A New Challenger Appears

Let me preface this article by saying that Wednesday's entry where I asked that you embrace the NWHL as the last hope for professional women's hockey was a bit of a red herring. If you've been a follower of this blog for some time, you know that I've had a problem with the NWHL since nearly the founding of that league. Granted, I do believe they deserve credit for the good things they have done - expansion to Minnesota, their social media presence, and the relationships they have with NHL clubs - but I still firmly believe that their model for women's hockey is highly unsustainable due to the fact investors can walk away any time they seemingly like. In saying that, today's news had been known by me for a number of days, but I had agreed to keep the story quiet.

In a release today, former CWHL board member and financial supporter W. Graeme Roustan proposed to the current CWHL board for his taking over of the board and replacing it with board members of his choosing in order to keep the CWHL running. He wrote, "I would like to immediately move forward with replacing all of you as Directors/Members and bring in my own team of Directors/Members with the intent of carrying on the CWHL next season and beyond," and asked for a response from the CWHL Board of Directors by Friday, April 12 at noon eastern-time.

Record scratch, double-take, and we now have a potential new future for women's hockey.

Look, there's absolutely zero information that Roustan has published or released that says that what he wants to do will work. We do know he left the CWHL board after being denied the opportunity to see financial documents about the league, and there's more than a good chance he took his money he giving to the league for their operations with him. In saying this, we do know that Roustan is a venture capitalist - he has money - and he owns The Hockey News - he's a hockey fan - so it seems that he's positioned well to take the reins and steer the CWHL away from the dark chasm of nothingness if the board agrees to turn over the league to him.

Of course, they may opt not to do that, possibly out of spite for what Roustan did, and that's within their rights. What does Roustan do at that point with the CWHL all but dead and gone?

I went down a Google rabbit hole today and found that he's been working at establishing some sort of women's hockey league since leaving the CWHL as this new business was registered with the Federal Government on February 25, 2019. Roustan, for the record, left the CWHL in late November 2018, so it seems he either saw the writing on the wall with his departure or he was willing to wait for the right moment to act.

With the NHL throwing their support behind the NWHL, one has to wonder if Roustan will be able to compete with the American-based league if he's granted what he wishes in taking over the CWHL. Again, Roustan has money and is connected to people who have money, so he may have investors and buyers lined up already. If he includes the players at the board room table, he'll likely get full buy-in from the CWHLPA as the 120-or-so players that found themselves out of work on Sunday suddenly find themselves employed once more. Sponsors and investors that partnered with the CWHL before could continue their working relationships with the CWHL as well, although I suspect that Roustan and his board will want to review those relationships as well.

In other words, this may be the phoenix that truly rises from the ashes if CWHL Board Chair Laurel Walzak and the rest of the board of directors vote to turn over control to Roustan. This is where there may be some trouble as Walzak can't let personal differences and hurt feelings regarding what Roustan said about her affect the futures of 120 women who find themselves without a home. Whatever personal problems there are between Roustan and members of the CWHL Board of Directors, they should not enter the discussion when it comes to this vote in turning over control to Roustan. Humans are fallible, however, so I hope they can see the bigger picture and put personal squabbles aside.

If the vote results in the board denying Roustan the opportunity to assume control, it seems as though he may have an answer on May 1 with the International Women's Hockey League already registered as a business and ready to start doing business. Yes, there will be all sorts of things to sort out if the vote is denied - trademarks for team logos and names, negotiating new contracts for rinks, and more - but whatever happens over the next week, it seems that W. Graeme Roustan was true to his word when he said he would continue fighting for women's hockey in this country.

The next few weeks should be very interesting on the women's hockey front with this new development.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 341

Ladies and gentlemen, for the sixth consecutive year, The Hockey Show on UMFM is proud to offer this exclusive contest to the first sixteen people who enter. The Survivor: NHL Playoffs pool is a Survivor-style pool where you select one of the contestants - in this case, an NHL team - from a random drawing board, and that's your team for the contest. You're only out when your team is out, so it follows the rules of Survivor to a tee! Want in? Wanna know how to play? Read on!

SURVIVOR: NHL PLAYOFFS

There are a few requirements that I need to cover first. These are REQUIREMENTS, so if you can't fulfill them, please don't ruin the fun for someone else.

