Acknowledgments
Super huge thanks to everyone who answered my nosy questions about your fan experiences! All the responses were really interesting and helpful as I put the comic together. Thanks especially to those directly quoted: Julie G., Amy Smift, Steph S., Charlotte Ohl, Kate Shea, Laura Kemper, and Emily.
Other Sources
NWHL Official Website
CWHL Official Website
Dani Rylan’s piece for the Players’ Tribune
Other articles covering the NWHL’s launch
Articles on the NWHL’s money troubles
Articles on the current lawsuit against the NWHL
NHL Winter Classic, 8 January 2016
Recent incidents allegedly involving NHL players, referenced in the comic:
Patrick Kane
Mike Ribeiro 1, 2
Semyon Varlamov 1, 2
Slava Voynov 1, 2, 3, 4
OH MY GOD I haven’t even read this yet because I have to prepare myself. The “hockey and I meet cute” by Molly Brooks is one of my favorite things on the planet (and something I thought of a lot last night while being put on an emotional rollercoaster by the NHL) and I am SO excited to see NWHL coverage on the toast and just !!!!
This is so good. Thank you for writing about the NWHL, thank you for writing about the struggle of being a female fan in the NHL, especially this past season, thank you for all the different fan perspectives, thank you thank you thank you.
I’m a penguins fan (still navigating what that means for me as my relationship with the NHL grows more fraught) and a riveters fan. About a year ago, Phil Kessel, who I already loved so deeply, signed with the Penguins and it was a bright spot of motivation on the day I took my qualifying exam. There have been many times this past season when I was pissed at the NHL for making it so hard to be a female fan during a season for my team that I wanted to be really excited about. Last week (was it even last week?) when I saw Amanda Kessel, obviously the best Kessel, signed with the Riveters, I screamed so loudly and incoherently that my poor boyfriend’s roommate was horrified, and I wasn’t even able to form coherent sentences (“AMANDA KESSEL. RIVETERS. AMANDA KESSEL. RIVETERS.” my dude had to translate for his roommate “so uh the riveters are a women’s hockey team that Margaret likes and Amanda Kessel is a player she really loves and I think she signed with the team? I think that’s what’s happening”).
Anyway. That’s a rambling story because this has made me very emotional for 8am, but I am so happy the NWHL exists now, I am so happy that Amanda Kessel can play professional hockey like her brothers, I am so happy this comic exists and is one the toast.
Amanda Kessel is great, I was watching the NCAA women’s hockey finals (I think) this year and she was awesome, but I felt so bad for her because she was clearly stretching her NCAA eligibility as long as she could to keep playing the sport she loved in an official capacity. I’m so glad to hear she signed to a pro team, and that a pro team EXISTS for her to keep doing her thing & get paid for it.
Yeah, her brother (Phil Kessel) is one of the elite players in the NHL (although I could write a manifesto on why people argue with that, that gets into different NHL bullshit) and he’s always been really openly supportive of Amanda and it’s one of those things that was always charming but kind of bittersweet. Like, he’s said she’s the best player in the family and spent the lockout going to her games at Minnesota, but then you’d remember “oh, she’s probably done after college, it doesn’t matter how good she is there’s nowhere to play professionally.” This is only a start, but at least it is a start.
AMANDA KESSEL AMANDA KESSEL!!!! If you haven’t yet read this piece or if you’re looking for an intro on why she’s amazing, here you go: http://wild.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=112605. Warning, EMOTIONS AHEAD.
I literally threw out my neck watching that Pens/ Caps game last night.
And Phil Kessel is a treasure, I too love how vocal he’s been about his sister’s talent as a player (didn’t he once say that she was better than him at hockey, or something like that?). He obviously has a ton of respect for her abilities. I’m excited to watch her play this upcoming season.
Yes! Amanda = Best Kessel
My dad and I spent the first part of the game texting about how great Phil is, the last part just incoherently raging.
Also:
Do you think he could lead a workshop on how to brother?
