindstone has a team of people working hard to serve their mission.
On this 25 minute episode we talk about how the Grindstone Award Foundation raises money and provides grants to enable Canadian girls to play hockey, who would otherwise be unable to play due to financial hardship.
We discuss Grindstone's 3rd annual charity tournament happening July 19-21 in Kelowna, BC. Funds raised in the tournament go towards providing grants to deserving Canadian girls.
Canadian Olympic gold medalist Natalie Spooner will join Grindstone and participate in all three events of the charity tournament.
We also discuss the August 1st deadline for applying for a grant. The Grindstone Award Foundation team seeks to give out 50 grants this year, so share the word that girls should apply!
In the second half of the podcast we talk about how people can support Grindstone, what it was like to start a charity, navigating setbacks, being part of a movement within girls and women's hockey, and what it felt like to give that very first grant back in 2015.
Have a listen and then check out www.grindstoneaward.com to learn all about this charity. Follow the Grindstone team on twitter at grindstoneaward and instagram at Grindstone Award.
If you like what you hear please subscribe, rate and review My Hockey Podcast on Itunes. Finally, a big thank you to Danielle for joining me on my podcast today.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Hockey Hall of Fame 2019
The class of 2019 Hockey Hall of Fame will be announced on Tuesday, and on the women's side Hayley Wickenheiser is expected to be inducted.
If inducted, she would be the seventh woman, joining Angela James and Cammi Granato (2010), Geraldine Heaney (2013), Angela Ruggiero (2015), Danielle Goyette (2017), and Jayna Hefford (2018), in the Hockey Hall of Fame. She would be the first female representative from western Canada, having been raised in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta.
If you ask me for additional players who ought to have someone make a case for them, Karyn Bye is one I'm interested in hearing about. Angela Ruggiero suggested on the ESPN on Ice podcast last fall that Bye is one from the original Olympic era that belongs. Nafio at Pension Plan Puppets suggested the same thing, in her HHOF post last week.
One of the standards that has fairly or unfairly been set so far is Olympic Gold (with one exception in Angela James). Not too sure how I feel about that one. I do think winners belong, but a Women's World Championship is winning right? Natalie Darwitz, being a part of that 2005 team that won that first WWC for the USA, plus she captained the US team for a few years, and is all over the record books for NCAA hockey, with a couple of NCAA Championships, has a pretty strong case to be in the HHOF, even without Olympic gold. Might be able to call her the best player of that 2nd era of US Olympians (she played in the 2002, '06, '10 Olympics).
It's kind of tragic that Finland didn't win a world championship this spring, because that would have likely punched multiple women's ticket into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Noora Raty being the one most known to me. A Finnish great will get in eventually, but with the current HHOF selection committee setup, it's hard to see a path to when.
With little suspense regarding Wickenheiser, and little expectation for a 2nd woman to be inducted as a player this year, the real suspense is when the first builder will be inducted on the women's side.
There are many names to consider. I asked on twitter yesterday and people suggested Cindy Curley, Fran Rider, and Manon Rheaume. I've also thought about Jack Brodt and Paul Kennedy and their contributions in the early aughts to now, in the USA.
The most likely candidates to get in are those who are connected to people on the voting committee (ie known among the governing bodies) and had a global contribution to the game. That would be a pretty small list of people, particularly because women's hockey grew out of such a grassroots effort. And yet, it just doesn't seem right, because the grassroots aspect of it all is kind of the magic of it all. The idea that in pockets across Canada, the US, Europe and beyond, individuals with modest power set about growing the game in their locality. And look where it is today.
