Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Episode 6: Wrapping up the season's first half and looking ahead to the PWHL's debut

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Episode 6: Wrapping up the season's first half and looking ahead to the PWHL's debut · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:05
Hi, everyone, Welcome to the podcast. I'm Todd Moleski here with Nicole
0:08
Hasey, and this is the last edition of twenty twenty three for our new
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division ie NCAA Women's Hockey podcast, and we are happy you've joined us so
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far, and we hope to continue doing bigger and better things in twenty twenty
0:25
four. But for right now, we've got some games to recap from last
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week. We'll have an interview with Alexis Miller from the PWHL coming up,
0:33
and we will look ahead to some things that are happening before well really before
0:38
we get going in twenty twenty four around women's hockey. But Nicole, first,
0:44
let's look back at last week's action. We had a few games between
0:50
ranked teams. The highlight probably as going top of toward the top of the
0:57
rankings, was Minnesota hosting Wisconsin Number two versus number three, ended up in
1:02
a split in which, you know, seems fair given that those teams are
1:06
probably pretty well matched and know each other really well. And for me,
1:11
it was a really physical series and a really you could tell this was a
1:17
rivalry kind of series. What to you did? Did that surprise you at
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all? And I think that maybe is you know, kind of what we
1:23
expect out of this group, isn't it. Yeah, it's funny. I
1:26
watched with my husband and some friends and they were like, you know,
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this was I wouldn't say cordial, but it was a nicer rivalry. Maybe
1:33
over the last five handful of years, however you want to put it,
1:37
that, it hadn't been quite such a contentious and we got back to some
1:41
old school physical just every inch of the ice with hard fought for and there
1:48
were quite a few penalties, probably should have been several more, but yeah,
1:53
it was. Was it a bit of a callback to some games we've
1:56
definitely seen between these two teams or like these two teams in North Dakota sort
2:00
of in those those end of years of that program. So it's definitely been
2:02
a few years since it's been quite so contentious. But there's a lot of
2:07
personality on both these two teams. They know each other really well with so
2:09
many of them playing together internationally, And yeah, it was. I'm not
2:15
sure if we learned anything in terms of who should be ranked above the other
2:17
one. There's they're they're pretty close, but yeah, it was. It
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was very entertaining hockey, to say the least. One of the things that
2:27
stood out to me was so Abby Murphy and Britack Curl had this thing going
2:31
on throughout the week and it seemed like behind the play there were some chops,
2:36
there are some slashes, there are some pushes lost. Yeah, and
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then they've become teammates for the for Team USA in the rivalry series a couple
2:46
of days later. That's a really interesting dynamic. And uh, I'm looking
2:51
forward to the return series in Madison, I think in February, that is,
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to see where things have escalated two by that point, because there's something
3:01
really important on the line there, I would think by that point of the
3:04
season. But those kind of uh, you know, interpersonal dynamics really to
3:12
make a rivalry something something bigger sometimes well you know, I kind of right,
3:15
I think I kind of expected it from those two. It was also
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very interesting to see who else got involved, right I Kelly Gorbtenko was,
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I don't which who probably knows Abby from playing in Illinois IFA Murphy definitely had
3:29
some thoughts throughout three. Yeah, there was there were a lot of people,
3:34
and uncharacteristically from Sheila obviously, but yes, it was uh, it
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was fun to watch for the fans got to watch two really good and interesting
3:43
games. You know, I don't think either team that lost their game played
3:47
like the scores were five three and five one. And I don't feel like
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either the losing teams in those two games like looked like a team that lost
3:55
poorly, like lost Balley. Wisconsin made it five to three in the final
4:00
minute of that first game, So like, arguably they look like two games
4:03
where the winning team super dominated. And I'm not entirely sure that you could
4:09
say that about either of those games. They did in stretches, but was
4:13
interesting to me that both of those scores were a little lopsided, and I
4:15
thought in the end that the teams are closer than the two scores indicated.
4:19
Obviously, the split on the weekend then sort of balances it out. But
4:25
you know, Wisconsin was struggling with connections in that first game, and Minnesota
4:30
just took advantage. Man, the number of times in that first game that
4:33
Wisconsin would come close to scoring would either whiff on a puck or miss the
4:38
pass or things like that, in Minnesota would go right down to the other
4:41
ended score. It felt like any time Wisconsin was getting close to putting things
4:46
together and gaining some momentum and cutting that score, and half Minnesota would would
4:50
just go on the other end and put the puck in the net. So
4:54
super demoralizing for the Badgers in that first game, and I think just really
4:58
important for the Gophers feelable to do that and get some scoring from players that
5:02
are not named Dammy Murphy. Yeah, a really interesting game in ECAC hockey
5:08
on Saturday, number seven. Quinnipiac goes into number twelve Princeton and gets a
5:13
six to five overtime victory, which really was a seesaw game because you know,
5:18
Princeton scores first, then Quinnipiac takes a three to one lead by the
5:23
end of the first period. Princeton comes back with four in the second period,
5:27
and then Quinnipiac scores twice on a major power play in the third period
5:31
to tie. Then Sadie Pert scores her second of the game in overtime for
5:35
the winner. Boy A lot to digest from that one, not the least
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of which is that there there was some There were some offense there and maybe
5:47
not the defense that either coach would have liked to have seen. Yeah.
5:53
The other thing too, is that, Like you said, Sarah Philly scored
5:56
and then you know, the three Quinnipiac falls to end that period came in
5:59
the fire. It came in like within five minutes, and then same thing
6:01
in the second three scores from Princeton in less than three minutes I think to
6:08
end out the second. It's just it was very interesting to me how quickly
6:11
like it was like they couldn't break through, and then once they did it
6:14
with like unlocking something and then like I guess the period break would would flip
6:17
the switch again. So yeah, I expect you know, Quinnipiac, particularly
6:24
as a team that I always think of as almost defense first. I know
6:28
that's something that they you know, that has changed particularly over the last couple
6:30
of years with some of the offensive players that they have, but they're just
6:33
a really stout defensive team and have have sort of built out from that.
