PWHPA to be broadcast on NHL Network and Sportsnet

The PWHPA announced today that their Sunday game at Madison Square Garden will be broadcast on NHL Network and Sportsnet. This is great news, and also my cue to subscribe to NHL Network again. I finally let it lapse last March, when the World Championships were cancelled, and it was apparent there would be no women's hockey for a while. The NHL Network has broadcast several women's games the past few years, and hopefully will expand on this in the future. Seeing a PW game on the slate is a great sign.

With today's announcement we are now on the eve of a lot of great hockey which will be broadcast. PW will be broadcast this weekend (Feb 28) as mentioned above. Next weekend when they do a showcase in Chicago, they will be on NBC Sportsnet. That one will be history making, as it's the first time they will be broadcast on Network tv in the US.

College hockey conference tourneys start this weekend and wrap up next weekend, and of course college hockey all has pretty decent streams. This leads us right into the National Championship, a two weekend tourney, the 2nd of which will (I assume) be broadcast on Big Ten Network as in years past. And THEN, Worlds. So we've got a good stretch here on tv, after some barren times.

Last February the Rivalry Series wrapped up in Anaheim at Honda Center in front of a history making crowd. Those darn Americans won in OT AGAIN, and while I love the drama of the rivalry, I'm always looking for my Canadian girls to win against America. But February 2020, that's a long time ago. Can't wait to watch on Sunday.

The rosters are mostly American players, or at the very least, players who are training in the US. Covid travel complications of course. It's Minnesota's Hub vs New Hampshire's Hub. Rosters are on the PW website, but I think the Minnesota roster has more offensive fire power for sure. Cameranesi, Knight, Brandt, Pankowski and Roque on Minnesota have that roster looking strong. Minnesota goalies are both Olympians - Rooney and Hensley. Total of 17 on the roster, 15 skaters.

Over on New Hampshire, well their roster is also amazing, but I don't think it matches Minnesota in scoring power. They also have 17 on the roster, 15 skaters. The real excitement over there is their defenders. Jincy Dunne graduated from Ohio State just last year, and on her last collegiate play of her career sprung an Ohio State forward on a rush in OT that win them their first ever WCHA Tourney Championship. I've always wanted to see Dunne on the ice with Olympians and looking at who she'll have to defend against in the Minnesota PW squad should give us a great look. Luckily she'll also have Megan Keller on her team to defend against Minnesota. New Hampshire has Alex Cavallini in net as well as Katie Burt. 

So Burt is the only non Olympian goalie in this mix. She's the young kid trying to oust a Hensley or a Cavallini I suppose, which there are no guarantees of, plus Aerin Frankel in college is trying to make that USA squad too, and Frankel is absolutely crushing it, recently posting 6 consecutive shutouts. So Burt is going to need some playing time. The question is if the Sunday night game is to be televised, are they going to share time for the goalies, or treat like a real game. My guess is the Saturday night, they give some playing time to all four goalies, but come Sunday, unless something wild happens in Saturday's game, we'll see Rooney vs Cavallini. Rooney played in the 2018 Olympic gold medal game of course, and Cavallini played most of the 2019 Worlds and also looked amazing, helping USA win gold. 

All of this PW stuff is against the backdrop of their pursuit of a viable league, but we also know every time these athletes step on the ice it's a tryout for their respective National Teams. With so few games for some of these women in the past almost two years now I don't really know what to expect in terms of sustained crispness and cohesion especially at 5 on 5. It will be good hockey I have no doubt, but it won't be near Olympic level I don't think. Nonetheless, the PW on NHL Network and Sportsnet will be passionate, quality hockey, and a welcome sight to women's hockey fans. 

Back into it

I drifted away from sports fandom in the past 12 months. For starters there was nothing really happening in women's sports, just one cancellation after another. And the pandemic has simultaneously left us with nothing to do, and yet also made us so busy what with the inefficiencies of working, parenting, and helping a child with school at the same time. 

It's funny, when I leave something for a while, I forget how much I love it. To return to the sport, even as a fan, is to be reminded of how much I enjoy it. 

The NW bubble was announced, and I thought yes I'll watch that, stream it on Twitch and put it on the tv. The game I watched was the Toronto Minnesota one, Saturday night. It felt like I was watching Hockey Night in Canada in a way. Lindsay Eastwood, who I used to watch on Syracuse and who had victimized my Lakers too many times was especially fun to watch. Her and Grant-Mentis were great together on the PP, leading to Grant-Mentis' first goal of the night. Every time Toronto scored, Minnesota would answer. Toronto would then grab the lead back and so on. I thought for sure the game was headed to OT, but Grant-Mentis scored again to win it with about thirty seconds left. She came up with a puck just inside the offensive blue line, walked around one defender and when the whole building was thinking pass, Grant-Mentis was thinking, let's just end this, and shot. What a game.

The game ended, Grant-Mentis a hero, the Toronto Six looking like potential future Isobel Cup winners. I turned the tv off, abandoned the mess of wrestling action figures my son had dug out while we played during the game and put him to bed. I sat down at my computer and started to work, (I feel like I should explain working on a Saturday night, but you probably get it, it's the pandemic lifestyle basically) And while I worked, for the first time in a year, I turned on a hockey podcast, a Canadian one, a big budget one with kickass music at the end that gets you pumped, or keeps you pumped, if you already are. Women's hockey is back, and so am I.

Here's Lindsay Eastwood scoring the Six's first ever goal. The season's on pause, naturally, but the Six are full of promise and the NW is planning on finishing the season, so who knows where this might lead.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/video/lindsay-eastwood-scores-first-goal-toronto-six-history/