1. You must call into the show on Thursday night between 5:30pm and whenever we fill all the spots in the contest. I will be sticking around to ensure we have all 16 spots filled with contestants, so don't think that your opportunity to get in ends when the show ends.
2. A phone number and an email address. If you're calling us, I'm pretty sure you have at least one of these already.
3. A desire to watch your chosen team's progress in the NHL Playoffs.
4. It's helpful to have a Twitter account so that we can tweet you info when needed. If you have one, please follow me at @TeebzHBIC as I will tweet out stuff about Survivor throughout the contest!

So the top two items in that list are the absolute, must-have requirements that you must fulfill. That third one is also pretty important in that if you have no interest in watching hockey, you may suffer a little when it comes to the fun part of this contest. And if you don't want to call in, don't complain about the availability of this contest. If you're calling long-distance to reach us, spend the fifty cents for us to get your info. We'll call you back so you don't take any additional costs on your phone bill. Good? Good.

Now, if you're aware of the Survivor pools, you basically just pick a name out of a hat, and that person on Survivor is your person for the run of the show. If he or she is voted off the island, the game for you is over. We're going to do something similar. Whomever calls in will need to select a number between one and sixteen. Those numbers will have a corresponding team assigned to them randomly. Whatever number you've chosen will select your team for the playoffs. Sounds easy, right?

For example, Beans calls in at 5:30pm. We put him on the air, and he chooses #7. The team associated with #7 is the San Jose Sharks. Beans is now cheering for the San Jose Sharks. I call in, and I chose #10. Team #10 is the Toronto Maple Leafs. I am now cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs... regretfully.

I'll post an image with the corresponding names on HBIC, and we'll let the games play out. If San Jose meets Toronto in the Stanley Cup Final, Beans and I will face-off in a Survivor-style match-up where one team will advance, and one team will be sent home/voted off the island. If San Jose beats Toronto in their series, my Survivor: NHL Playoffs is over.

Once a team is eliminated, we will call you back so that you may be ready to deliver your thoughts on your team's effort in the playoffs in a Survivor-style ending like the one below. Let me repeat this: WE ARE GOING TO CALL YOU ONCE YOU ARE ELIMINATED. Make sure you're around so we can call and get your team's exit interview done! Here's former MLB infielder Jeff Kent with your example.

There won't be any money for the winner, but there will be prizes. But please don't whine like Jeff Kent did. You can say "my team sucks" or whatever, but we're working on getting those people who are eliminated on the air to discuss their teams' issues that led to their demise. Of course, you may not even care about the NHL Playoffs, but we do expect you to be able to speak about your chosen team's problems, so please watch SportsCenter at least.

As stated above, there will be prizes. Not everyone, though, will get a prize. Like Survivor, we'll randomly award prizes based on specific events happening. We'll organize the winner's prize once we finish getting everything together, but here are the four challenges being offered this year: first team eliminated, first shutout earned, first hat trick, and first upset. Prizes will be awarded to the contestant who successfully "wins" challenges, so there's hope for everyone in this contest in terms of possibly getting a prize.

Sound good? If you have questions, please email me. If you have comments, leave them below. If you simply hate this idea or hate me, leave that info in the comments too. I'd like to address all concerns before we get this contest rolling tonight.

The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you need another way to listen. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, but we highly recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or perhaps another browser such as Chrome. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

Having lost faith in Facebook, I spend far less time on that site for good reasons. In saying that, you can still email all show questions and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! We're here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Beans will run the annual Survivor: NHL Playoffs pool while Svenny answers calls, gets your info, and adds his thoughts when he can as we talk potential playoff match-ups, team selections, and more on The Hockey Show found exclusively on 101.5 UMFM, on the UMFM app, on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 4, 2019: Episode 341

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Deep Breath... And Go!

Ok, so it happened. It really did happen, and it's not going to change. Jayna Hefford was on Sportsnet tonight and continued to offer her side of the story - I find it to be rhetoric, but whatever - about the CWHL's model not working and the need to fold the league in order for women's hockey to move forward. The league has been laid to rest, the dirt thrown atop the coffin, and the grave site is official. The CWHL is dead, and accepting this fact is the first step in moving forward from the period of grieving.