I’m not even a big hockey fan but this made me so sad that I no longer live in New England because I would love to support something like this!
And also, this comic is beautifully done! I love the illustrations.
They stream the games on YouTube! That’s how I watched my Rivs from CA this season. 🙂
Hockey isn’t my sport, but I LOVE THIS ANYWAY. So much applies to the sports that ARE my bag, too.
This comic is *amazing* and I love it with all my heart! I didn’t even know there was a new women’s hockey league (hockey isn’t generally my sport, although I watched a lot of it (men’s of course) in college) but this echoed so many of the feelings I’ve been having about college and pro (men’s) sports, patriarchy, gender and sexual violence. I’ll be rooting for these women!
This is PHENOMENAL. Thank you so much. It covers so much ground– even though I don’t really follow hockey outside of NCAA stuff, this resonated with me as a struggling football fan. I haven’t watched a single NFL game since two years ago, when the DV stuff really started coming out, and I’m not sure I ever will again. I’ve looked into women’s football leagues, but it’s slim pickings. Maybe I’ll make the switch to hockey, although the timing isn’t great, as I’m moving out of (apparent hub of women’s pro sports!) Boston this fall.
This really hit some of the things that make me question being a sport’s fan as a woman, and I know I’m not alone in the complicated feelings I have about sports, but it is always reaffirming to see it reflected in others. I can’t say I’m really into hockey (growing up in the south will do that) but I am rooting for the NWHL so hard.
Thank you for this piece, it was really great and I love the links you provided. Also, your artwork is gorgeous and I really get a sense of action in your panels, well done!
Yes! Yes!!! Yes!!!!!!!!
I still watch the NHL, but supporting and loving women’s hockey is where my heart is, both because I used to play (poorly, but I did it) and because buying the t shirt and going to the games and cheering them on makes me feel like my tiny little bit of support is doing something positive for the world. So much about men’s sports is toxic and Bad, but encouraging women to succeed at something despite all the obstacles society places in front of them, while also giving young girls a shining example of what they can achieve? is just nothing but good in my opinion, and it delights me that it’s something I get to participate in and be a part of, even a little bit.
Thank you so much for this!
This was an amazing piece; my verklempt quotient just tripled reading it.
The New York Riveters is an amazing team name. The Buffalo Beauts… maybe not so much. I think I like the Connecticut Whale, because it’s a) so very silly and b) in the singular, which is oddly delightful, but you would definitely need to be free of body issues to put on that jersey.
I think it’s because CT used to have a men’s team called the Whalers, which everybody still roots for even though the franchise was scrapped a while back, and calling the women’s team the Whale engages that brand loyalty.
I couldn’t handle the ‘Riveters’ at the moment, because I’m still on my high horse about how ‘You Can Do It’ lady is not and was not a Rosie. And I don’t know that the fandom would share my pedantry.
I felt the same about the Beauts but 1) they’re really fun to watch and were the surprise team to make it to the Final (everyone assumed it was going to be Whale vs Pride) and 2) the name grows on you/I no longer mind it? As for the Whale, it helps that their hockey sweater has the best design, IMO (and I’m a Rivs fan).
‘Beauts’ is not *ideal,* but it’s a hockey term. The name wasn’t chosen to be, like “these players are hot” or anything. I do wish they hadn’t chosen something that pretty much always has to be explained, though. And Buffalo has a lot to offer in terms of alliterative names: Blades, Blizzard, etc
So what IS a beaut in hockeying? Inquiring minds.
Generally a good player who is also a nice person? But if a hockey player calls another player a “beaut” it basically means “you’re good at hockey and have a great personality and I like you”. A team full of beauts is what every team should aspire to be.
Love this so much!
I live a few hours from Buffalo (and have a ton of hockey-loving friends in Buffalo) but unfortunately never made it out to a game this season. Hopefully everything falls in line and next year will be a go!