6:39
But yeah, I was not expecting a six to five game, particularly as
6:43
you check in on scores and you're like, oh, it's three to one
6:45
and then you're like waited, spied three. So when I saw that was
6:48
going into overtime, I was like, what has happened in this game?
6:54
Yeah? And you wonder if that's you know, an opportunity that Princeton's gonna
7:00
really regret letting get away, having a two goal lead in the third period
7:04
and not being able to close it out. You know, kind of mid
7:06
table in the ECAC QUINNIPIAX, you know, more towards the top, still
7:14
obviously behind in terms of point percentage, behind Colgate, behind Clarkson, behind
7:18
Saint Lawrence, and and behind Cornell too, which is still catching up in
7:24
games. But it's it does feel like that's you know, you know,
7:29
Princeton's you know, if there's a point difference or a half point difference,
7:31
since we're we're talking eca C hockey, which we have to mention half points
7:36
in the standings, if it comes down to that by the end of the
7:40
season, Uh, that's that's gonna be one. I feel like they're they're
7:44
gonna regret not sealing that one. Well, particularly interestingly because we've talked about
7:49
major penalties, but Quinnipiac made that comeback in the third period, scoring twice
7:54
on a major penalty, which was the only scoring in that third period.
7:58
So Princeton carried that lead in and had it through you know a good portion
8:01
of that period and then so yeah, just it's another sort of sign posts,
8:09
like a point that I will remember going back when we're talking about major
8:11
penalties and the impact they've had this season. I think this is one of
8:15
those games where you know, you really see how how that's changing the course
8:20
of the schedule this year. So yeah, just a thing that I keep
8:24
keeping an eye on as we talked about how many major penalties there have been
8:28
and what's being called and and how I think the game has to keep evolving
8:31
and players have to evolve to how that's being called and how I think,
8:37
you know, as the game gets more physical. It's just something that we're
8:39
going to see more of. Yeah, And and when teams get those opportunities
8:43
or you know, a five on three chance like we saw in the Wisconsin
8:48
Minnesota series where Minnesota didn't capitalize on it, and then as soon as a
8:52
player comes out of the box for Wisconsin, uh turns into a shorthanded breakaway
8:58
in a tying goal and off win the Badgers. Uh. Yeah. Yeah,
9:01
those opportunities, you know, really become big when when you talk about
9:07
special teams play, you know, yeah, and how quickly like even if
9:11
the momentum that comes from killing one of those penalties, right and the other
9:16
way like like U n D I think did not allow a power play goal
9:20
and several power plays this weekend, and so just the way that that can
9:22
also change, like it doesn't necessarily have to be an offense to play that
9:26
the changes momentum. In a game number six Minnesota, the Looth played at
9:31
Saint Cloud Satan, the eighth ranked team in last week's pole d Louth overtime
9:37
win on Friday night. But Saint Cloud whether really impressive comeback or you know,
9:43
not come back, but you know, rebounded nicely from from from that
9:46
disappointment to get a five to one win on Saturday. What what did you
9:52
take away from that? I mean I didn't get to see any of it,
9:54
but the score of it, you know, said something to me that,
9:58
well, you know, pretty good week for Saint Cloud even though the
10:01
first two games they played the tie against Minnesota and a shootout loss on Tuesday
10:07
and then overtime loss on Friday. Uh, maybe not the results they would
10:11
get like to get there, but coming back and finishing off the week with
10:15
with a five to one win, that that told ay something, Yeah,
10:18
like you're going back even further, you're talking like what a total of nine
10:22
days where they they beat Ohio State, Yeah, they lost to Minnesota on
10:28
Tuesday and was it in overtime, and then here with the overtime loss and
10:35
then the win over Minnesota, Duluse, like Saint Cloud just wrote their resume
10:39
in a matter of like what eight or nine days, which is just kind
10:41
of crazy. But you know, I appreciate when we talked so much last
10:45
week about like, you know, can there should there be a fifteen Saint
10:48
Cloud seems to have a note that we have any any influence, but it
10:54
feels like they took that personally and decided to go out and show like,
10:58
yep, we have this resume and this what we're capable of, and we
11:01
you know, need to be talked about nationally and so you know, I
11:05
think what was interesting is that two one overtime win and that first game just
11:09
because we've seen more scoring, like obviously the next day that that was an
11:13
interesting game. That was the you know what um D can do well,
11:16
but both teams really can do on defense. The overtime goal was scored four
11:22
on three. Um D was on the power play, which I think makes
11:26
a big difference too, right, and when you're talking four on three and
11:28
then at Saint Cloud State with that huge ice sheet, having those four skaters
11:31
really makes a difference. But just in terms of those teams defense, and
11:35
I think maybe the two to one is what I was expecting. So that
11:39
that that five to one win on Saturday or on Sunday Saturday was really just
11:43
I think a statement from from Saint Cloud State, you know, to really
11:46
go out and scoring from several different players. I will say that you know,
11:52
it was five to one because they did get two empty net goals,
11:56
so it was a closer game. UMD scored their single goal with a little
12:01
over five minutes to play and then they pulled their goalie and went really aggress
12:05
him to try and find that extra space. But yeah, just uh,
12:09
you know, Saint Clouds State keeps doing it, and I'm really it's really
12:13
impressive. I think, you know, they're you know that Clara and Lorovo
12:18
is going to do what she can do. You know, she's so strong,
12:20
so great with the puck. But to see some of these other players,
12:24
in younger players, you know, Alice Sorrel has been doing a bunch.
