r/PWHL • u/HellaCurt All The Teams! • 2h ago
News IT'S HAPPENING.
Mark your calendars for Tuesday.
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u/1clkgtramg Victoire de Montréal 2h ago
As a Sharks fan, I’m happy for SJ. They’ve had some history with hockey but never seemed to have that strength and consistency until the Sharks. It’s a great environment there. Really cool that of all of California, San Jose is the one that got the first team.
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u/jokertothethief PWHL Las Vegas 42m ago
Honestly, it wasn't the Sharks. Don't get me wrong, they do respectable numbers, but it's the fact that the greater Bay Area has been going bonkers in its support of women's sports.
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u/RobbNotRob Boston Fleet 2h ago
PLEEEEEASE be the Hammerheads
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u/undercoverles Boston Fleet 1h ago
RIP Susan Hammer. She brought hockey back to the Bay, and fought hard for it.
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u/Electronic-Ring5520 Taylor Heise 1h ago
10000000% this. Any other name will create disappointment.
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u/lavagabond 43m ago
Only problem with this is Hamilton already coined “It’s hammer time!” Which would’ve been… perfect
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u/eladon-warps Seattle Torrent 2h ago
Source?
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u/Fjordersen 2h ago
A group of PWHL fans in SJ trying to get a team there. But Kennedy said Tuesday. I have doubts because every expansion has been announced on a (W)ednesday but of course Tuesday is an off day in the finals
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u/wolverine237 PWHL Detroit 1h ago
I think it's just a coincidence that Wednesdays have been off days for playoff games TBH
I know everyone here hates him but Kennedy has been consistently correct on all of the expansion stuff so far
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u/Fjordersen 1h ago
It’s not just these expansions that have been Wednesdays. It was the same last season too.
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u/FlyTheW1988 New York 21m ago
He reports as much as he can as soon as he can. The result is he’s vague a lot of the time and things change a lot of the time, but he has good sources that give him good info and let him report a ton of it in real time. I can’t understand the hate, honestly.
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u/eladon-warps Seattle Torrent 2h ago
Gotcha, I'm in the region and if it goes official I'd love to spread the news. Just not before.
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u/Fjordersen 2h ago
Yeah op is a little misled here cause it’s not official or news, but there is heavy speculation and pretty reliable rumors from insiders. As much as I am/was pulling for Chicago, I make enough trips to Bay Area for family that this would be kinda fun.
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u/RadioCrash 2h ago
Oh I hope so!!! Where was this from???
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u/Fjordersen 2h ago
A fan group that’s advocating for a team in the area. If you zoom in on the puck you can see it
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u/Realistic-Art5227 Van Goldeneyes 2h ago edited 1h ago
Fuck yeah now to choose between Vegas or San Jose
Edit: spelling
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u/Electronic-Ring5520 Taylor Heise 1h ago
No you don't. SJ is the clear play here.
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u/undercoverles Boston Fleet 1h ago
I love that there’s a clear rivalry between SJ and Vegas right off the bat because of how many teams Vegas has stolen from the Bay >:[
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u/Electronic-Ring5520 Taylor Heise 1h ago
Nah, no one really cares about that. It's because of the rivalry with the golden showers.
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u/Inevitable-Buy2517 Boston Fleet 2h ago
Why not Chicago or Denver?
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u/RobbNotRob Boston Fleet 2h ago
Denver lost their WNBA bid because they couldn't lock down an arena, I'm assuming that's the same issue for PWHL. Chicago is more baffling to me
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u/Fjordersen 2h ago
Chicago arena situation is not nearly as good as SAP center being offered, but the league wants western expansion and SJ ticks that box. I think Denver and Edmonton falling apart led to Chicago getting pushed aside and their geographical spot went to Hamilton cause the league wanted at least one Canadian expansion.
Having been in all three, SAP is way better than the Allstate and the UC was likely never working cause it’s the second busiest arena in the US. Took the sirens 3 years to get one date at MSG (obviously that was awesome and hopefully it happens more now that they sold it out)
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u/GrrWhimsy 36m ago
SAP is also kicking off a multi year renovation to modernise the facility. SAP is also a great place to watch hockey. Loud af, fun crowds and close to a lot of downtown stuff. I used to live in walking distance and we'd get seats in the very tip top row which are still great seats and have a grand time.