If global impact is going to be the as yet unknown standard, the obvious person or people to induct is whoever the ring leader was that rounded up all these people around the world and made the World Championships a thing. My understanding is two people who were particularly responsible for that were Fran Rider and Hazel McCallion, both of Ontario. Surely there are others but these are the names that arise over and over. Rider founded the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, McCallion was also involved in OWHA, and as mayor of Mississauga was involved in numerous rink building projects (perhaps the most impactful thing a builder could do, in many parts of the world, including the US and Canada). If I recall from reading On The Edge (Elizabeth Etue and Megan Williams) there was endless challenges in getting the IIHF to sanction women's hockey, and the grassroots committee literally had to grow women's hockey around the world, to achieve IIHF status. An impressive feat.
Another builder is Melody Davidson. Davidson has been involved with Hockey Canada as a coach, GM, and scout since at least 1993, and surely was building girls and women's hockey before that. She has a drawer full of medals with Hockey Canada, most impressively perhaps, the gold medal as Head Coach at the Vancouver Olympics.
Perhaps Davidson's greatest legacy will be her vocal commitment to calling for developing women to work in all aspects of hockey, particularly coaching. As a coach herself, she has long known that hockey is about so much more than just players. She has gone on record in interviews about Hockey Canada's commitment to female coaches, and just looking at the staffs of various Hockey Canada teams the commitment is evident. This is in stark contrast to Hockey USA, who has not had a female coach on their senior women's team staff since the 2014 Olympics (other than the video coach). While Davidson's contribution may not be global, she is a multi time gold medal winning champion, has longevity of service, and has an undeniable impact on women's hockey in Canada.
Cassie Campbell is well known as a player, captaining Canada to two Olympic gold medals. I see her getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Her willingness and ability to venture into men's hockey doing color commentary for HNIC and Sportsnet was a move that sets her apart, and blazes a trail for other aspiring broadcasters. Gaining prominence on the men's side, Cassie never forgot the women's game, and was on the board of the CWHL for a period of time, and was the first high profile non player to go public and call for one united league for women's hockey, last spring. Her views are not shared by everyone, but it is fair to say a majority of people want one united viable league, and Cassie's willingness to start the conversation publicly will ultimately advance the sport.
Shannon Miller has such a seemingly complicated story, and for me I feel some heartache in it, not necessarily for her, but for the generation of girls who missed out on having a successful coach celebrated, someone to be inspired by. I believe Miller belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and will get there one day, but it may take a long time. Like Davidson, her involvement with Hockey Canada dates back to the early nineties.
The Canada Winter Games added women's hockey in 1991. The chance to play for one's provincial team inspired scores of girls across Canada to join hockey. Miller was an assistant coach for Team Alberta in those inaugural games, helping lead Alberta to gold, along with the help of a 13 year old star player named Hayley Wickenheiser. Miller would remain a part of Wickenheiser's development, for the next 7 years. After the Canada Games, Miller kept coaching in Calgary, and was involved in starting the first all girls hockey team in Calgary. In the nineties, Miller won three World Championship gold medals (assistant coach I think), and and Olympic silver (Head Coach).
After the Olympic cycle, Hockey Canada did not renew Miller's contract as they were not retaining a full time women's coach, although they said she was welcome to re-apply. They further described her Hockey Canada experience as follows:
"Miller was an assistant coach with the gold medal-winning teams at the 91 Women's World Champion, and was head coach when Canada won the 1997 Women's World's. She also coached Canada to gold medals at the 19 Pacific Rim Championships. She led Canada to a gold medal at the 1996 3 Nations' Cup and a silver medal at the 1997 version of this event, which involves Finland and Team USA."
The article linked to above also references the untrue and homophobic commentary that was put in print about Miller and others during that Olympic year. It is sad, and representative of the discourse that surrounded her throughout her career, not to mention the untold damage that caused to young people witnessing it play out, and wasted opportunity to inspire a generation.
Miller loved hockey though, and moved on to a new opportunity. She started the program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, a Division II school that played Division I in hockey in a power house league with three Big 10 (aka big budget) schools. Miller was the first to really recruit Europe, perhaps in response to the fact that University of Minnesota would be tough competition for recruiting blue chip Minnesotan recruits. Miller had tremendous success. She won 5 of the first 10 NCAA Championships, and coached a total of 16 years in NCAA hockey. Her record of 5 Championships was matched this spring by Mark Johnson. It's a record that will be broken eventually as Minnesota and Wisconsin assert themselves as the elite right now (along with Clarkson, and Boston College to a lesser extent), but Miller's run was nonetheless remarkable.