12:26
Avery Ferrell scored in both games this weekend for Saint Cloud's State, and
12:31
a lot of the goals were taking much like UMD did Agast Wisconsin Wesco.
12:37
Really taking the opportunities when the puck came loose and being able to bury those
12:45
and being in the right position, and when they had their chances, they
12:50
put them in the net, which is I think super important obviously that they
12:54
they they didn't let the opportunities pass them by, kind of like we were
12:58
saying with the power play, and you have to you have to take them
13:01
when they're there, and it's a strong defensive team, and they really did.
13:05
Yeah, we had two games on Sunday and that wrapped it up.
13:09
We had Brown beating New Hampshire and we had a Ohio State beating Minnesota State.
13:13
That that's it for for the first half of the season. We are
13:18
we're shutting it down. No more NCAA women's hockey on the schedule until December
13:24
twenty ninth, so we get a couple of weeks to regroup and take stock
13:30
of things as as hockey fans here, and I'm sure the players and coaches
13:33
will do a lot of the same around the holidays, but I think it's
13:37
a. It's it's an important time to you know, maybe just think about
13:45
what we've seen in this first half and who would become the the you know,
13:50
the teams to watch. And obviously you're you're looking at Ohio State sixteen
13:54
and two, number one in the polls. It's really that you know,
14:01
the usual suspects, right Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin. We've talked about
14:05
Coldgate and Clarkson. Clarkson still undefeated by the way, eighteen ohe two.
14:11
It's yeah, Clarkson receiving two first place quotes votes in our poll, but
14:16
also ranking fifth. It's really interesting. Yeah, there's some uncertainty there about
14:22
strength of schedule I think is the question I was sharing yet that earlier.
14:26
I think there are strength of schedule ranks eleventh in the country right now,
14:31
you know, out of forty four, so you know, not a you
14:35
know, not a lot of highly ranked opponents so far. I think that'll
14:41
change a little bit the more they, you know, go through ECAC towards
14:45
the second half of the season. But that's not helping them right now in
14:50
terms of NPI and pair wise. But it I wonder if if we're talking
14:58
here at the end of the first half about are we looking at the same
15:03
the same teams as as we always have, uh for being what you would
15:09
consider championship contenders in a couple of months. I mean, yeah we are.
15:15
And you know, I think that's the forever problem that we're dealing with
15:18
and that we you know, Parody has gotten infinitely better and you know,
15:24
a team like Saint Cloud State pushing their way forward, and you know,
15:26
it's been a couple of years since Clarkson has been you know, this high
15:30
up and this obvious a contender for a championship. But yeah, it has
15:37
you know, going back. So I have like all, I get a
15:41
pup every time, you know, I cover a frozen four and so I
15:45
have them displayed and it's got the four team logos on it. And it's
15:48
always interesting to see like Suddenley, Ohio State shows up right and then they're
15:52
there and all of them or like once Colgate, like twenty eighteen, Clokgate
15:54
and Clerkson we're both there and now like Colgate is a perennial and so you
15:58
know, like to some extent it does EBB and flow. You know,
16:03
good for teams like Colgate and Clerkson that have pushed their way in and then
16:07
have it wasn't a one and done sort of situation, right like, it
16:10
wasn't like just a special team or a special roster. But yeah, it
16:15
is. Unfortunately, it is the satan few teams that we've been talking about.
16:18
But you know, again there are only forty four and we're looking at
16:22
you know, we're talking about seven teams right now, So that's that's also
16:26
not the worst you know, the worst percentage. It's I don't think I
16:30
mean, I think you know, a particularly non WHA fans would not love
16:33
that. You know, your top three teams are are Ohio State, Minnesota,
16:37
and Wisconsin, and it's you know, there is that the problem of
16:41
sort of the rich get richer. But I do think one of the things
16:45
that we've seen is that like, while those teams are getting you know,
16:49
some of the biggest names when we talk about recruiting the when I make the
16:53
list of like the U eighteen national teams and where they are committed to college,
16:59
those are the only schools that are getting some of these players. And
17:03
I think that's the important We're seeing more and more other schools than sort of
17:07
the top tier gets you know, big name recruits and that's what it's going
17:11
to take. And then you know, even stuff like when Jadagan goes to
17:15
Brown and starts to elevate you know, the profile there and and just it's
17:21
it's not a quick thing, right, Like it's going to take some time,
17:23
and so you know not to you know, only love on say Cloud
17:29
State this year, but like I think, you know, it shows what
17:32
they what can be done right like with the using the transfer portal and having
17:37
the right coach and all those sorts of things can allow a team to go
17:41
from you know, only when in a couple of games a few years ago
17:45
to being in the national conversation. And so I do think there is a
17:48
pathway there. But yeah, it also is a problem. I don't I
17:52
don't think anybody would unless they're a hardcore less iiO State, Minnesota Wisconsin fan
17:59
would argue that, you know, it's a problem that there needs to be.
18:03
We need to see more teams have a chance and be good enough to
18:07
be fighting for that over and over so it's not just the same sing groups
18:11
over and over again. When we come back on the podcast, we will
18:15
have Alexis Miller, the PWHL Director of Player Experience, talking about the new
18:19
Women's Hockey League starting January first with their first games. We've seen them in
18:23
some exhibition games and you know, training camps and real good conversation we had
18:30
with Alexis about what's to come. So stay with us on the podcast.