I went to a game a couple months ago, my first hockey game actually, and it was ENTHRALLING. Also I was extremely impressed that there seemed to be music queued up for every possible break (don’t know if that was specific to the rink or if it’s a hockey thing).
I love this comic, I love the quotes and writing, and the art is fantastic as well. <3
Oh it’s definitely a hockey thing.
I found it even weirder when I went to a lacrosse game last year and the music kept playing the whole time. Like, not just during breaks, but while they were playing! It must have been distracting. But worse was that they were obviously using the hockey feed or licence or whatever, because it was thirty seconds or less of each song.
As a female hockey fan/ former Hawks fan, this made me so happy. I’ve been following the NWHL with great interest from halfway across the country. I hope they can survive the growing pains and expand because I would love for those of us who don’t live on the East coast to be able to go to games too.
I just had a conversation with my Loves All The Sports dad about the many ways the Hawks failed female fans, and sexual assault victims, and Native Americans, and his response was basically “yeah, that sucks, but administration didn’t want to look like they thought their player could be guilty and at least they have the best organ in the NHL.” And he’s one of the relatively good NHL fans.
yes. yes. yes. yes.
this is so great. SO GREAT.
Yes! This is great! And if anyone wants someone to go to games with next year (Riveters or Islanders), I think I have exhausted my non-hockey friends willingness to indulge me and am looking for new hockey buddies.
Oh me, hi! I went to most of the Rivs games this year and am considering buying season tickets for next season (I want to sit in that fancy VIP section!), so I’ll definitely be there for a bunch of games.
Going to the Gopher Women’s hockey games has always been good but it’s better knowing that these athletes have somewhere to keep playing after college. The NCAA should absolutely not be the last outlet for these phenomenal people. It’s incredible to be watching an amazing NCAA playoff game and look at the roster and see that 1/3 of the team has *already* won a silver medal at the freakin’ OLYMPICS; they deserve more than a co-rec beer league after college, they deserve to get paid.
Also exciting: the CWHL announced plans to pay players during the 2017-18 season! Crossing my fingers that both of the leagues last until then.
ETA: watching the game is obviously great but my favorite part of going to both U of M women’s games and the Whitecaps games is probably seeing all of the tiny young girls who are there watching women play and being inspired. Specifically at a Whitecaps/Pride exhibition game there was a crowd of adorable children all clamoring for a high-five from Hillary Knight as she walked out onto the ice and I MELTED.
Ok I realized I was doing a lot of yelling about NCAA hockey on a NWHL post and started thinking about why. 1. The Gopher Women are phenomenal, but 2. they get $$ from Title IX and so they have facilities (one of the only women’s hockey teams to have their own dedicated facilities actually) and coaches and promotions. The Whitecaps (elite/pro MN team) have to **borrow** ice time from local youth programs. They’re currently league-less after the dissolution of the WWHL. That’s insane – hockey is MN’s sport (you’ve all seen Inside Out), we live and breathe it here. I’ve said it a lot on twitter but I’ll say it here again: Capitalism needs Title IX.
This is the best! Incredible work. Absolutely nails how hard it is to be a female fan of this dumb sport AND the joy of having the NWHL, the impact the league is making.
Let’s go Beauts!
I hope games will be televised more often should the NWHL survive. Or that they’ll consider livestreaming. (NESN did air a couple of Boston Pride games during the season, which is good, but yeah. MOAR!) Even though I live in New England (Maine), games are still inaccessible to me.
And promote the games, ffs! Get us interested!
I was so pissed when the local CBS station that was supposed to carry the NCAA women’s final game booted it to a delayed showing an entire WEEK later. The U of MN was playing in the finals against Boston (a team that had an undefeated season; if they had won they would have taken that record away from the U of M women). Gov. Dayton even stepped in to negotiate a deal to allow a different station to carry it live but CBS wouldn’t let go of the rights. Even when people *want* to watch women’s sports the powers that be think that there “isn’t an audience.” There is an audience, let us watch the freaking games! I would *pay money* for reliable streaming of games, like $5/game or whatever, just let me watch!