Other schools have tried to duplicate the recruiting Europe strategy. UND was doing a great job of it and had the edge on UMD, when their program was cut. They may have been on the path to a Championship but we'll never know. Maine has recently tried to duplicate Miller's strategy of recruiting heavily in Europe, but has not found a league championship, let alone 5 NCAA Championships.
I thought the most impressive of the NCAA Championships at UMD was the 2008 won. By then Mark Johnson was at Wisconsin, and had been named the 2010 Olympic coach a few years prior. Already a great coach, the best US players were now flocking to his program. Miller's UMD defeated Wisconsin 4-0 to win their fourth NCAA Championship. That Wisconsin roster? It had Jinelle Zaug, Erica Lawler, Megan Duggan, Hilary Knight, and Jessie Vetter. All future US Olympians. It was the only National Championship game that Duggan didn't win (she is in the rare group that has 3 NCAA titles).
Miller's 2008 squad also had some big names and future national team players: Hayley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Kim Martin, Emanuelle Blais, Sara Niemi.
In her 16 year tenure in the NCAA's Miller had one losing season and one 500 season, the rest were winning seasons. Her NCAA career ended with a contract not being renewed and a successful title IX lawsuit. These are sad facts, and beyond what I wish to get into. I believe it's fair to say she was a hardass coach, who did all the things that a certain brand of successful coaches do.
Her winning ways and fingerprints on women's hockey during that big growth period of the 90's are what make her a builder. She played a role in developing the greatest player ever, Wickenheiser. And at UMD she was mentor to several, but one in particular who is changing the hockey world, and might be one of Miller's greatest legacies: Caroline Ouellette.
Ouellette shared this about Miller, on the day that the Title IX ruling was to come out:
"Thank you coach Miller for teaching us what leadership is by always standing up for what we deserve. For teaching us what work ethic is by being the hardest worker. For showing us that embracing our differences and caring for one another is the greatest strength a team can have! Today as always i stand with you. Thank you for being the best mentor!"
***
The Hockey Hall of Fame is a complicated thing. Getting in is surely out of this world. We are still waiting for the first builder to get recognized. But rest assured, they are everywhere, with complicated stories, achievements and errors, character strengths and flaws, all of them moving the game forward. Can't wait for the first one to get it.
If inducted, she would be the seventh woman, joining Angela James and Cammi Granato (2010), Geraldine Heaney (2013), Angela Ruggiero (2015), Danielle Goyette (2017), and Jayna Hefford (2018), in the Hockey Hall of Fame. She would be the first female representative from western Canada, having been raised in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta.
If you ask me for additional players who ought to have someone make a case for them, Karyn Bye is one I'm interested in hearing about. Angela Ruggiero suggested on the ESPN on Ice podcast last fall that Bye is one from the original Olympic era that belongs. Nafio at Pension Plan Puppets suggested the same thing, in her HHOF post last week.
One of the standards that has fairly or unfairly been set so far is Olympic Gold (with one exception in Angela James). Not too sure how I feel about that one. I do think winners belong, but a Women's World Championship is winning right? Natalie Darwitz, being a part of that 2005 team that won that first WWC for the USA, plus she captained the US team for a few years, and is all over the record books for NCAA hockey, with a couple of NCAA Championships, has a pretty strong case to be in the HHOF, even without Olympic gold. Might be able to call her the best player of that 2nd era of US Olympians (she played in the 2002, '06, '10 Olympics).
It's kind of tragic that Finland didn't win a world championship this spring, because that would have likely punched multiple women's ticket into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Noora Raty being the one most known to me. A Finnish great will get in eventually, but with the current HHOF selection committee setup, it's hard to see a path to when.
