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  • Why Didn't the Wild Do More To Celebrate PWHL Minnesota's Championship?


    Image courtesy of Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports
    Mikki Tuohy

     

    The PWHL Minnesota team did the unthinkable. After a late-season slide, they entered the playoffs as the bottom seed, beat the top seed to move on, and won it all. So why, then, did the Minnesota Wild do the absolute bare minimum to shine the spotlight on them?

    Last time I checked, Minnesota is still the State of Hockey. Until the championship, the Wild had a great partnership with the PWHL team. They were more welcoming than any other NHL team, quickly agreeing to share Tria Rink as a practice facility and the Xcel Center as their game day rink. 

    While every other team was relegated to various, smaller facilities to play, the Minnesota team was able to piggyback off of the NHL team. That isn’t meant to be disparaging, but it seemed like the start of a symbiotic relationship. The PWHL team can pull in new fans from communities that might not usually feel comfortable at a professional hockey game but can also benefit from the existing fan base. In turn, the Wild can use their support of the PWHL to pull some fans over from the PWHL team. Overall, they can work together to grow the game of hockey.

    So it came as a complete surprise when the Wild re-shared a post about the championship on their social media and then didn’t mention it ever again. I understand not having a post ready to go. It's the off-season, and I’m sure the social media manager is more focused on content for next year, along with some rest. But how hard would it be to share a picture of some PWHL players at a Wild game and share your own words of congratulations?

    During Pride month, where fans were disappointed but not surprised to hear crickets when it came to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, it was like a slap in the face to have little to no recognition of the hard work that the PWHL team put in to win the championship. 

    Not only did the team account do the bare minimum, but the Wild players were also a disappointment. Jared Spurgeon is the only one who shared anything about the Walter Cup win, showing once again what an absolute stand-up guy and captain he is.

    In contrast, the Boston Bruins team account put together a short video as the PWHL teams headed into the championship round. They had three different players who made short videos congratulating the Boston team on their success that far and wishing them luck with the upcoming series. It was simple but showed a level of support that was encouraging for the continued success of professional women’s hockey. 

    There are plenty of Wild players who stay in the Twin Cities area for the off-season. But even reaching out further, it takes little effort to record a 15-second snippet saying congratulations.

    The only thing I can think of is that they are so jealous of the success of the Minnesota team that they’ve turned bitter. After a weird season that ended without the usual first-round playoff run, the PWHL success must’ve burned their buns.

    As the State of Hockey, it is important to support the success of hockey teams at all levels. From local youth programs and special hockey to the professional women’s team, hockey is for everyone. The Wild need to get their act together, remember that, and do better from here on out.

    [Correction: An earlier headline transposed letters in the PWHL acronym. We regret the error.]

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    I watched about half the games.  They were televised on Bally.  

    Attendance always seemed to average around 9,000-10,000 when announcers made note of it, though there were times when it was more than that more than less. 

    That said, the other teams in the league play in smaller arenas while Minnesota uses Xcel.  That said, attendance seemed fairly consistent for all 6 teams, though some seemed to pull a little lower than 9,000.

    The league was woefully unprepared for apparel sales.  The demand was much higher than the supply at times.

    My main gripes are a) the league didn't create team names for any of the 6 teams, b) the officiating was all over the place, c) the entire league is owned by one guy, making each team seem less autonomous, and d) the guy who owns the league put his mitts all over the trophy before the players did.  In the NHL, they handle the trophy with gloves because it's for the people who earn the right to hold it, but he grabbed it like he owned it - which of course he did.  Okay one more gripe... can't the trophy have been named after a remarkable female hockey player rather than the owner of the league (yes, I know where the Stanley name comes from)?  The Walters may own the league and make money off it, but it's not really theirs.

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    19 hours ago, Jon said:

    Lynx got parades and a bunch of events with the state officials I believe. Thats all I can’t remember so I can say for sure what more.

    And this is what I would have expected from the state officials, specifically because they won it playing in St. Paul. And, this was sort of my main point: It's not on the Wild to do this, it is on the State/City to do this. 

    I'm with you on the attendance stuff. I was hoping someone who attended regularly could speak to that because actual attendance and announced attendance are 2 different things. 

    The one thing I don't like about women's hockey is the lack of contact. Of course, in the men's game, the contact has been getting less and less until it's playoffs. I don't like that either.

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    4 hours ago, raithis said:

    I watched about half the games.  They were televised on Bally.  

    Attendance always seemed to average around 9,000-10,000 when announcers made note of it, though there were times when it was more than that more than less. 

    That said, the other teams in the league play in smaller arenas while Minnesota uses Xcel.  That said, attendance seemed fairly consistent for all 6 teams, though some seemed to pull a little lower than 9,000.

    The league was woefully unprepared for apparel sales.  The demand was much higher than the supply at times.

    My main gripes are a) the league didn't create team names for any of the 6 teams, b) the officiating was all over the place, c) the entire league is owned by one guy, making each team seem less autonomous, and d) the guy who owns the league put his mitts all over the trophy before the players did.  In the NHL, they handle the trophy with gloves because it's for the people who earn the right to hold it, but he grabbed it like he owned it - which of course he did.  Okay one more gripe... can't the trophy have been named after a remarkable female hockey player rather than the owner of the league (yes, I know where the Stanley name comes from)?  The Walters may own the league and make money off it, but it's not really theirs.

    GREAT SCOUTING REPORT RAITHIS!

    My bet is that if the league actually is a success, that in a few years the trophy will be renamed. It is odd that the league owner also owns every team. I would have thought they would have looked for some NHL alumni to put out front and center with ownership. 

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    First off, the league itself is a joke.  Before the SJW’s get up in arms, I’m talking about the administration and execution.  I’m all about a professional women’s hockey league.  My daughter is youth hockey player and it was appointment TV for us.

    It’s fairly well documented how poorly it was run.  The league forced out the first GM to win a championship within days.  They threw something together and paraded out teams without mascots, likely due to time constraints and unwillingness to pony up for all of the related marketing materials and merch.  They didn’t do themselves any favors there.  They dug the hole,  not the Wild.

    This reflects all of this SJW Culture right now, where everyone with a smart phone parades their opinions, overreacts and condemns and wants someone else to do the work because of [insert a long line of excuses, like the those used by the admin above].  It’s nothing but pure, unadulterated virtue signaling.  Most don’t care about the cause, they want people to think they do.  It’s vanity.  Social media dopamine hit addicts.

    Its absolutely absurd to drag the Wild.  Asinine.  You’re mad because they didn’t make enough social media posts?  But, they provided them a practice facility, had players in for the puck drop, etc.  You know, something actually meaningful instead of just lip service.  Hockey Wilderness writes one or two damn articles all year, and thinks they have right to criticize the Wild?

    It’s not their responsibility to market a women’s hockey league.  The league can do it on their own merit.  They’re equally capable.  Insinuating they are at some deficit if they don’t get outside help is in itself discriminatory.

    Lastly, you think they didn’t meet your threshold for number of social media posts to be adequately woke because they were jealous they won a championship?  Seriously, that’s absolute garbage.  Absolute garbage. 

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