News Roundup 9/12/24
(WARNING: This article is NSFW due to containing a mention of sexual assault.)
Top Story
The PWHL has finally revealed the logos, names, and wordmarks for their six teams. The team names are:
Boston Fleet
Minnesota Frost
Montreal Victoire
New York Sirens
Ottawa Charge
Toronto Sceptres
While the jerseys have still to be revealed, it looks as if the color schemes used last season will be used again this year.
The name for the Fleet came about as a nod to the city’s maritime roots. Unsurprisingly, the name “Minnesota Frost” came about to celebrate how cold Minnesota is and its love for the rather cold sport of hockey. “Victoire” was chosen because they wanted a strictly French name and also a name that could embody the passion the fans have for their team. Remember, Montreal fans set the record for the most-attended women’s hockey game of all time (21,105 in attendance) back in April, and all tickets were bought in 20 minutes. The Sirens are named after the goal siren and an ode to the “hustle, rhythm and swagger of NYC”. The Ottawa Charge is named “Charge” to reflect the importance of Ottawa. It’s the nation’s capital so it was decided that a name reflecting its position of leadership, one that always moves forward. Finally, we have the Sceptres who have that name to honor “Toronto’s regal history, commanding presence and rich heritage from Queens Quay to Queen Street.”
North America News:
Sticking with the PWHL, it was announced that the Toronto Sceptres will be playing home games out of Coca-Cola Coliseum this season. This arena has a capacity of over 8,000 which is a huge jump from the Mattamy Athletic Centre which is what they played out of last season, and only had 3,850 seats.
The Sceptres aren’t the only team to be moving to a new home this upcoming season, the Victoire will have a new home as well. Well, it’s not entirely a new home considering they played six games in it last season, but Place Bell will be their home this season. The arena seats over 10,000 fans.
Moving over to the minor leagues, it was announced that both the ECHL and AHL have mandated cut-resistant neck protection for all players and officials starting this upcoming 2024-25 season.
The Anaheim Ducks are the latest NHL team to leave cable to join a free streaming app. They will be on Victory+ (which is also being used by the Dallas Stars) and free to watch if you live in Ducks territory (Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, Imperial County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and Hawaii). 65 games will still air on TV, though, but not on cable. Instead, it will be on the over-the-air FOX 11 Plus channel.
The St. Louis Blues have just done the exact opposite of the Washington Capitals who bought CapFriendly to keep all the information to themselves. The Blues have made all their organization’s contract information public. You can find it on their app and on their website.
Now we move on to discuss the latest news from the 2018 Canada WJC team. London, Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas has allowed the five players accused of sexual assault to skip pre-trial motions so they can train and work elsewhere. Michael McLeod and Dillon Dubé are the only two currently still playing hockey, both playing in the KHL. Cal Foote is looking to get back to playing professional hockey and is currently a free agent. Alex Formenton has given up on hockey and is a construction worker now. Carter Hart wants to move to Tennessee to work out full-time with a former professional hockey player. Currently, he has been denied entry into the United States due to the charges against him.
World News:
The Steel Wings Linz AG made a rather shocking move by pulling out of the Alps Hockey League at the last minute. So, the AHL has been forced to change the schedule and playoff structure in a short time frame. Now, with only 13 teams in the league, each team will play in 36 regular season games. After the regular season is over, the top five will play in the Master Round to determine who will get the top seed in the playoffs. The remaining eight teams will play in a Qualification Round to determine who the last three teams to make it to the quarterfinals will be.
The Champions Hockey League is underway. Each team has played two games so far. Starting with defending champion Genève-Servette HC, from the Swiss National League, they have been struggling so far. They have one point from an overtime loss. Their other match was a 3-2 loss to Pinguins Bremerhaven (of Germany’s DEL).
Meanwhile, the runner-up in last year’s CHL, Skellefteå AIK of Sweden’s SHL, has been doing better. They are currently ranked eighth with four points. One win (over Red Bull Salzburg of Austria’s win2day ICE Hockey League) and one overtime loss (to the Straubing Tigers of Germany’s DEL) is their record so far.