The NWHL live-streamed all the games (including the playoffs) for free last season on their YouTube. They call their streaming network “Cross Ice Pass” – hopefully they’ll keep it up next season as well. If you go to their website on game days, they’ll have it up.
Yay, awesome!
okay, but do the women fight the way the men do? Because it’s the on-rink violence that really turns me off to hockey as a sport.
Technically there’s not even full-body checking allowed in women’s hockey but there’s definitely contact. I’d compare it to women’s lacrosse, if that reference makes any sense.
No, sometimes they get up in each other’s faces a bit but they’re not allowed to actually fight or even check.
There were a couple of games where fights did erupt (there’s only 4 teams so bad blood can build up quickly) but it’s not common during the games. There are no ‘staged fights’ like in the NHL, when two guys circle each other and throw punches.
not as a general rule, but there WAS a weird line brawl at the rivs/whale game i went to. i think because scrivens got run into?
THIS!!! My heart… my day is made. Thank you.
Screw the NHL. Now, how best to support this league from Wisconsin…
Agreeing on the Midwest support quandry! The best i can do is try to decide which team I have the best reason to support, then buy a hoodie/shirt/jersey/all the things and livestream every chance I get.
Not perfect, but plane tickets to New England get expensive…
So first, the artwork is very impressive and I fully support the NWHL. I drive up to Stamford for games despite being closer to Brooklyn because, well, it’s not very traveler friendly getting to games there frankly.
Second though, I’m disturbed by the inaccuracy of this beautiful artwork. I guess there really is sometimes no truth in beauty. See, the thing is, there is a difference between being inaccurate on facts and having a subjective opinion. The latter I support your right to have and I wouldn’t have said anything/just complimented your work, the former however is disturbing.
So, hey, let’s talk some facts and opinion:
1) It is a FACT that in the allegations of rape you are talking about above, the DA made very very clear that this was a case of false allegation. He considered charging the woman, but chose not to because he didn’t want to scare off “real victims”. The DNA evidence showed that there was no sexual contact between them, and the witnesses who were present at the home said that the woman and the player in question were alone for 2 minutes only and that there were no screams etc as the woman claimed. The DA also said that the woman tried to get her friend, one of the witnesses, to lie to the police/DA and support her story. And they have that evidence from texts to and from the woman making the allegations. So when you then label him a rapist, you are in fact perpetuating a false claim. And when you further publicly deride a man falsely accused, that actually is harmful to women who have actually have been raped because it furthers the suggestion many ignorant people make that false accusations are common, when they are in fact not common at all. If you make a public statement to promote an agenda by stating the guilt of someone accused of rape which can be easily shown to be false, that perpetuates the myth used by people to downplay the existence of rape culture in which we all live – and that’s a HUGE problem.
2) It is subjective OPINION to say the team/NHL should have suspended him until the investigation was over. It is your right to have such an opinion and judge them for not doing what you would like them to do, just as it’s their right to have a different opinion upon which they acted accordingly.
3) It is somewhat astonishing to me, however, if you have such strong negative opinions about the support by teammates/the organization of a man shown to have been falsely accused of rape that you then on your own twitter say that you still support the Preds despite Ribeiro. (https://twitter.com/mollybrooks/status/730440617000640512) I mean, again, that’s your subjective opinion to support the team that gave him a second chance despite what his former nanny says he did to her, but it seems a bit hypocritical to lambaste a different team for their support of their own player who was actually shown to be innocent.
4) It is FACT that that Coach Linstad of the Whalers and UConn are being sued after Linstad supposedly kicked a woman off her UConn hockey team for not being “stable” after that woman filed a rape complaint. When discussing the issues that women have with how the NHL handles women’s issues, it’s rather shocking to me that you left this out since it would appear to be relevant. Or is no one allowed to criticize the NWHL? Is this not in fact exceedingly relevant to your points for how the NHL handles things? Rylen would have been aware of the lawsuit when she hired Linstad, yet she chose to do so anyway.
