National Women's Hockey League (2015–)

History

The formation of the NWHL was announced in March 2015. The league is the first U.S women's hockey league to pay its players. Prior to the league's formation, the only current choice for top level women's hockey in North America was the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), which pays bonuses but not salaries. The league's first season ran on a salary cap of US $270,000 maximum per team and a $10,000 minimum per player. The players can also make additional revenue by way of a right to 15% of profits off any NWHL jersey sold with their name on it. The league placed its four original teams in what it considered to be the strongest traditional hockey markets: in the New York City area, Buffalo, and New England.

Commissioner Dani Rylan has never identified the league's investors, stating they preferred to remain anonymous. Canadian Joel Leonoff, CEO of Paysafe Group and father of Connecticut Whale goaltender Jaimie Leonoff, has spoken about his investment in the league, although he declined to reveal the size of his investment.

The inaugural NWHL Entry Draft took place in Boston on June 20. The league held tryout camps in various locales in Canada, along with an international player camp in Boston. In addition, due to the paid nature of the league and its placement in the Northeastern United States, the league attracted many top level United States women's national ice hockey team stars from the CWHL such as Hilary Knight and former Team USA captain Meghan Duggan, top graduating players from the NCAA, and international players. The league is recognized by USA Hockey as the top women's professional league.

In December 2015, the league signed their first league wide sponsorship deal, a multi-year deal with Dunkin Donuts.

On December 31, 2015, the Boston Pride played Montreal's Les Canadiennes of the CWHL to a 1–1 tie in the first Women's Winter Classic (officially the "Outdoor Women's Classic presented by Scotiabank") the day before the 2016 NHL Winter Classic and at the same site, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It was the first outdoor professional women's hockey game and the first game between the NWHL and the CWHL.

The 1st NWHL All-Star Game took place on January 24, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. The game featured a 4-on-4 format with Hilary Knight of the Boston Pride and Emily Pfalzer of the Buffalo Beauts serving as team captains. On Saturday March 12, 2016. The Boston Pride became the first ever Isobel Cup champions with a 3–1 win vs the Buffalo Beauts and a 2–0 series win.

Heading into the second season, the league undertook a new direction. On August 4, 2016, the league announced that all four inaugural season jersey designs would be retired. All four teams enter the upcoming season with new jersey designs, that shall be voted upon by fans online.

Two days prior to this announcement, the league announced a partnership with You Can Play, an organization dedicated to eradicating homophobia in sport. Not only did each team in the league have a You Can Play athlete-ambassador, it would eventually begin to develop a policy with regards to transgender players. This initiative took place in reaction to the October 7, 2016, announcement that Buffalo Beauts player Harrison Browne was transgender, which made him the first openly transgender athlete in professional American team sports.

Part way into the league's second season, the NWHL informed its players on November 17, 2016, that they would all be getting up to a 50% pay cut. The league claims the pay cut is needed in order to sustain the longevity of the league. This dropped the league player minimums to $5,000 per player. Five weeks later, in an attempt to partially compensate for the salary rollback, the league introduced an incentive program where players from the home team split the revenue generated by tickets sold in excess of 500 after each game. On February 3, 2017, the league announced that the season and playoffs would be shortened to accommodate for the players' participation in the 2017 IIHF World Championships and preparations for the 2018 Olympic teams.

Teams

The league consists of four teams concentrated in the Northeast USA.

Current teams

In addition, the independent Minnesota Whitecaps played games against Connecticut, Boston and New York over the course of the inaugural season.

2015–16

The inaugural NWHL Entry Draft took place in Boston on June 20. The draft order was decided on June 8 by lottery: the New York Riveters to pick first, followed by the Connecticut Whale, the Boston Pride, and the Buffalo Beauts. The first overall pick by the Riveters was Boston College graduate Alex Carpenter, the 2015 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award for the most outstanding player in NCAA women's hockey, and the daughter of National Hockey League All-Star Bobby Carpenter. The other first round picks were University of Minnesota forward Hannah Brandt by Connecticut, Northeastern University forward Kendall Coyne by Boston, and University of Wisconsin defenseman Courtney Burke by Buffalo.

The first game in league history, between the New York Riveters and Connecticut Whale on October 11, 2015, sold out. Manon Rheaume dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening faceoff before that game. The first goal in league history, in a 4–1 win by the host Whale, was scored by Jessica Koizumi of Connecticut.

Media coverage

The NWHL does not currently have a national television partner. During the inaugural season, some games were shown on ESPN3, a sister streaming service to cable channel ESPN.
In 2016, third-party broadcasts moved from ESPN3 to the new Cheddar, an internet television channel available via Sling TV.

The NWHL also streams non-Cheddar games on its own YouTube channel for free. The service is dubbed The Cross-Ice Pass.

The league's flagship franchise, the Boston Pride, became the first women's hockey team to enter a regular broadcasting agreement with a regional sports network, with 8 of its 18 games presented on either NESN or NESNplus during the league's inaugural season.

It was announced in March 2017 that ABC News would provide live streaming coverage of the 2017 Isobel Cup Playoffs.