The top team in the CHL is Dynamo Pardubice of Czechia’s Extraliga. They have the maximum six points (along with Färjestad Karlstad and ZSC Lions Zurich) and the best goal differential with +11. The CHL returns to action on September 12th.
Things got spicy quickly in the UK’s EIHL as during the first gameday for the league, a match between the Fife Flyers and the Glasgow Clan resulted in two ejections. The first to be ejected was Drake Pilon of the Flyers early in the third period for interference. Just four minutes later, Daniel Krenželok of the Clan would get ejected for slew-footing.
Also on the first gameday, Guildford Flames Brett Ferguson committed an illegal check to the head of Tyler Hinam (who plays for the Manchester Storm). Ferguson has now been suspended for two games.
On the second gameday, there was a thrilling match between the Guildford Flames and the Manchester Storm in the Challenge Cup. Halfway into the match, the Storm had a 3-1 lead. The Flames would reduce the deficit to only one just before the end of the second period. Then, 7:34 into the third period, Kyle Lock of the Flames would tie the game up. With 50 seconds remaining, Brett Welychka of the Flames seemingly scored to put the Flames ahead, despite complaints by Storm goaltender Evan Weninger. Despite the refs confirming it to be a goal, Storm head coach Mike Flanagan challenged it claiming goaltender interference. This time the goal was removed. With 50 seconds left, the game was once again a tie. Then, with 6 seconds remaining, Daniel Catenacci of the Flames would score the game-winning goal.
In the European Women’s Hockey League, the season began with a thrilling match between reigning champions HK PSRZ Bratislava and Aisulu Almaty. Late in the second period, Aisulu Almaty had a 2-0 lead, but the reigning champs would storm back and end up winning 3-2. Each of the three goals by HK PSRZ Bratislava would be scored in a span of fifteen minutes.
Unfortunately for Aisulu Almaty, things didn’t get any better in the second match of the season, as this time they would be shut out in a 1-0 loss to EVB Eagles South Tyrol in a shootout.
Over in Russia’s KHL, the big surprise so far in the early season is the Kunlun Red Star (for full disclosure: this is the team I root for, so I am a bit biased towards them). For the first time ever they defeated Dynamo Moscow in regulation (3-1 being the final score) and then in the next game defeated Admiral Vladivostok 5-4 in overtime. That wasn’t all, though. Nail Yakupov (yes, the former #1 overall pick for the Oilers) was named “Best Forward of the Week” for the first time in his career, getting 3 goals and an assist in three games. Now, it’s just time to see if this club can continue its level of play.
Benoit Groulx, the winningest head coach in Syracuse Crunch (of the American Hockey League) history, made the switch to the KHL this off-season to lead Traktor Chelyabinsk. On September 6, he got his first win with the club, defeating Barys Astana 4-1.
Things have not gone the way SKA Saint Petersburg wanted so far. They have one win in three games and got shut out by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl as Lokomotiv goaltender, Daniil Isayev, made 25 saves to achieve this feat. For those who don’t know, SKA is a star-studded team with names such as Ivan Demidov, Arseny Gritsyuk, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Alexander Nikishin.
Liiga will be cracking down on fighting, blocking, and holding this upcoming season. Officials have been trained to keep an eye out for them and penalize them more often. The league claims it will bring more speed and excitement, and force the players to play with more skill. Google Translate has provided these translations of how each penalty is defined:
Fighting is defined as:
Physical struggle is always against the body.
Struggling with a bat happens only against a bat and only below the lower hand.
The player can get back to the lost combat position only through footwork, or skating
Holding is defined as:
The fixations are mainly directed at the puck player.
A player cannot grab, tear, squish or lock the opponent’s body with his hands, getting the opponent out of balance.
The player cannot, by the means listed above, take away the opponent's momentum or exploit the puck.
The player can push with his hands a puck opponent.
Blocking is defined as:
Blocking is mainly directed at the puck-free player.