18:41
Hi, everybody, Welcome back to the podcast, the USCCHO Women's College Hockey
18:45
Podcast. We're excited today to be joined by Alexis Miller, who is the
18:49
director of Player Experience with the new PWHL, who will be dropping the puck
18:55
starting their first season on January first. Welcome Alexis, thank you, I'm
19:00
happy to be here. We're happy to have you. We just we know
19:04
that, you know, it might necessarily seem like an obvious conversation to people
19:10
that are like, why is the college podcast doing this, But we know
19:12
that most everyone in your league will have played, will have come from the
19:17
NCAA. Obviously they're not everybody, but that's a huge portion of the players
19:23
that are playing, and everybody's sort of favorite college players they can follow them
19:27
into this league, and so we thought it was a perfect time to kind
19:30
of talk about, you know, why the league was necessary, what a
19:36
big deal this is, how important it is for collegiate players to be able
19:41
to continue their career kind of all that sort of stuff. And I thought,
19:45
particularly since you were the player experience person, and one of the things
19:48
we I always hear, at least from from players in the past was was
19:53
about how positive their college experience was and how it's sort of professional level it
19:57
was, and kind of what it was like when they left school and found
20:03
that that wasn't what was available and why that made them want to push for
20:06
more, which I think is the big crossover here. So can you maybe
20:10
just tell us a little bit like what you want to tell us about the
20:12
league and getting started and how you ended up in your role and why we
20:17
why we're excited for the puck to drop. Yeah. Absolutely, so.
20:19
I think the first thing is exactly what you described is what I had experienced
20:25
going from Boston University to the CWHL as a player myself, and that transition
20:32
was pretty stark. My college experience was definitely significantly more professional at the time
20:38
than what my professional experience had looked like. And so I had been playing
20:45
in the c WHL when it folded. I was a co chair of the
20:48
Players Association alongside Liz Knox, who many folks know as one of our I
20:55
guess forming members of the p w HPA and has sat in the CBA negotiations
21:02
and has it been a pivotal voice for players throughout this movement. And from
21:10
my onset at the PWHPA, I had transitioned into a operational role with the
21:17
association after getting pregnant with my first kid, and since then I've been fortunate
21:23
to have two more after that, and so my playing career certainly ended and
21:30
it led its way to giving me the opportunity to be the director of Player
21:34
Experience at the PWHL and a lot of my role currently day to day is
21:41
really making sure that that player lends and player vision is brought into a lot
21:45
of the decision making that's happening at the league level in the Hockey Operations department,
21:51
and knowing where that experience has lacked in the past, I think has
21:56
been a big focus for a lot of the stuff that is being changed or
22:00
being brought to the table in our new league. As you can imagine,
22:06
there's about a million things that are being handled on the day to day and
22:11
we're really trying to elevate the experience in every capacity that we possibly can for
22:17
our players, but also for our fans, for our staff, for the
22:22
next generation. Uh, and just making it exceptional and the first of its
22:27
kind. How much of you talked about the you know, the things you
22:32
you want to have happened, being informed by the things that maybe didn't happen
22:37
or it happened in a way that didn't want them to happen in other leagues.
22:41
How much do you hear from from people from players just saying like,
22:47
this is what we need and how do you steer that conversation? And from
22:51
you know, many voices saying this is the way we want to go to
22:53
a kind of one one strategy or one opportunity to make things work the way
23:02
that that the majority of players want them to work in the b w h
23:06
L. Yeah, I think the benefit here has been the time that it's
23:12
taken, obviously to establish this league, and through the negotiation process of the
23:21
CBA, a lot of that information was brought to the table when talking about
23:26
things we laugh In part of the CBA it talks about when on the road,
23:33
specifically that players should in no capacity carry their equipment with them on their
23:40
laps on the bus, right, and like the CBA explicitly details that,
23:47
and if you weren't familiar with professional women's hockey up until this point, you
23:55
probably never guess that that was something that we had done right in the past.
24:00
And I think that through that process of establishing this CBA, a lot
24:06
of those pieces that players felt weren't professional were brought to light, added in
24:11
there to ensure that those things weren't going to happen again. And I know
24:17
that Stan Casten often says, like, in year one, we're going to
24:22
make mistakes and it's inevitable, but I think everyone's very much so on the
24:26
same page of realizing that things aren't going to be perfect right out of the
24:30
gate, but everybody is more than willing to raise their hand and do whatever
24:33
they can to address those things in real time and to make those changes so
24:37
that come year two through year ten, through whatever it may be, that
24:41
we're getting progressively better and making sure that that experience is continuously elevated. It
24:48
feels really important that, like they have you sort of almost as like this
24:51
liaison as the person to bring those concerns and questions to right that like in
24:56
the past, who would feel those you know, like, hey, I
25:00
don't feel like this is what we should be doing. Could go to a
25:02
GM or a coach or but like the fact that you that this position exists,
25:07
like specifically to feel these things and here, like you know, a
25:11
breakdown happened somewhere, or you know something wasn't up to the part that you,
25:15
as the league office expects, Like having that way to communicate it feels
25:19
really important to keeping that going in the future, that like, there will
25:22
be mistakes, but there's an avenue to correct them quickly. Yeah. Absolutely.