Ultimately this is a beautiful work of art that has some relevant points to make about sports, women, and women in sports but it falls short of what it could have been – should have been – by failing to adhere to facts. And that is troubling indeed. Have we as women fallen so short in our ability to argue responsibly and make our points that we must prop our points up with falsehoods? As a woman, I sincerely hope not.
Oh jesus christ please get your patrick kane trutherism off the toast. Please god havne’t you done enough to all of us with this.
An informed dissenting opinion is an issue for you? You blindly believe an accusation despite the overwhelming evidence she lied? Anne was not rude or out of line but you certainly are
hi!
this piece is mostly about my feelings, but where i used facts they are accurate to the best of my knowledge and research. the examples you list don’t contradict that.
as i say in the comic, it’s the cavalier response by the league and teams to the accusations of sexual violence and abuse that i and others found disturbing; the ultimate result of the accusations is irrelevant to that point, because i was talking about the actions taken or not taken immediately after they came to light, which revealed systemic problems with how the league relates to women. i never accused anyone of anything, and tried to be fair and thorough in the news converage linked below, which includes both the accusations and ultimate legal results.
i also don’t use the comic to advocate cutting oneself off from the NHL entirely, or from any other institution that excuses and enables misogynistic behavior (the former is a personal choice to make, and the latter impossible). the comic is about the complicated relationship female fans can have to something aimed primarily at men, and also about how awesome it is to occasionally have the chance to enjoy something you like (the way i like hockey) without that complication.
as for the **whale and **rylan’s handling of linstad—it’s disturbing, but the comic’s only 16 pages long and most of the responses i got from the fans i reached out to specifically mentioned discomfort with the NHL and how much they liked being able to support women’s sports, so that’s what i focused on in the space i had. i could have talked more about how misogyny in the NHL manifests as homophobia, for example, or Hope Solo’s domestic violence history, but i had something simple to say about my own experience. if you end up writing a piece on the way the NWHL/NCAA fails victims of abuse, or any other aspect of the issues that you found wanting here, please link me because i’d love to read it.
all the best,
molly
Ah, I’m sorry, when you said in your panel the thing about the team group-hugging a rapist – not alleged rapist – while his fans call his accuser names – that seemed to be a pretty definitive statement of your opinion on his guilt despite all the evidence to the contrary and much more easily seen than the facts of the case in the links… That said, I very much think that the fans who immediately dismissed her accusation and called her names are very problematic and epitomize rape culture. But I also think that people who immediately labeled him a rapist without waiting for any facts were equally problematic – and very much influenced by a clickbait media feasting on the opportunity to bring down a superstar player.
I actually don’t disagree with your discomfort at how the league/teams handled the various situations (I can’t tell you my rage when the Kings let Voynov skate with them again because they felt “sorry for him” – what about his wife?? Or when Varlamov was goalie the night he got bailed out of jail for assaulting his girlfriend). I just also, as my personal feeling, have a deep discomfort with suspending players without any arrest or charges, which is what people were suggesting with Kane and which is what I assumed to be your stance as well. If I’m wrong about that I apologize.
I’ve actually been asking people from all walks of life their opinion of how the NHL should handle cases where there was an arrest/charges/no arrest but allegations of a serious crime – and thinking about how the NHLPA would respond in each case. The variety in responses is fascinating. I think it’s actually a very complicated issue in general for knowing the appropriate response (for example, in cases of domestic abuse, some women’s advocates say suspension/firing someone can actually create worse problems for the abused woman because now she is home with her abuser and he is angry). But that’s going beyond the scope of this discussion.
