With the Frozen Four being held at Consol Energy Center this week, it signifies another step in the hockey renaissance that has taken over the city of Pittsburgh. Forever a football town, Pittsburgh has established itself in recent years as one of the best hockey cities in America. Why else would the NCAA select Pittsburgh to host the Frozen Four?
That being said, maybe it’s time to take it a step further. Maybe it’s time to bring women’s professional hockey team to Pittsburgh.
Now, before the skeptics begin to put down women’s sports, I would urge them to go check out highlights of one player: Amanda Kessel. Does the name sound familiar? She’s the younger sister of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel, and she just finished leading the Minnesota Golden Gophers to their second straight national championship and an undefeated 41-0-0 season.
Along the way, Kessel scored 46 goals and totaled 101 points in 37 games. She also scored the game winning goal earlier this week for Team USA in the goal medal game of the women’s world hockey championships against Canada. You’re telling me you wouldn’t want to watch a talent like that?
Currently, the biggest professional women’s league is the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. The league has just five team, with one team from the United States; the Boston Blades. It would be nice to see the league expand and establish more American teams, and Pittsburgh would be a great place for it.
No, Pittsburgh isn’t Boston or Minnesota or Wisconsin, but they’re getting there. Pittsburgh owns arguably the best hockey team in the NHL currently, and Robert Morris has established themselves as a strong Division I team at the collegiate level. Penn State also just recently joined the Division I ranks after 30-plus years of dominance at the club level, giving more local kids the chance to play big time college hockey close to home.
Bottom line is, if you have team in Pittsburgh, fans will go and watch, because people in Pittsburgh love hockey.
Also, there is more talent coming out of Western Pennsylvania than ever before. Brandon Saad of Gibsonia could possibly win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie this season, and recently four Western Pennsylvania products helped the United States win goad at the World Junior Championships.
A women’s team would only help grow the game more throughout Pittsburgh, because it could open up more opportunities for young girls to play. Currently girls don’t enjoy the same luxury of getting to play for their high school team like boys do. Girls can play for U14 and U19 teams in the Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey League. There is also a travel team called Team Pittsburgh. Although, how cool would it be to see the girls playing high school hockey championship games at Consol Energy Center like the boys do?
It’s probably a far off proposal, but with the success of women’s hockey in America and the passion the city of Pittsburgh has for the game, a women’s professional team would be a great fit and would grow the game tremendously in the area.
Photo Credits: Star Tribune