25:26
And I oversee the team services directors in each of the markets, and
25:33
so I collaborate with them on a daily basis, and obviously their boots on
25:40
the ground with the teams in real time and are working directly with the players
25:44
to ensure that all of those pieces and all of those expectations are being upheld
25:48
within those individual markets. And so as things are happening in real time,
25:52
we're communicating and resolving things and giving the players the best possible experience that we
25:59
can provide. And I think at the same time, I was brought into
26:03
this role by Jana Hefford knowing that I do have a positive relationship with a
26:11
lot of the players where they do feel comfortable coming to me with questions,
26:17
with concerns, with whatever it may be. Knowing that there is that open
26:21
line of communication there, I think is definitely really important. And I don't
26:26
think director of Player Experience is a common title amongst the professional sports league ranks,
26:33
but I think that where we started and where we're going, it's been
26:37
an exciting addition to really focus on the players and providing them as much as
26:45
we possibly can. When you talked about the CBA and just how specific in
26:49
detail it gets in some of those spots, it got me thinking of,
26:52
you know, how long does that take the craft that and when you're going
26:56
into that much depth, how how do you you know, obviously it's a
27:03
negotiating thing, but how does that really set up what you want to do
27:10
in terms of, uh, you know, we have this idea, but
27:15
these are the ways we have to make it happen and they have to be
27:18
fair for for everyone. That's got to be a lot of people involved in
27:22
that, but you have to trust your leaderships as players I think two to
27:29
know that you're you're going in to get something that's going to be fair.
27:32
How how was that process done? And how long did it take. I
27:37
mean it took a while. I will say that we are are very fortunate,
27:42
UH that the five members who are presently on the p w h lp
27:48
A board UH spent countless hours amongst countless months at the table having these conversations
27:55
and having these negotiations, and really drawing on their individual experiences, both from
28:02
what they did experience in college and what they feel like that expectation should have
28:06
been combined with what they didn't have when they were playing professionally wherever it might
28:12
have been that they were playing. And I think that having their voices and
28:18
their lived experiences really allowed them to shed a light on the things that aren't
28:25
acceptable and to really make sure that those little details were included in the CBA,
28:30
to make sure that it was something that would never happen again. The
28:36
it's possible we might not even want to go here. We could talk just
28:37
about this, but like there has been so much fraud with the word professional,
28:41
right, and like what that means and what that implies about previous and
28:47
you know, whether it's just getting paid all of that stuff. There's so
28:51
much fraught with that, and I guess I just wanted to ask maybe what
28:53
it means to you when you're talking about like a professional standard or what as
28:57
a professional player they can excla. I think that's a really probably a really
29:02
important like that baseline is probably a really important part from where you're starting,
29:06
where the CDA came from. And I think it, like I said,
29:08
I think it's just a really fraught word, particularly within within hockey and how
29:12
we talk about the previous leagues and what happened before we got to this point.
29:18
Yeah. I think that the term professional obviously has various meanings depending on
29:26
who you are and what you've experienced. And I think our mindset and going
29:33
into the PWHL is really that the professional is that players have the support systems
29:41
in place. They've got the doctors, they've got the therapists, they've got
29:45
massage therapists, they've got uh space to call their own in the facilities,
29:51
they have their own strength and conditioning coach on site at the rink for them
29:56
where they get to go and train like athletes, right and they're not leaving
30:00
the rink to go pick up their nine to five or really just to make
30:06
ends meet beyond the rink, where hockey is their first priority and their first
30:11
job, and if they are seeking alternative work to help support them and make
30:18
ends meet. Beyond that, obviously, our players are welcome to seek other
30:25
employment opportunities, but hockey is number one. That's the biggest priority, and
30:30
I think that for some players that has maybe been a reality if you are
30:36
on the national team or at the highest level, but that opportunity hasn't been
30:41
afforded to the masses in this capacity previously. And I think that for so
30:48
long the term professional has been put out there because it was sort of just
30:56
what we called it, right and and what was out there was the most
31:02
professional that we had had, and so it was a title that fit with
31:04
it. But I think in this mindset, it's really just making it that
31:11
it is your profession first and foremost. And I think that that's the easiest
31:15
way for me to describe it, is that you're coming to the rank and
31:18
you're playing hockey and that's your main focus. I wonder if I can ask
31:22
you a little bit about some of the To me, this is really getting
31:26
into the nuts and bolts of hockey. But some of the things that we
31:30
saw the PWS Pohl trying in some of the scrimmages that we saw earlier in
31:37
the last couple of weeks, you know, making some rule changes, I
31:41
think, and trying some things out how much and I guess we can get
31:45
into it. Some of them. There's no icing allowed on penalty kills or
31:49
you know, you get called for icing on penalty kills when you're shorthanded.
31:55
I full length power plays, you get the two minutes no matter what.
32:00
So that was another thing. How were those received and why were those I
32:06
guess you know, you know, even options at that point in a scrimmage
32:12
environment, to see how it goes. Yeah, I think initially there's been
32:17
communications about how do we change the game subtly to differentiate ourselves while also not
32:29
wanting changes to be gimmicky or to change the game itself. And so we
32:36
just had conversations about what are those subtle changes that we could make with in
32:39
a game that would differentiate us without changing it as a whole. And we
32:45
utilized Utica as a perfect example to test them out right and to give gms
32:51
and coaches the opportunity to weigh in on things they like or don't like,
32:54
to give players the opportunity to weigh in on how it felt on the ice
32:59
for them and what experience was like with those rule changes. And now we're
33:02
moving into a period where we're sort of dissecting what those games were like and
33:07
what those rule changes are before we actually look to implement those rules, and
33:15
we're working off of the NHL rule set while also combining the double IHF rule
33:22
set that a lot of our national team players are accustomed to, and just
33:25
navigating what those rules are that we want to move forward with, but giving
33:31
ourselves an opportunity to really test them out and put them into action before making
33:37
a decision, and then taking in the feedback from everyone that we possibly can
33:40
on how that experience went. That's really interesting. That's definitely something that I
33:45
would have never thought of. That, Like when you start a new league,
33:49
those are decisions you get to make, Like what didn't you like about
33:52
how you have played in the various whether it's NCAA International. That's a fun
33:57
and sort of cool bonus of when you're starting from scratch to and like you
34:04
said, training camp, the time in Unico was a really good time to
34:07
be able to test some of that out. That's that's really fun. Yeah,
34:09
and it's it's fun to be able to to go to our GMS,
34:13
our coaching staff, our players and say, hey, like, what is
34:16
missing from the game, or what are you looking for change wise? Or
34:22
what rules don't you like? What rules do you wish you had? And
34:24
I know that a common one is players want to kick the pock off the
34:28
face off right. They don't want to have to be able to utilize their
34:30
stick, and so maybe that's something we look to implement. The long change
34:36
in the first and the third we tried that out because we thought, well,
34:40
will it create more offense? I don't know, but it was worth
34:45
a try to to navigate that, to see how players liked it, and
34:50
to even test did it create more offense? Unfortunately, there are statistics and
34:57
analysis and all those sorts of things that can happen and are happening on the
35:01
back end to be able to identify, like did we have more chances off
35:05
the rush with long changes in the first and the third? And it's an
35:09
exciting time to have all of those possibilities to even look at, to consider
35:15
and to explore things in our infancy stage well. And I think it's important
35:22
that you're coming from a starting point of what has existed before, or what
35:25
everybody knows doesn't have to be what we're doing going forward, right, Like
35:30
particularly, I think you know, in women's sports, it's often that like
35:34
it has to be exactly like the men's and like, I think it's important
35:37
to come at this and say, like, but we we don't have to
35:39
do it exactly the same, and we have we have options here, we
35:42
have created this. Now let's make it work for how we would what we
35:45
want. Absolutely, I think the uh there's a dream now for a lot
35:55
of NCAA players to go on and play in the p w h L.