The player cannot take the puck-free opponent's skating line off by moving along this line.
The player cannot take the puck-free opponent’s skating line away by spreading himself with the help of his hands, body or stick.
The player cannot take the puck-free opponent's skating line away by tackling the opponent.
In good time without a separate movement, the coverage of the ice area (screen) on the opponent's skating line is allowed.
Max Ellis of Jukurit scored the first hat trick of Liiga’s 50th season, and got an assist, as he led his team to a 7-3 victory over HPK.
Denmark’s Metal Ligaen has returned to action and on opening night Herning Blue Fox defeated defending champions SønderjyskE by a score of 4-3.
It’s hard to tell exactly what happened thanks to Google Translate not being the best translator of Danish, but it seems that in the Herlev Eagles vs. Odense Bulldogs match on September 7, Odense fans started lighting Roman candles in the arena right next to the ice. Police were forced to evacuate the entire section due to the fans refusing to stop after the police warned them.
Over in Czechia’s Tipsport extraliga, the long drawn-out saga of what would happen to Mountfield HK, the club that was home to three players caught doping (Kevin Klíma, Graeme McCormack, and Martin Štohanzl). For those who don’t know, the three players mentioned were caught doping in April of 2023 and banned from playing hockey for 10 months. They returned to action in February of this year. But, what would happen to the club they played for was a decision looming large. Now we know. They have been fined two million crowns and the match they were caught doping after has been “terminated” according to Yandex translate (unfortunately, neither Google nor DeepL were any more clear on what this means). In a statement from the club, Mountfield HK, they said they felt the fine was disproportionate but they would not appeal.
Anna’s Take:
Here is a new segment in News Roundup articles where I will give my opinion on a story or two. It’s not guaranteed an op-ed will be included in each News Roundup, but I’ll try to do so in as many as possible.
Anyway, in this edition I want to discuss my thoughts on the PWHL logos, names, and wordmarks:
Boston Fleet: The logo and name are fine, I guess. They’re the ones I’ve grown the most positive toward as time has gone on. I still don’t love them, though. Regarding the wordmark, I don’t like it mainly because it reminds me too much of the Indy Fuel (of the ECHL) logo and wordmark.
Minnesota Frost: I hate everything about their branding (minus the color scheme because I love purple), and I’ll leave it there so I don’t get too mean.
Montreal Victoire: I love this logo. I really do. It’s classy, it stands out, and you know what you’re looking at once you see it. Truly elite logo design. My dad was a graphic designer and taught me graphic design as well. I still do graphic design regularly (just not professionally) and this is one of those designs that leaves me in awe. Whoever designed this, you have nothing but respect from me. That said, I’m not the biggest fan of the wordmark. It just doesn’t have the same flair, and doesn’t grab your attention like the logo. It looks too generic. Regarding the name, it’s in French, so I don’t care.
New York Sirens: The logo and name make me feel nothing. I don’t dislike them or like them. They just exist. That said, the wordmark is kinda good, I’m not going to lie. I really like it.
Ottawa Charge: Look, I don’t want to be too mean, but, it has to be said: the logo is awful and should never have been approved. The wordmark is too generic for me to have any feelings on it. The name itself is fine, I guess.
Toronto Sceptres: My thoughts on the logo and name are the same as the ones I had for New York. That said, I love, and I mean, LOVE the wordmark. My graphic designer self has spent more time than I would like to admit just sitting there admiring it.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the branding for the PWHL teams. If you found value in this article, please consider paying for a subscription here at Prism Hockey, as subscription money goes to other subscriptions such as DeepL (for translating articles in other languages to cover hockey news around the world) or Google One (necessary for storage for my articles and graphics on social media) to ensure I can continue to cover hockey. If you aren’t able to buy a paid subscription, please consider at least getting a free subscription as all articles are free, and sharing this article. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments below (only paid subscribers can comment) or on social media. I can be found on Bluesky, Instagram (Personal | Prism Hockey), Mastodon, Threads, Tumblr, and Twitter.