Boys Hockey Day Minnesota

D6 Girls Fan · Post by **D6 Girls Fan** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 8:51 am

Surprised there's not more outrage about the Girls being left out of Hockey Day Minnesota. I hear the program's defenders saying "well, we couldn't involve the girls because they're in sections." Which is crap. There are many, many weekends to do this, to wait until February is weak. To land on that as an excuse is just the sign of people who don't care about all levels of hockey.

Who's in charge?

The Bone · Post by **The Bone** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:59 am

DITTO!

Sparlimb · Post by **Sparlimb** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 1:26 pm

I think the Wild have a big say in when Hockey Day Minnesota is. But then again, they are going to be playing on the road for the game, which is weird too. Not sure what all that is about. I like the idea of having at least one girl's game and televising it, even if it is taped delayed. The girls deserve recognition for their hard work as well.

For whatever reason, hockey day is extremely late this year.

hockeywild7 · Post by **hockeywild7** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:18 pm

Agreed, leaving the girls out of hockey day Minnesota makes it "Boys" hockey day. The Wild need to right this in the future, it is insulting to all girls who play hockey.

jg2112 · Post by **jg2112** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:20 am

Winny held a girls' only Pond Hockey tournament at the Roseville Oval in early December. The Gophers were out there on the ice. The Gophers played SCSU at the Oval Friday night. The Whitecaps played the Boston Pride at Ridder Saturday night

Maybe there's the alternative.......but then, all of you complaining need to BE THERE. There were fewer than 1,000 people at Ridder for that game.

Hard water fan · Post by **Hard water fan** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:42 am

I for one am not ok with the girls being kicked to the curb. I called the Wild numerous times and never received a return call. I also spoke with the head of the national women's sports foundation, who has many influential woman athletes, including hockey players, on its board. They will be exerting some pressure to try and influence a change going forward. Billie Jean King, Angela Ruggiero, Caitlin Cahow, they are all personally familiar with the deliberate choice to leave the girls on the bench for this celebration... not only this year, but in all the past years as well. We, as parents of these incredible athletes, should not be willing to be satisfied with a pre-recorded tape of a game. Last year the playback was at 11pm, and the final period in a very close, exciting game was pre-empted for a shamwow commercial. People have to realize that just as Ms. King knew when she got Virginia Slims to kick in big $ to sponsor the women's tennis open (opening the door for all girl athletes), there are plenty of people who are willing to sponsor the girls side to give them an equal opportunity to see a game live, just like the boys. If it means switching out A and AA every other year for both boys and girls, so be it. At least then they will be sending our girls the message that they deserve recognition and don't have to be thankful for a second rate recording after everyone goes to bed. Thank God for people like Billie Jean King, for without her, our girls wouldn't even be playing. What will you do as a parent of a girl athlete? May I suggest you drop the women's sports foundation an email. Tell them you support change. If enough people do, you will see the girls have a live game in the coming years. If you don't, you'll just be reading about people complaining on blogs like this.

observer · Post by **observer** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:52 am

I agree with most of what you say hw but with media you have to consider the number of attendees and also, more important, number of viewers.

When it comes to number of TV viewers your PC rant will likely go nowhere.

allhoc11 · Post by **allhoc11** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:18 am

I certainly understand the argument, and it is truly sad the girls game is not part of "Boys Hockey Day MN". I do think observer brings up some valid points, even when it has been part of the day in the past the game usually aired late at night because no one is watching it. For the advertisers and promoters it is all about getting a return on their $ unless someone is willing to foot the bill for it.

In addition there are some great section games happening right now and the only people who see them are the parents, same when the game moves to the X. While it saddens me to see the girls not included in Hockey Day, I think a better way to attack this is to find ways to get attendance up at some of the great games that will be played in the next week and a half!

D6 Girls Fan · Post by **D6 Girls Fan** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:54 am

To say there's not enough interest is missing the point. If this is truly a celebration of hockey in Minnesota, you don't ignore the very large percentage of girls and young women playing hockey. You just don't. If you didn't want to interrupt the section playoffs, just grab a D3 college game, there are 5 of them to choose from today, I bet they'd love to play outdoors. And why does it have to be outdoors? Why not televise one of the many sectional games as part of the proceedings?

Everyone knows that women's/girl's hockey isn't as popular, but it's been around a lot shorter a period of time. How do you think it will get popular if it isn't given a chance? The Wild and Fox Sports North blew it, period. Now, they won't even acknowledge that they did.

thegreatone99 · Post by **thegreatone99** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:03 am

D6 Girls Fan wrote:To say there's not enough interest is missing the point. If this is truly a celebration of hockey in Minnesota, you don't ignore the very large percentage of girls and young women playing hockey. You just don't. If you didn't want to interrupt the section playoffs, just grab a D3 college game, there are 5 of them to choose from today, I bet they'd love to play outdoors. And why does it have to be outdoors? Why not televise one of the many sectional games as part of the proceedings?