36:00
And this is something that I think is gonna be interesting to see over the
36:04
next few years because there's not a lot of opportunities, right this is this
36:08
is something where it's gonnas gonna have to be a good fit for for teams,
36:13
but you're gonna see some really good players coming out of NCAA hockey in
36:16
the next couple of years. How is that kind of dynamic you think going
36:23
to going to shake out for teams, for gms, for coaches to try
36:28
to look at, you know, making sure we have the best available players
36:31
for us. But you know, while also you know, knowing that there's
36:36
you know, you have contracts, you have you know, some multi year
36:38
contracts, you have some one year contracts. It's it's a balancing game.
36:43
It seems like they're in terms of how you prepare for the future. And
36:47
that also seems like one of these things that can really be crafted from scratch
36:53
with a new league. How do you think that's going to shake out in
36:57
the next couple of years. Yeah, I would say that it has already
37:01
been top of mind for GMS, for hockey operations department, thinking through what
37:08
does it look like next year, what does it look like five years from
37:13
now? And obviously there's a lot of talent coming out of the college hockey
37:17
ranks. We know that, we see it all the time. I think
37:22
that them coming out of college and seeking those roster spots on our six teams
37:30
is first of all, going to continue to increase the level of competition,
37:35
the level play, and the caliber of the players that are competing in our
37:38
league. While at the same time, there are plenty of players that are
37:45
probably nearing the ends of their hockey careers but have worked tirelessly to get to
37:52
this point and want to see it through. And so I think over the
37:55
next little while, there'll be a bit of ebb and flow on seeing those
38:00
hirements occur as players finally did live out their professional hockey dreams and move on
38:07
to where life takes them thereafter, while also creating the space for that next
38:10
level of competition to move up into our teams. But I mean, as
38:16
everyone seems to already be thinking about, there will come a point where there
38:22
are very few opportunities left for those players to compete. And at the end
38:28
of the day, those are things that we're going to have to continue to
38:30
talk about, to navigate to figure out where those players can develop that they
38:35
aren't making our rosters. And it's no secret, right and it's something that
38:39
I think that we're all thinking about. Now. Do we have a solution
38:44
for it right away, No, but we're definitely well aware of it and
38:47
excited to see how much that competition betters us over the next handful of years.
38:54
I just want to like sort of clarify what what Todd would say,
38:59
like people listening that like there will be more professional like level graduates, then
39:06
there will be spots for those people in the league. It's something that I
39:09
think is an ongoing conversation, particularly in the w NBA that you're just that,
39:15
you know, I think as women's sports continue to grow, but in
39:19
your first year, you can't already be talking about expansion and making more roster
39:22
space. I assume that those conversations are ones that you all have. But
39:27
yeah, the thought of you know that if there's you know, a dozen
39:30
to two dozen you know, top tier graduates every year, there's just not
39:37
a place for every one of those players in the league at the moment.
39:40
Yeah, and it is definitely an unfortunate reality that there are not enough spaces
39:46
for everyone at this time. But as as I said, like, it's
39:52
definitely top of mind, and I think that it'll certainly prove to be a
39:57
challenge, but it also leads away for for some exciting changes down the road.
40:02
So now we're, you know, essentially two weeks when this comes out,
40:06
two weeks away from very first puck drop on something that many of you,
40:08
as you said, have been working on working towards looking forward to.
40:15
First of all, like just your your feelings and thoughts and where you're at
40:20
with that two week mark and knowing that that's coming, and then just like
40:23
maybe what people can be looking forward to and what you know, the excitement
40:28
is behind the scenes for this finally to come to fruition. It's a it's
40:32
very hard to articulate the amount of excitement that I have for a puck drop
40:38
on January first, and I know that it's something that you could feel when
40:43
we were all together in Utica for our preseason evaluation training camp, and it
40:50
was so nice to finally see the hockey happening. We've been doing this for
40:54
a number of months now, behind the scenes, getting everything ready and making
41:00
sure that come training camp start, that players were able to walk into their
41:05
facilities and their arenas and have everything available to them to be successful. But
41:08
now that we're nearing a puck drop, I'm just I'm so excited for for
41:15
the players to be hockey players and for the fans to fall in love with
41:20
not just our game, but our players who they are finally having access on
41:25
a regular basis to watch them play, but to also hear their stories and
41:30
and learn about who our athletes are as people. And they truly are all
41:36
wonderful human beings first and foremost, and I think that that's going to draw
41:42
so many people in as our players as people and then uh, they'll stay
41:46
obviously for the fantastic hockey. But I am just excited for the opportunity to
41:52
finally be here and for women's hockey to have the opportunity to be showcased on
41:57
every night of the week, uh, and to be readily available for people
42:00
to see in person, to watch virtually. And I'm excited for people to
42:06
finally learn here in the next little while where and how they can do.