Deep breath.

It felt as though the NWHL put on their best dancing shoes and found a dance floor on the grave of the CWHL when, just 48 hours after the announcement of folding, the NWHL announced they had secured the CWHL's annual $50,000 payment and would be expanding into the markets of Toronto and Montreal. Those two markets were the key markets in all professional women's leagues that have come and gone, and they were the centerpieces to the CWHL. To have the NWHL seemingly sweep in and kick the corpses aside made a few people - me included - a little defensive.

Again, deep breath.

I was accused on Twitter of being "that person" who had nothing good to say about the NWHL. I'd like to clarify that that statement isn't entirely true. Yes, I was harshly critical of some of their business practices, accounting methods, and overall approach to the game, but they did a number of good things that need to be recognized.

First, finally getting the Minnesota Whitecaps to join the NWHL was a move of sheer brilliance. There was no doubt that Minnesota was a gold mine just waiting to be claimed, and they certainly showed incredible return-on-investment for the NWHL. While no one should be surprised that Minnesota was a successful market as selling hockey there is like opening a water stand in the desert, the fact that the team in Minnesota was more-than-successful both on and off the ice only reinforces the smart decision that the NWHL made in bringing Minnesota into the fold.

Second, the NWHL's social media strategy has always been superior to anything that the CWHL did, and I will credit the NWHL for using an unwavering resolve for shameless self-promotion via social media to really get their messages, promotions, and information out to the masses. The CWHL failed miserably at social media, and the team accounts, while occasionally inspirational and informative, often resorted to grade-school antics between themselves and some of their followers.

Finally, the synergies that were created by the NWHL in partnering with NHL teams were superior to those partnerships that the CWHL forged. In fact, having the Pegulas own a team allowed them to do a lot more with the Beauts than what the Flames and Leafs ever provided to the Inferno or Furies, respectively. While the bond between the Canadiens and the Canadiennes was strong, it still couldn't match what the Beauts were receiving and may have even fallen short of what the Riveters received from the Devils. In short, the NWHL may have formed better partnerships with NHL clubs than the CWHL franchises did.

Credit given where credit is due. Once more, deep breath. This might actually work.

The first thing that the NWHL should do, but appears that they won't, is review the markets they're in. They indicated on one of their releases that they were investigating a potential Connecticut Whale move in the future, but there are other glaring problems that I see when looking at the cities in which they play.

One example? Why is Boston such a poorly-attended team when it's in one of the largest markets that's supposed to be a "hockey city"? The Blades, when they called the city home, may have had trouble keeping fans as they bounced between rinks and had no household names on the roster, but the Pride should have been an easier sell with Olympians on the roster and a steady home in Warrior Arena. Yet they averaged just 706 fans over eight home games last season - a total of 5648 people in a season. That's almost unbelievable, but the numbers were published by the NWHL. Why does Boston not show up to watch women's hockey?

Regardless, deep breath. Here's why these deep breaths are needed.

This, in theory, CAN work. If a not-for-profit model worked for so long, a for-profit model should be able to pick up the pieces and start working with those sponsors and backers to get things rolling. It's not perfect as there is a lot of money being left on the table without the inclusion of Calgary, but the NWHL seems confident enough to add two more teams in Canada's biggest markets. I fear this might be a bigger jump than they should make at this time, but time will tell if this was a wise move.

The harsh reality is that there are no other options for fans of women's hockey at this very moment. Even if you don't like the NWHL for whatever reason, one has to look at this objectively as a viable option for women who want to play professional hockey because, at the end of the day, professional women's hockey gets relegated to a niche sport once more at best if the NWHL now fails. And if the NWHL fails, the naysayers and internet trolls win because women's hockey will only be "relevant every four years" at the Olympics.

Look, I'm not saying you have to buy season's tickets and every piece of merchandise that you can find, but that would help immensely. There will be players - more than a few, it seems - who opt not to play in the NWHL, and that's their right and their freedom to choose. I was likely one of Dani Rylan's biggest critics and certainly one of her league's biggest detractors, but I need to swallow my pride because this may be professional women's hockey's last chance to be a part of the North American sports landscape.