With little suspense regarding Wickenheiser, and little expectation for a 2nd woman to be inducted as a player this year, the real suspense is when the first builder will be inducted on the women's side.
There are many names to consider. I asked on twitter yesterday and people suggested Cindy Curley, Fran Rider, and Manon Rheaume. I've also thought about Jack Brodt and Paul Kennedy and their contributions in the early aughts to now, in the USA.
The most likely candidates to get in are those who are connected to people on the voting committee (ie known among the governing bodies) and had a global contribution to the game. That would be a pretty small list of people, particularly because women's hockey grew out of such a grassroots effort. And yet, it just doesn't seem right, because the grassroots aspect of it all is kind of the magic of it all. The idea that in pockets across Canada, the US, Europe and beyond, individuals with modest power set about growing the game in their locality. And look where it is today.
If global impact is going to be the as yet unknown standard, the obvious person or people to induct is whoever the ring leader was that rounded up all these people around the world and made the World Championships a thing. My understanding is two people who were particularly responsible for that were Fran Rider and Hazel McCallion, both of Ontario. Surely there are others but these are the names that arise over and over. Rider founded the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, McCallion was also involved in OWHA, and as mayor of Mississauga was involved in numerous rink building projects (perhaps the most impactful thing a builder could do, in many parts of the world, including the US and Canada). If I recall from reading On The Edge (Elizabeth Etue and Megan Williams) there was endless challenges in getting the IIHF to sanction women's hockey, and the grassroots committee literally had to grow women's hockey around the world, to achieve IIHF status. An impressive feat.
Another builder is Melody Davidson. Davidson has been involved with Hockey Canada as a coach, GM, and scout since at least 1993, and surely was building girls and women's hockey before that. She has a drawer full of medals with Hockey Canada, most impressively perhaps, the gold medal as Head Coach at the Vancouver Olympics.
Perhaps Davidson's greatest legacy will be her vocal commitment to calling for developing women to work in all aspects of hockey, particularly coaching. As a coach herself, she has long known that hockey is about so much more than just players. She has gone on record in interviews about Hockey Canada's commitment to female coaches, and just looking at the staffs of various Hockey Canada teams the commitment is evident. This is in stark contrast to Hockey USA, who has not had a female coach on their senior women's team staff since the 2014 Olympics (other than the video coach). While Davidson's contribution may not be global, she is a multi time gold medal winning champion, has longevity of service, and has an undeniable impact on women's hockey in Canada.
Cassie Campbell is well known as a player, captaining Canada to two Olympic gold medals. I see her getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Her willingness and ability to venture into men's hockey doing color commentary for HNIC and Sportsnet was a move that sets her apart, and blazes a trail for other aspiring broadcasters. Gaining prominence on the men's side, Cassie never forgot the women's game, and was on the board of the CWHL for a period of time, and was the first high profile non player to go public and call for one united league for women's hockey, last spring. Her views are not shared by everyone, but it is fair to say a majority of people want one united viable league, and Cassie's willingness to start the conversation publicly will ultimately advance the sport.
Shannon Miller has such a seemingly complicated story, and for me I feel some heartache in it, not necessarily for her, but for the generation of girls who missed out on having a successful coach celebrated, someone to be inspired by. I believe Miller belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and will get there one day, but it may take a long time. Like Davidson, her involvement with Hockey Canada dates back to the early nineties.
The Canada Winter Games added women's hockey in 1991. The chance to play for one's provincial team inspired scores of girls across Canada to join hockey. Miller was an assistant coach for Team Alberta in those inaugural games, helping lead Alberta to gold, along with the help of a 13 year old star player named Hayley Wickenheiser. Miller would remain a part of Wickenheiser's development, for the next 7 years. After the Canada Games, Miller kept coaching in Calgary, and was involved in starting the first all girls hockey team in Calgary. In the nineties, Miller won three World Championship gold medals (assistant coach I think), and and Olympic silver (Head Coach).