42:10
The last thing for me is kind of a request or an idea. I
42:17
thought it would be awesome if there was a collaboration between p w h L
42:22
and the NCAA to have, you know, every year of the Women's Frozen
42:24
four is we wanted to be a destination event. There's an open Saturday night
42:30
and in the Frozen four you know location because the games happened Friday and Sunday.
42:38
Uh. That seems like to me, it would be a great night
42:40
for a p w h L game at that location where you have a lot
42:44
of women's hockey fans right there and could uh, you know help help you
42:49
know, expand and you know, make some bridges happen there. I don't
42:53
know if that's ever been discussed or is even a possibility. But uh,
42:58
that's that's something I I would love to see. I would imagine be a
43:01
lot of other people that would to. Well, it is not something that
43:06
has come to my mind until rate this moment. I just wrote it down
43:09
on my piece of paper on a phone call tomorrow. Naturally, I'd have
43:15
to assume that a lot of our fan base overlaps with the college fan base,
43:21
and we definitely have some neutral site games on the docket for season one,
43:28
and I am sure that a conversation can be had about where some future
43:32
neutral site games can occur in conjunction with other events, and maybe that's one
43:38
that just needs to get added to the schedule. The go Todd was the
43:43
first I heard of it too, but I like it, especially now that
43:45
we that Saturday. It's pretty wide open the way that they changed the Patty
43:49
ceremony, So all for it. Good idea. Yeah, that's another really
43:53
great piece about what we're doing. Is ideation like this that comes from folks,
44:00
you from from fans, from other media, whatever it may be.
44:04
Like, We're we're always open to hearing anything and everything and feedback whether it's
44:08
good or bad. Uh, we we want to hear it and we go
44:14
back and have conversations about it and uh, see how we can can bring
44:19
those ideas to life and do they make sense? And so I appreciate you
44:23
bringing that up because it wasn't something that I had thought about to this point.
44:28
Maybe somebody else had and has already started the conversations internally, but all
44:34
ideas are are welcomed. Happy. I guess I just wanted to ask,
44:40
like, I feel like if I were in your your position or one of
44:45
the players, like at this point, I would have a hard time believing
44:47
this is actually going to happen, Like at some point in Utico, was
44:50
it sort of like, oh my god, I can like this is It's
44:52
like when you're planning a vacation and then you're finally on the plane, like,
44:55
oh, it's really happening. It's like not just an idea. And
44:59
I wonder a if you in Utica, if you had any of those moments
45:02
or when you got there and then b if like that's just gonna when that
45:07
puck drop actually happens on the first if you think that that will be one
45:09
of those like I won't believe it till it actually happens. Yeah, it's
45:14
funny. It seems like every day we're having moments like that. I guess
45:21
a funny tidbit is when Annie Cammons and I were in Utica the first night
45:27
where we got there, we uh walked into the rink and saw our glove
45:34
dryers sitting there, and our skate sharpeners sitting there, and like all sorts
45:37
of equipment that was brought in by the New York equipment staff, and Annie
45:43
and I just ran over and hugged it. We were like, oh my
45:45
gosh, we have all of this stuff in this place. And as you
45:50
can imagine, behind the scenes, it's been a lot of really like starting
45:53
from scratch and true startup mode of like ordering every single individual piece of equipment,
46:01
medical supplies, apparel, like every single thing that you're seeing was hand
46:07
purchased by somebody behind the computer. And so to see it all in the
46:12
same place, to see players in their their team gear, in their team
46:15
apparel, to have like all of those things in one place and in real
46:22
life, it was just it was so nice to finally see it come to
46:24
fruition. And I have a feeling that the next six months are going to
46:29
be a lot of those little moments starting from from pock Drop in January,
46:35
and I think that most of our hockey op staff and our league staff are
46:38
actually going to be making the tour of home openers where the majority are going
46:44
to be in Toronto, and then we're going to hop on a train to
46:45
Ottawa and then we're gonna hop on a flight to Boston. And the fact
46:51
that that's a reality is is still a little bit unbelievable. And I think
46:57
the moment that we arrive in the rink seeing the fans experiencing that game for
47:05
the first time, we talk about it being a historic event, but I
47:10
don't think that we've quite hit the realization of how impactful that is. And
47:19
I can't wait to feel that on January first. Awesome, Well, thank
47:23
you so much for talking with us. We really appreciate it. We're very
47:27
excited for the league and excited for you know, the players that we covered
47:30
to be able to have this dream and know that they can look forward to
47:35
that beyond their NCAA career. Me too, I'm so excited that we're finally
47:39
here. We're hitting the ground running, and really everybody finally has a league
47:45
for everyone to call home. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd Mleski.
47:57
She is Nicole Hasey, and she is packing her bags, maybe not
48:00
yet, but packing her bags for Switzerland and THEAHFU eighteen Women's Hockey Championship.
48:07
Nicole tell us a little bit about that, what's going on there, how
48:13
big of a tournament that has become, and what you're excited to see.