I won't buy tickets because there's no team near me. I'm not going to buy merchandise because it costs a minor fortune in shipping to get it to me. I understand that after everything I said above, I'm doing the opposite of what the NWHL needs - solid revenue streams. But I do realize that this may be the only league for women's professional hockey for what could be a very long time.

Take a deep breath, women's hockey fans, and let the anger and frustration dissipate because this might very well be our last chance at having a professional hockey league for now where we can watch the best women to ever tie on a pair of hockey skates compete.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is This Brother Bear?

If it seems like there are more bears around hockey rinks this spring, you'd be correct. Specifically, there have been a pile of Alberta Golden Bears who have gone off to sign professional contracts with teams, and there was another one who inked a deal today as defenceman Graeme Craig pulled a Brother Bear and now finds himself among the AHL's Manitoba Moose!

The Moose, who opted to leave Sami Niku off their playoff roster, weren't specifically looking to add another player to their roster at this time, but when the opportunity to sign a player who had previous pro hockey experience at both the AHL and ECHL levels it wasn't a hard decision for GM Craig Heisinger, signing the defender to a one-year deal. While he's not eligible to play with Manitoba in the playoffs, the Moose will get a chance to get him into a couple of games before the end of the season to see what they have with the solid defenceman.

"It is nice to see him get rewarded with an AHL contract for all his hard work. He has been a leader for our program both on and off the ice, as well as in the classroom," Golden Bears head coach Ian Herbers said to Connor Hood of Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics. "It was a pleasure coaching him for the past season, and am sure he will do well in the newest chapter of his career."

As coach Herbers alluded to, Craig was an alternate captain with the Golden Bears, and he helped the team to three Canada West championship banners and one U SPORTS National Championship banner in his three years at the Edmonton-based university. During his three university seasons, Craig played in 83 games while scoring 18 goals and adding 23 helpers. While he showed he can play a rugged style of game in his first two seasons with the Golden Bears, Craig responded to his coach's demand for discipline, cutting some 27 penalty minutes off his season total of 45 one year ago.

Prior to his stint at the University of Alberta, Craig played the 2014-15 season in the Edmonton Oilers' system where he logged six AHL games with the Oklahoma City Barons - no points in those six games - and nearly an entire season in the ECHL with the Bakersfield Condors where he had five goals, five assists, and 58 PIMs in 60 games.

His junior career was marked with moves as he spent three-plus seasons with the Swift Current Broncos before getting dealt to the Saskatoon Blades for parts of two seasons before finishing his career with the Prince Albert Raiders. In 330 WHL games, Craig totaled 11 goals, 60 assists, and 373 PIMs. He played in just six WHL playoffs in his career and a total of zero AHL and ECHL playoff games, so moving to the Golden Bears was likely a brand-new experience with all the playoff action he saw there.

Apparently, this move was so stealthy by the Moose that they didn't even bother announcing it via social media or listing it as an official transaction. How does something like that go missed? C'mon, Moose. You're better than that. Or at least I thought you were.

In any case, it's nice to see a solid defender like Graeme Craig added to the Moose roster for the next season. He won't be as flashy as Sami Niku or Tucker Poolman, but he'll be one of those guys who will clear the front of the net, make good outlet passes, and will keep things simple in the defensive zone. There's nothing wrong with adding a guy like him to any roster.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Damning Silence

I'm the last person who should be demanding anything from former CWHL Commissioner Jayna Hefford, but it's hard for me to sit here and look at the events from the past 48 hours without wondering what Hefford did to prevent the CWHL from being shut down. Let's not forget that the Hockey Hall of Famer was inducted in part on the strength of her work in the league as a player, so she certainly had some skin in the game when it came to keeping the league going. Instead, her legacy will now include shuttering the very league which she helped to build alongside all of the accolades and achievements. As a player and as a person, I find it hard to believe that someone with as much pride in herself and in the CWHL that Jayna Hefford has would simply allow this to happen. That's why it's time for Jayna Hefford to start talking regardless of what the consequences are.