After the Olympic cycle, Hockey Canada did not renew Miller's contract as they were not retaining a full time women's coach, although they said she was welcome to re-apply. They further described her Hockey Canada experience as follows:
"Miller was an assistant coach with the gold medal-winning teams at the 91 Women's World Champion, and was head coach when Canada won the 1997 Women's World's. She also coached Canada to gold medals at the 19 Pacific Rim Championships. She led Canada to a gold medal at the 1996 3 Nations' Cup and a silver medal at the 1997 version of this event, which involves Finland and Team USA."
The article linked to above also references the untrue and homophobic commentary that was put in print about Miller and others during that Olympic year. It is sad, and representative of the discourse that surrounded her throughout her career, not to mention the untold damage that caused to young people witnessing it play out, and wasted opportunity to inspire a generation.
Miller loved hockey though, and moved on to a new opportunity. She started the program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, a Division II school that played Division I in hockey in a power house league with three Big 10 (aka big budget) schools. Miller was the first to really recruit Europe, perhaps in response to the fact that University of Minnesota would be tough competition for recruiting blue chip Minnesotan recruits. Miller had tremendous success. She won 5 of the first 10 NCAA Championships, and coached a total of 16 years in NCAA hockey. Her record of 5 Championships was matched this spring by Mark Johnson. It's a record that will be broken eventually as Minnesota and Wisconsin assert themselves as the elite right now (along with Clarkson, and Boston College to a lesser extent), but Miller's run was nonetheless remarkable.
Other schools have tried to duplicate the recruiting Europe strategy. UND was doing a great job of it and had the edge on UMD, when their program was cut. They may have been on the path to a Championship but we'll never know. Maine has recently tried to duplicate Miller's strategy of recruiting heavily in Europe, but has not found a league championship, let alone 5 NCAA Championships.
I thought the most impressive of the NCAA Championships at UMD was the 2008 won. By then Mark Johnson was at Wisconsin, and had been named the 2010 Olympic coach a few years prior. Already a great coach, the best US players were now flocking to his program. Miller's UMD defeated Wisconsin 4-0 to win their fourth NCAA Championship. That Wisconsin roster? It had Jinelle Zaug, Erica Lawler, Megan Duggan, Hilary Knight, and Jessie Vetter. All future US Olympians. It was the only National Championship game that Duggan didn't win (she is in the rare group that has 3 NCAA titles).
Miller's 2008 squad also had some big names and future national team players: Hayley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Kim Martin, Emanuelle Blais, Sara Niemi.
In her 16 year tenure in the NCAA's Miller had one losing season and one 500 season, the rest were winning seasons. Her NCAA career ended with a contract not being renewed and a successful title IX lawsuit. These are sad facts, and beyond what I wish to get into. I believe it's fair to say she was a hardass coach, who did all the things that a certain brand of successful coaches do.
Her winning ways and fingerprints on women's hockey during that big growth period of the 90's are what make her a builder. She played a role in developing the greatest player ever, Wickenheiser. And at UMD she was mentor to several, but one in particular who is changing the hockey world, and might be one of Miller's greatest legacies: Caroline Ouellette.
Ouellette shared this about Miller, on the day that the Title IX ruling was to come out:
"Thank you coach Miller for teaching us what leadership is by always standing up for what we deserve. For teaching us what work ethic is by being the hardest worker. For showing us that embracing our differences and caring for one another is the greatest strength a team can have! Today as always i stand with you. Thank you for being the best mentor!"
***
The Hockey Hall of Fame is a complicated thing. Getting in is surely out of this world. We are still waiting for the first builder to get recognized. But rest assured, they are everywhere, with complicated stories, achievements and errors, character strengths and flaws, all of them moving the game forward. Can't wait for the first one to get it.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Captains' Blog
A few weeks ago, pro goalie and St. Lawrence alum Mike McKenna was tweeting about captains,
during a Bruins Hurricanes game. He opined that only the players in the room
can understand why a person is chosen as captain (or not), and also shared that
he’s not a fan of co-captains or more. I easily agreed with the first point,
but I’d never thought about whether co-captains or tri-captains are good or bad.
