Pascal Daoust spoke with a thick Canadian accent, however his message echoed the sentiment of his new stomping grounds in New York.
“I do know the track says it properly, ‘if you can also make it right here, you can also make it anyplace,’ ” PWHL New York’s basic supervisor mentioned Wednesday evening with a smile earlier than the staff’s 5-2 loss to PWHL Montreal at UBS Area. “We’ve got 19 [thousand] seats to fill, why not New York?”
Daoust and New York’s journey to creating it right here is simply starting.
They definitely have their work reduce out for them.
Wednesday evening’s conflict was New York’s third-ever recreation because the PWHL kicks off its inaugural season as the brand new high skilled girls’s hockey league.
It was the staff’s first at UBS Area in Elmont, which, whereas primarily the Islanders’ house area, will function one in every of its two house venues, together with Complete Mortgage Area in Bridgeport, Conn., this season.
However “New York” is stitched throughout the staff’s teal jerseys, not Connecticut.
Whereas Bridgeport is definitely shut sufficient, the two,201 followers in attendance Wednesday extra intently resemble the fan base this staff is making an attempt to win over than those that had been current final Friday for the staff’s 3-2 loss to Toronto at Complete Mortgage Area.
Islanders legend Bryan Trottier dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Amy Rivard, singing among the many followers as a substitute of on the ice, belted out each the Canadian and American nationwide anthems.
Feminine tennis legend Billie Jean King was proven on the jumbotron.
The Put up’s Jenna Lemoncelli, serving as the world’s emcee for the evening, acquired the group pumped up.
And eventually, New York started competing for the primary time in entrance of its new house fan base.
“Undoubtedly a dream come true,” Daoust mentioned. “A dream begins with a plan. Till you get a plan it’s at all times a dream. Now we now have a terrific, nice plan that comes from the league. They usually have the chance at this time to showcase to the followers and to New York. It’s a terrific dream coming true.
“We’re anticipating followers that can establish themselves to the staff. A staff that’s working arduous 60 minutes, competing, is gritty, is truthful.”
New York has heavy native competitors for followers’ consideration — two skilled soccer, baseball, basketball, soccer and males’s hockey groups in addition to myriad school groups.
Can the staff — and extra broadly the league, which is starting with six groups — carve out its personal area of interest?
“The largest factor for this sport is discovering these locations the place these girls can go and make an affect in the neighborhood, get extra women into hockey normally, and present them that there’s a spot to go,” one fan, Christian Skawski, advised The Put up. “On the finish, there’s an finish purpose. A number of women give up hockey at an early age. … Now they will see themselves doing what the opposite skilled athletes do.”
The sport had a lot of the feels of knowledgeable recreation, besides one element.
Followers chanted, notably after Jessie Eldridge’s first-period purpose and Ella Shelton’s third-period purpose, “Let’s go New York” all through the evening, which made you surprise why “New York” as a substitute of the staff title.
Effectively, there isn’t a staff nickname but.
Not one of the groups within the league have one but, nor a brand.
It’s a reminder of simply how new the league is.
However a few of the early indicators are optimistic.
Final Saturday’s recreation between Minnesota and Montreal at Xcel Power Heart broke the file for the best attendance at knowledgeable girls’s hockey recreation with 13,316 followers.
No, New York hasn’t come near matching that, however once more, the competitors for consideration on this space is fierce.
“You simply had to go searching just a few instances and pinch ourselves as a result of it truly is a wonderful facility,” head coach Howie Draper mentioned of UBS Area.. “The ice is quick, the followers had been nice. We might hear them behind us, giving us every part they may give us. Giving the refs a tough time after they thought possibly we didn’t deserve just a few calls. We’d like that. … It was a whole lot of enjoyable enjoying right here.”