Hefford assumed the position of commissioner on an interim basis on August 1, 2018 after being named as Brenda Andress' replacement on July 19. In her first month on the job, she vowed to increase the visibility of women's hockey, and it seemed that happened this season as the league announced that it had set new records for attendance and viewers on television. It seems that visibility was improving, perhaps slower than anticipated, but improving nonetheless.

So her comments yesterday were all the more baffling when she stated,

"We had a really great season, we were able to grow the game, increase the visibility of our players, the awareness around the game, we had a great Clarkson Cup championship. But we've come to realize that under this economic model, it's not sustainable for us for the future.

"We feel like, in order to advance the game in the way it deserves, this model isn't the right one."

Ok, I can accept that perhaps a new approach would needed to be taken to really go after some major investors and some big-time monetary gains, but I can't accept that Jayna Hefford would be comfortable in closing down the league that allowed her to continue to hone her skills between international tournaments after she played in the CWHL's early years when things were very lean on the financial side. This makes zero sense to me when it comes to everything the league means for women who are currently doing exactly what Hefford did in the league years ago. She has to be aware of this fact.

There have been some who have questioned the leadership of board chair Laurel Walzak and her decisions sitting in that chair, and none were more vocal about it than former board member and major CWHL financial supporter Graeme Roustan after he walked away from his seat on the board after being denied access to financial documents as a board member.

Walzak offered this seemingly bizarre explanation for the decision to close down the league, saying,

"We've been looking forward to the future, we've done everything we could to secure additional funding for this year and moving forward. We've exhausted our options. We've spoken to many different constituents, whether that's sponsors or advertisers, in terms of driving that revenue. Really it was only up until last week when it became clear that additional funding is not available for the future."

She continued by adding,

"We need it all. Not just corporate sponsorship. We need higher attendance at our games, which is ticket sales, and to sell more merchandise. We need more advertising revenue on our broadcasts. We need more broadcasts to drive viewership. We need more money from corporate Canada, not just our relationship with China, which is a big source of our current funding."

Ok, so let me get this straight if I can piece all this insanity together. Allow me to take you down a wee bit of a rabbit hole: the chair of the board of directors of the CWHL who is "an Assistant Professor at Ryerson University, Faculty of Communication and Design, RTA School of Media, Sport Media" wants more bums in seats, wants more merchandise sold, wants more advertising revenue on broadcasts, wants more broadcasts on the whole, and wants more money from Corporate Canada.

Let me restate that: A PROFESSOR AT A FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AT THE SCHOOL OF MEDIA FOR RADIO AND TELEVISION ARTS AT A SIGNIFICANT UNIVERSITY THAT AWARDS DEGREES IN BROADCASTING WANTS BETTER MARKETING, ADVERTISING, AND MORE FREQUENT BROADCASTS FROM MAJOR BROADCASTERS. Read that again. And again. And again.

Deep breath, and say it with me....

How can someone whose profession is teaching broadcasting not able to get the league where she sits as the chair of the board onto more than four network broadcasts per year? She likely has all sorts of contacts in the broadcasting community - both radio and television - thanks to her teaching job and the best she can do is get four national broadcasts on television? How is it that she can't find someone who can regularly stream games via YouTube or another service? And why is it that she can't find radio stations in the five North American markets to carry games when we, as a university radio station, can do it with little trouble?

Something doesn't add up here.

Look, I don't want nor need an explanation, a soliloquy of rhetoric and double-speak, nor a monologue of verbal diarrhea from Laurel Walzak. I don't know what she said or how she convinced anyone to go along with this plan to close down the CWHL, but she somehow did convince the board that this was a good idea or the board convinced her it was a good idea, and then sold it to Jayna Hefford who delivered the news yesterday morning to the general managers and the CWHLPA. To me, Walzak, as chair of the board, has this hanging around her neck forever.

The other person, whose legacy now includes "Commissioner who folded the CWHL," is Jayna Hefford, so it's time to start talking, Jayna. Your silence in all of this needs to be broken. There are hundreds of questions that need to be answered, and you hold most of the answers. The fact that you've gone silent over the last 48 hours is a terrible message for the players and staff who entrusted you to take this league into new territory. I'm betting none of them saw that territory being the unemployment line.

Your silence is damning. Start talking.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!