Shortly after that, Mercyhurst announced their captains for
2019-2020: tri-captains! For the first time in program history, three players
will wear the C, and no one will wear an A. Well, now I had to ponder what I
thought about co-captains and tri-captains. What I came to is this: I will
defer to McKenna on his opinion about the NHL and one captain, vs two or three.
But at the college level, if co-captains or tri-captains is the thing that
prevents your team from winning, my opinion is there’s no way you were built to
win in the first place then.
A team ends up with co or tri captains when the votes from
players come in and there is no one individual that stands out from all others
in the group of players garnering votes. Spin it however you want – is no one
differentiating themselves as a great leader, or are 3 players differentiating
themselves as great leaders? I suppose having one captain, and 2 or 3 A’s is
neat and tidy and hierarchical, but I don’t see any reason to cling to it,
unless there is evidence that winning requires that structure. Collaborative
leadership is definitely a thing, so it makes sense that some teams are going
this route.
A challenge with multiple captains is it can present a
hurdle in communications, as one role of the captain is to act as liaison
between coaches and players, as well as talk to the ref on the ice. The thing
with tri captains will just be settling in to that pattern for the Lakers. Will
the 3 C’s all act as liaisons (sharing the administrative burden of being a C)
between coach and team, and coach and ref, or will one naturally settle into
the role? If one naturally settles into the role, will the team roll with it,
or will it spark jealousy and gossip about who is REALLY the captain, to the
detriment of the team? That’s basically the extent of it as far as I can see.
The 3 need to be on the same page with each other and support each other, and
demonstrate to the team they are united in pursuit of the only goal that
matters: winning.
Mercyhurst chose Maggie Knott (senior), Michelle Robillard
(senior), and Alexa Vasko (junior) as captains. Knott was an assistant captain
this most recent year. Knott and Vasko are the top 2 centers on the team,
taking the majority of draws and playing in all situations. Both have Hockey
Canada experience. Michelle Robillard a second/third line winger from Orchard
Park, NY, who kept plugging away this most recent season until you couldn’t
help but notice her.
Being a third liner is tough, as ice time is heavily dependent
on game situations, plus there is always one or two fourth liners that the
coach is trying to get ice time, that often is split with the third line. But
you have to be ready to go when you do get your chance, and try to prove why
the coach should keep putting you on the ice. Make the coach question whether
you should actually be a top six player, should actually be out there on the
power play. Michelle Robillard did that this year, and I am so pumped to see
her as a captain in her senior year.
Robillard finished off the year with seven points in the
last six games, and twelve total points on the season. Late in the season the
Dobson, Hine, Robillard line was the best line on the team at times. Hopefully
Robillard will keep leading in her senior year, showing the underclassmen one
more reason why you keep grinding even when you’re not getting all the ice in
the world.
Just for fun, I looked at which teams went with co or tri
captains last year. Of the 35 NCAA Division I teams here’s who had co or tri-captains
this past year, (per collegehockestats.net):
CHA (6 team league): Robert Morris (3C, 1A), Syracuse
(2C, 1A)
WCHA (7 team league): UMD (2C, 1A), Minnesota State
(2C,2A), OSU (2C, 2A), SCSU (3C), Wisconsin (2C, 2A)
Hockey East (10 team league): BC (3C), BU (3C), Holy
Cross (3C), UNH (2C), Vermont (2C, 3A); Note: Merrimack didn’t list captains on
college hockey stats. Northeastern was interesting in that their 1C was a
goalie, who split playing time pretty evenly.
ECAC (12 team league): Brown (2C, 1A), Cornell (2C),
Princeton (2C, 2A), Colgate (3C). Harvard,
RPI, Union didn’t list captains on college hockey stats.