48:17
Yeah, So I leave on January three to travel to Zoo, Switzerland,
48:22
where the EU eighteen Women's World Championships are being held this year. This will
48:25
be my third tournament in a row. We were lucky to see it in
48:29
Madison a year and a half ago when it was all over the summer to
48:34
make up for the one that had gotten canceled, and then last year I
48:37
traveled to poster shun this we didn't to cover it, so this will be
48:40
my third. I just think it's a really important tournament. One of the
48:44
reasons it became important to me was to see because we are not very far
48:49
removed from this tournament being broadcast on a fish eye like a door bell cam
48:54
from the rafters of the stadium it was being held in. So it just
49:00
when I am so passionate about getting more attention to women's hockey and to making
49:06
sure that these players get the coverage that they deserve as elite athletes going to
49:14
U eight teams. You know, in Sweden, I was the only English
49:19
speaking or like I guess, North American journalists there covering all the other coverage
49:23
coming from the IHF are from teams themselves, and so I just think it's
49:29
it's really important expansion of my coverage as a college writer to talk about these
49:34
players that will many of which have committed to play at American universities already,
49:38
particularly from the US and Canada, but more and more we're seeing players from
49:45
other international teams doing that as well, and so it is the future of
49:50
college hockey. They are the future of professional and international hockey as well.
49:54
Some of the teams you will see players like Adela chep of Belovova, who
50:00
both played for the Chechia national team and for the eighteen team, and I
50:05
think she's still sixteen seventeen and may still be eligible. So yeah, I
50:09
just it became being in Madison, being that close to the tournament, having
50:15
the access, being able to talk to these players that just don't normally get
50:20
that attention, was really important. And then I think second early to me,
50:23
we were in the auxiliary press box, we were on you and I
50:27
were on sort of the level and with the fans and the parents and the
50:31
number of people that came by and said thank you for talking about this,
50:36
thank you for the coverage, just really made it clear to me that,
50:39
like, people want to know more about this tournament, and it just isn't
50:45
it's not available. And so it kind of became my personal mission to make
50:49
sure that this gets the coverage that it deserves. So I will be in
50:52
Sweden for about Switzerland. I keep doing that. I will be in Switzerland
50:58
for two weeks. The tournament lasts about ten days. It's pretty quick,
51:01
it's pretty condensed. Even still, it's really always fascinating to me how much
51:06
teams can grow and change over the course of that short tournament. Last year,
51:10
the Americans won bronze first time. They hadn't played in the championship game,
51:15
and so that was, you know, a huge change. Sweden played
51:20
amazingly on home soil, then had kind of a disappointing gold medal game.
51:23
But we saw Finland, we saw Sweden, we saw chech You, we
51:30
saw all of these teams really pushing in a way at the elite teens,
51:32
pushing against the US and Canada in a way that we hadn't seen before.
51:37
So I am beyond excited to go cover this and see how what comes to
51:42
bass this year around. And of course last year was when you know,
51:45
the world sort of discovered Nella Lupasanova from Slovakia, and obviously she will be
51:54
back, but I think people are starting the people that we're already fans are
52:00
excited to watch and have coverage, and people that are starting to see that
52:05
they're you can you can be excited about and watch women at this level and
52:09
the same the development in the same way that that you can boys and men
52:13
is really cool. So I'm sure we will get at least a few more
52:19
social media sensation goals from Nella and then we'll see what the rest of the
52:22
tournament brings. One of the things that always sticks with me about that tournament
52:29
that was in Madison was they had to block off part of the I guess
52:34
it's kind of an atrium between the Cole Center and lebon Arena in Madison or
52:38
the TV compound because it was had to be that big that they had to
52:45
block off the area to have the truck there and all the equipment and everything
52:47
like that, and that as you're so as you're walking in you see this
52:51
whole production, it's like this, this is a big deal, as it
52:53
should be, and this is you know, starting to get that same kind
52:57
of attention. And I think that's the you know, having it visualize,
53:02
having it accessible at that level is part of the ways that it you know,
53:07
just becomes normal that that yeah, this is this is the way it
53:13
should be, and this is the the attention that that you should have on
53:15
these tournaments at this level. And looking back on it now when you're talking
53:20
about the doorbell camera and it's like, yeah, that was that was way
53:23
too way too recently, much too recently for where we're at now to be
53:31
still in that same conversation. But uh so, well, it's telling too
53:36
that you and I think that that camera compound was like a big deal because
53:39
we also don't see that in the college game, right, Yeah, like
53:44
the fin Frozen four is the only time that we see anything like that.
53:49
Yeah, but yeah, I'll be well, we will record one more time
53:52
before I even have some I'll do a little bit more set up for that,
53:57
And as I said, I talked to Larastelder, so we'll have an
53:59
interview with her a little bit about ZOOG and the work she's doing in Switzerland
54:05
and why it's important to have this tournament in the area and help grow girls
54:12
and women's hockey within Switzerland. And we're gonna try and figure out the time
54:15
difference and maybe record while I'm there as well. As Todd mentioned, there's
54:21
a couple there will be some non conference, some interesting non conference games in
54:24
the holidays, usually starting like that week between Christmas and New Year's and then
54:30
they'll usually be a couple of New Year's games too, So there's still plenty.
54:35
There's a rivalry series coming up. There's still plenty of women's hockey for
54:39
people to be watching, even while college players have to go take their exams
54:44
and get their little bit of break. So we hope that you guys all
54:47
keep watching. As we mentioned, the PWHL drops their popcut in January first,
54:52
So yeah, thank you all so much for joining us with this.
54:54
We're thrilled the response to the podcast has received. We're excited to keep doing
55:00
it and talking about it and getting more people excited about the sport. Halle
55:06
holidays to all of our listeners. We hope that everybody has a safe and
55:09
happy couple of weeks and we will talk to you again in the new year.