I understand why you didn’t have the space to include Solo’s domestic abuse issue, and since you were talking about hockey specifically it probably wasn’t the place per se. I do think, however, the issue with Linstad would have been very relevant – unfortunately so given I think everyone would prefer that this not have been a controversy that came up, in general and especially in the first year. Obviously that’s a subjective opinion and it’s your space, so I support your decision not to include it even if I would have preferred it (and is one reason I don’t find the NWHL quite the uncomplicated space that you do).
My final comment is this – I have hope for the future and the way things are changing. I have a 10 year old son who is just as happy to go to a Whalers game as a Devils game (and my pocket book is happier too frankly) and he fully believes that women hockey players are just as awesome as male hockey players. [He’s also a bigger supporter of Clinton for President than even I am (she’s not liberal enough for me)]. Which is to say – there’s a new generation coming up who think women deserve all the same respect men do in all aspects of life, and hopefully that’s something that will gradually influence all aspects of sports culture as well. Not soon enough of course, but I see it coming.
interesting; that panel wasn’t meant to be a reference to kane at all. i intentionally left it vague/a-hypothetical-scenario, but i actually had drew doughty on my mind when i wrote it.
all the best,
molly
(also, just a side-note: it’s the connecticut *whale*, not whalers.)
Ah, well, Doughty wasn’t mentioned in your previous scenarios hence the confusion. That case is confusing because there’s so little info on it out there. Although one of the things I did see simply filled me with rage – the police basically saying since she had had consensual sex with him in the past that indicated that apparently all sex going forward must be consensual. Just no.
Yeah, sorry about the Whale/Whaler mix up – I grew up near Binghamton, where they had a Whalers AHL team and then did grad school near Hartford when the Hartford Whalers were announcing their move to NC and it was a big deal, so I always add that extra r when talking about the NHWL Whales because Whalers is so associated with hockey in my head.
So, I rarely pay attention to hockey (unless it is the Olympics, then I am ALL OVER THAT). But, I do know there is some (perhaps fading by now) bitterness among Canadian hockey fans in that they feel that the US has ‘stolen’ hockey from Canada. i.e. the US pays better so of course a lot of our best players go to the US teams, and the Canadian teams thus don’t win the Stanley cup as often as they used to. A similar thing seems to be happening here, so I wonder if these sorts of feelings are playing into the tensions between the CWHL and the NWHL?
<3
heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere for women’s sports coverage on The Toast
Yay, awesome!
I am so impressed by your art and coverage of a subject! I learned a lot. I hope the NWHL and CWHL both succeed and don’t devour each other.
Fighting's decreasing a lot in hockey as a whole, actually. There's been a sharp decrease in fights in the NHL in the past few years, and in most women's, college, and kids leagues, it's now penalized a whole lot heavier than it used to be (or more than just getting a five minute time out).
The decrease is largely because of the fact that, shockingly, the former fighters are the main source of hockey's CTE problems.
Loved this piece, even though I know next to nothing about hockey!
I’m wondering if this is part of something of a trend in women’s sport around the world? It just seems like there has been an up-tick in coverage of women’s sport and professionalisation in general in sports that have been previously perceived as ‘off-limits’ for women?
In the Australian context, there is a national (semi?) professional women’s league starting next year in Australian Rules footy, which is A BIG DEAL. This is a sport where only 15 years or so ago girls often had to give up playing after age 12ish when it was deemed ‘inappropriate’ for them to continue to play with the boys, and there were few options for them to continue in girls only leagues after that age. Now there are strong post U18 women’s leagues and in some regions (I hear anecdotally) there are junior clubs that are fielding as many, if not more, girls teams than boys teams!
Suffice to say I am VERY EXCITED about this development and what it means for a sport that has been so male-dominated (and quite frankly misogynistic and homophobic) in participation and administration, despite always having fervent female fans.
Most of what I know about hockey comes from Ngozi’s “Check Please”, so it was great to learn even more through another great comic!
My wife and I have been following women’s college hockey for several years now (GO BU!) and you nailed all the stuff we love about it. Looking forward to getting to some pro hockey next season as well. Great comic. Thanks for creating it.