Everyone knows that women's/girl's hockey isn't as popular, but it's been around a lot shorter a period of time. How do you think it will get popular if it isn't given a chance? The Wild and Fox Sports North blew it, period. Now, they won't even acknowledge that they did.

Maybe Beyond the Pond radio show or Iheart and clear channel should be involved to move it forward

hockeywild7 · Post by **hockeywild7** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:12 am

Didn't say girls game needed to be live on TV. Not having any girls games as a part of the lineup is a horrible decision by organizers of HDM. I get the ratings and all that stuff but is that all this is about? FSN already knows they dropped the ball on leaving out the girls. They and Wild have taken some criticism from it and they tried to appease those offended by featuring the girls game to start today's coverage. Maybe the girls coaches association should organize their own outdoor girls hockey celebration on another day and call it girls hockey day Minnesota.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:27 am

If you want to blame anyone blame the San Jose Sharks! FSN originally chose January 23rd and the girls were part of this plan. The problem is the Wild were scheduled to play San Jose at 3:00 which did not work for Hockey Day. Hockey Day officials and the Wild pleaded with San Jose to move the game to a night game. Because it was their home game they had the choice and refused to move it. In conversations with the NHL they frankly do not care about Hockey Day in MN. As a result the girls were left out because they were already into the sectional tournaments.

blondegirlsdad · Post by **blondegirlsdad** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:33 pm

thegreatone99 wrote:
D6 Girls Fan wrote:To say there's not enough interest is missing the point. If this is truly a celebration of hockey in Minnesota, you don't ignore the very large percentage of girls and young women playing hockey. You just don't. If you didn't want to interrupt the section playoffs, just grab a D3 college game, there are 5 of them to choose from today, I bet they'd love to play outdoors. And why does it have to be outdoors? Why not televise one of the many sectional games as part of the proceedings?

Everyone knows that women's/girl's hockey isn't as popular, but it's been around a lot shorter a period of time. How do you think it will get popular if it isn't given a chance? The Wild and Fox Sports North blew it, period. Now, they won't even acknowledge that they did.
Maybe Beyond the Pond radio show or Iheart and clear channel should be involved to move it forward

No comment

FadedRedLine · Post by **FadedRedLine** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:46 am

JohnnyBuck wrote:If you want to blame anyone blame the San Jose Sharks! FSN originally chose January 23rd and the girls were part of this plan. The problem is the Wild were scheduled to play San Jose at 3:00 which did not work for Hockey Day. Hockey Day officials and the Wild pleaded with San Jose to move the game to a night game. Because it was their home game they had the choice and refused to move it. In conversations with the NHL they frankly do not care about Hockey Day in MN. As a result the girls were left out because they were already into the sectional tournaments.

If this is true, which I have no reason to believe it isn't, this situation does not sound like a conspiracy against Girls hockey.

Tigers33 · Post by **Tigers33** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:53 am

Nope doesn't like it to me and it's not a conspiracy. These are probably the same people that got the girls state tournament at the xcel cause the boys is there. Even though most people know it would be far better off at ridder and the players probably think the same. But it's about the kids...right?

So all ya missed out on was probably Duluth Marshall playing some western suburb team on HDM. Cause that's all that seems to be on for that.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 1:05 pm

FadedRedLine wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:If you want to blame anyone blame the San Jose Sharks! FSN originally chose January 23rd and the girls were part of this plan. The problem is the Wild were scheduled to play San Jose at 3:00 which did not work for Hockey Day. Hockey Day officials and the Wild pleaded with San Jose to move the game to a night game. Because it was their home game they had the choice and refused to move it. In conversations with the NHL they frankly do not care about Hockey Day in MN. As a result the girls were left out because they were already into the sectional tournaments.
If this is true, which I have no reason to believe it isn't, this situation does not sound like a conspiracy against Girls hockey.

100% True. I talked with one of the lead organizers of HDM in Duluth and he was on a conference call with the Sharks, Wild and NHL reps.

U10Father · Post by **U10Father** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:29 pm

I normally could care less about political correctness, but it would have taken so little to correct this (running a girls sectional game, playing a college game) but the people in charge didn't care enough

Homer · Post by **Homer** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 2:30 pm

Blame the NHL for this year, but what about the previous years?
Maybe Minnesota hockey should showcase our abundance of talent and help grow the sport on the women's side.
16 Minnesota girls represented The U.S. on the U18 squad
I would argue the best hockey player at the U, plays on the women's team.