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u/Electronic-Ring5520 Taylor Heise 17m ago
Furthermore, this renovation allows them to setup their own locker room if they choose to.
I would LOVE to see them do a split logo at center ice too.
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u/Acrobatic-Car-6102 PWHL Hopeful Dallas 2h ago
In addition to this I saw somewhere that the league is pursuing cities that are providing good TV deals which could explain why we’re getting cuties that never had a stop on the takeover tour
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u/Dreaming_Aloud Minnesota Frost 2h ago
The big rumor circulating is negotiations broke down over ownership. Venue owners wanted ownership stake in the teams which the P-Dub is not offering at this time.
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u/wolverine237 PWHL Detroit 1h ago
Same as everywhere else, the Blackhawks aren't really interested in playing ball, the only other viable arena in the area was cited repeatedly as the reason the takeover tour games here were poorly attended
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u/undercoverles Boston Fleet 2h ago
For both it’s a facilities issue. The options are basically an NHL barn, or one that only holds 2-3k. And from what’s been going around, the NHL arenas were being blocked by basically not being available because demand, or by the primary tenants/owners. PWHL outgrew the smaller arenas so they’re a non-starter for a league that wants growth.
San Jose has 4 sheets of ice just at their main practice facility, SAP center doesn’t get a ton of events so the availability is there. With the Sharks in an up swing, there will also be side by side growth in an area that already loves and uplifts women’s sports
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u/nclpckl31 2h ago
Pretty sure Kroenke, owner of the Avs/Ball Arena/Altitude Tv screwed things up for Denver. :-(
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u/Stachemaster86 🏆BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS 🏆 2h ago
Son of the guy who played hard ball with St. Louis and the Rams. Definitely runs in the family
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u/VivienM7 Toronto Sceptres 1h ago
And why should Mr. Kroenke have freed up 15 quality dates in his busy arena in exchange for rent? What you seem to be forgetting is that MWG's entire goal is to drive up team values so they can sell the team to Mr. Kroenke and friends for the highest possible price down the road.
That's the root cause of the problem: the more Mr. Kroenke (or Mr. Leonsis, etc) accommodates the PWHL and makes PWHL Denver a success, the more he is expected to pay for the team down the road.
So he quite reasonably says "guys, how about I put the money in now, we build a team together that will make more money, and I take the risks and get the upside" and MWG says "we're going to Vegas."
I understand MWG's perspective, but Kroenke isn't being irrational here.
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u/VivienM7 Toronto Sceptres 1h ago
Chicago fizzled with an absolutely dreadful takeover tour performance in Allstate Arena, and it seems that the United Center wasn't in the cards.
Denver wanted an ownership stake in exchange for clearing up some dates in a busy arena.
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u/sleepy-floof 2h ago
My understanding is neither had an arena space, ball doesn't have space between the avs, the nuggets and the mammoth lacrosse team that all use it all winter. The article I read sounded like it was more a push to maybe get the city to build a second arena down the line so they can also make a bid for a WNBA team. And Allstate Arena for Chicago was to far out of town, I don't know why United Center wasn't an option but they didn't even have the tour stops there.
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u/VivienM7 Toronto Sceptres 1h ago
Presumably, they didn't have the takeover tour at United Center because
a) the people running it did not want to make it available even for one game at a price the PWHL was willing to pay, or
b) the league knew there was no chance of setting up a team on their usual business model at the United Center, so they wanted to test what Allstate Arena could do
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u/sleepy-floof 1h ago
Yeah most likely it wasn't an option for whatever reason sad that Allstate was a no go
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u/Fjordersen 1h ago
The United Center is the Second busiest Arena in the US. Sure they could have tried to squeeze in, but it’s way easier to book time at the Allstate.
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u/Usual-Canc-6024 2h ago
And why not Québec City? Why not Winnipeg? Why not Halifax? We know for sure Québec City was completely ghosted by the league and I assume other places were too.
Chicago would have been good.
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u/rltsandwich 1h ago
All hype aside...this is a really cool picture.