Sixteen teams with co or tri captains, of the teams listed.
5 of these teams ended up in the 8 team NCAA Tournament, and a team with
co-captains won the NCAA Championship. I’m curious if it’s like this in men’s
NCAA. A part of me wonders if comfort with and natural alignment with
collaborative leadership persists more often among women and that is reflected
in choosing captains.
Regardless, co-captains and tri-captains didn’t appear to
prevent winning, in 2018-2019:
Conference
|
Regular Season Champ
|
Conf. Tourney
Champ
|
NCAA Champ
|
CHA
|
RMU (3C)
|
Syracuse (2C)
|
|
WCHA
|
Minnesota (1C)
|
Wisconsin (2C)
|
Wisconsin (2C)
|
Hockey East
|
Northeastern (1C)
|
Northeastern (1C)
|
|
ECAC
|
Cornell (2C)
|
Clarkson (1C)
|
Saturday, June 1, 2019
The CW trophies, so where did they go?
"Destroying those books is a way of saying that the culture itself no longer exists; its history has disappeared; the continuity between its past and its future is ruptured. Taking books away from a culture is to take away its shared memory. It's like taking away the ability to remember your dreams. Destroying a culture's books is sentencing it to something worse than death: It is sentencing it to seem as if it never lived." - Susan Orlean, The Library BookFor a league that didn't have books written about it (other than the stats book by Richard Scott), the trophies value was perhaps even greater, as they were one of few resources that served to communicate the existence and results of the 12 year old league.
I wonder who bought the CWHL trophies. Or if the CWHL eventually settled its debts. And why it came to an end the way it did.
A year or so ago, I watched Katie Million, then commissioner of the WCHA, do an online fundraiser to help the WCHA raise funds, and a sponsor for the weekly awards. She also caught the attention of John Buccigross with her appeal for a Championship trophy for the WCHA. An almost 20 year old league, with no Championship trophy! Buccigross' charity bought the WCHA a Championship trophy to award.
This sweet new @WCHA_WHockey Final Faceoff Trophy from our friend @Buccigross is up for grabs today! Who will take it home today @BadgerWHockey or @GopherWHockey ? Good luck to both teams and THANK YOU @Buccigross ! 👊🏻🏒😊#WeAreWCHA #WMNSHKY #Grateful pic.twitter.com/JlzDuH1HMY— Katie Million (@katie25million) March 4, 2018
One elite women's league finally gets some hardware, and a year later another is auctioning theirs off. There is a part of me that still can't believe this was necessary; a part of me that wonders if the board was trying to make some sort of point or statement about the severity of lack of support, and figured it was worth it, no matter how much it would upset people. That is likely too charitable a view..
In the end, the MVP award sold for $6,200, the top goalie and defender trophies went for $2,600, and the coach of the year award sold for $2,000. The goalie, defender, and coach of the year dollar amounts might be the result of a parent buying the trophy, but that $6,200 MVP trophy is a pretty steep price. Still could be a parent I suppose. I'm curious who else would be buying these.
Am I the only one that wondered if Graeme Roustane purchased some of the hardware, perhaps to use in a new league? Is it possible some #ForTheGame folks have the trophies and they will be awarded again? Do gooder companies that will donate the artifacts to the hockey hall of fame? Parents?
Meanwhile, after the Angela James trophy was removed from the auction once it was determined it was not owned by the CWHL, the Jayna Hefford, Chairman's and Humanitarian trophies were removed too:
I wonder what became of those third party negotiations.The Canadian Women’s Hockey League is in discussions with third party entities on purchasing trophies without bids and having them donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame. As such we have removed the Jayna Hefford, Chairman’s, and Humanitarian trophies.— CWHL (@TheCWHL) April 30, 2019
It's funny, the NHL season isn't even over yet, and I'm kind of missing women's hockey. All in due time. Need the right league, and then they will be back. It's a shame they lost valuable evidence of their history as part of the price.
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