Today, I’m going to cut right to the chase and give you a delicious no-bake oatmeal bar recipe. I’m guilty of eating these for breakfast, a grab and go snack, and occasionally dinner when I forget to eat, <— Yes, sometimes I forget.
They’re easy to alter and you could just use the oats, peanut butter and honey if you wanted a simple bar. But I’m the type of girl that likes to jazz things up. So, instead of going basic, I dumped the entire contents of my baking cabinet into a pan and lucky for me (and our readers) they turned out pretty awesome!
Prep time: 10 minutes
Setting time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Honey (I’ve also substituted Agave for honey or made with a mixture of the two)
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries (If you don’t like cranberries, try subbing in raisins or dried blueberries). I use dried cranberries from the farmers market, they’re not overly sweet, I would suggest trying a more natural version vs. Craisins, but they’ll work.
1/4 Shredded Coconut
3 cups Quick Oats
3 squares 60% Cacao Chocolate, broken into small chunks. This ingredient is a preference, by all means, use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer or omit it all together. For me, all the other ingredients make these bars sweet, so I choose a slightly bitter chocolate and it compliments them well, plus it’s the only kind of chocolate I had in the cabinet at the time of creation. But semi-sweet baking chips, white chocolate etc would be delicious as well.
Directions
- In a small saucepan, melt the honey and peanut butter together on low heat until smooth, turn off the heat.
- Once you’ve heated the above, mix in the shredded coconut and dried cranberries, followed by the 3 cups quick oats. Make sure everything is sufficiently mixed together.
- Next, mix in your chocolate chunks! I’ll admit that on a various occasions, I’ve forgotten to add them and just sprinkled them over the bars in a variety of ways. But mixing them in works best.
- In a glass baking dish, I generally use a glass 9×13 one because I like my bars on the thinner side, spread your mixture into the dish and then press it down so they make bars.
- Refrigerate for about 40 minutes so they set and cut into squares or thin rectangles. It’s not life or death for them to refrigerate, but they’re easier to handle once they’ve set. I prefer to cut mine into granola bar sizes and individually wrap them in saran wrap for a grab and go snack. Yields approximately 14-16 bars!
Friendly tip: I’ve found keeping these bars in the refrigerator works best.
When I first started this post, my plan was for a CWHL vs NWHL showdown, but then I realised that instead of pitting the leagues against each other, I could just highlight the best players to end up with each league, and how I think the leagues will benefit from the players they chose.
CWHL
The CWHL is currently pretty limited in who they can choose to draft, because generally speaking, they tend to only draft players who live/work in the cities the teams are based in. The NWHL, though newer and less established, can entice players with less city-based ties (for example, signing players like Nana Fujimoto, who would be unable to secure a work visa through the CWHL, but can through the NWHL).
This didn’t stop the CWHL from picking up some of the best players in North America in their most recent draft, though, as they managed to secure three gold medal winning Olympians in the first two rounds of the draft.
- Emily Fulton (Toronto Furies)
The second overall draft pick, taken by the Toronto Furies, forward Emily Fulton joins a team that already boasts offensive juggernaut and gold medal winner Natalie Spooner (15P in 20 games last season). In four seasons at Cornell, Fulton collected 131 points, and in her senior year, trailed only Brianne Jenner to earn second place on the team in points with 48. She also boasted 16 multi-point outings in her senior year, including 6 three point nights and her first career NCAA hat trick, more than earning her spot on the First All-Ivy Team honours. She’ll fit in well alongside players like Spooner, and CWHL-sophomore Kelly Terry to hopefully provide a scoring boost, and help the Furies get back to the Clarkson Cup playoffs this season.
- Sarah Edney (Brampton Thunder)
Edney became the fourth first overall pick in CWHL history last month, following her gold medal winning performance at the Nations Cup in Germany. The blueliner collected 88 points in four years with the Harvard Crimson, and in her senior year alone she was named the ECAC’s best blueliner and the ECAC tournament’s most outstanding player, was a finalist for ECAC’s player of the year, and was named to the All-Ivy League First Team (alongside fellow draft pick Emily Fulton).
Brampton is a defence first team, so it’s not a surprise that they chose Edney as their first overall pick. She’s regarded as a stay at home defender, who can add to the offence from time to time.
- Brianne Jenner (Calgary Inferno)
Jenner is the first Olympian on this list, and the first of two (!) drafted by the Calgary Inferno this year. Jenner led the ECAC in scoring in her senior year with 15 goals and 36 points, and will join fellow Olympians Haley Irwin and Cornell teammate Rebecca Johnston, as well as the Inferno’s second round draft pick, Hayley Wickenheiser, to try and give Calgary its first ever Clarkson Cup win.
Jenner graduated Cornell as the all time leader for assists, and was a member of the Women’s hockey Div 1 NCAA 200 point club, a club with fewer than twenty members. Jenner was also a two-time recipient of the Ivy League Player of the Year Award (2013, 2015) and of the ECAC Player of the Year Award (2013, 2015). Add that to her Olympic gold, her Worlds gold, her two Worlds silvers and a silver medal for the U-18 Worlds, 22 year old Jenner has a resume more impressive than many graduating players her age.
- Marie-Philip Poulin (Montreal Stars)
Marie-Philip Poulin has the unique success of scoring the last two gold medal clinching goals for her national team, scoring both goals in the 2-0 victory over the US in Vancouver, 2010, and the 2-2 and 3-2 (OT) goals, and graduated from Boston University as the all time leader in points, goals, and assists. She has previously played for the Stars, from 2007-09, before committing to BU, earning CWHL Rookie of the Year in 2008 at the age of sixteen, and helping the Stars win one of their three Clarkson Cups in 2009. At BU, she recorded 54 points in her senior year, and was one of this year’s three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier award.
She might just be one of the best Canadian hockey players ever, and she’s only twenty four years old. It’s hard to see her as anything but the future of this Montreal team, the league, and the sport in general.
- Hayley Wickenheiser (Calgary Inferno)
If Poulin is the future of women’s hockey, then Hayley Wickenheiser is the past and the present. The four time Olympic gold medal winner has been a pioneer in this sport since 2002, when she became the first female skater to sign with a men’s professional hockey league, HC Salamat in Finland. She is one of only five athletes to win four consecutive gold medals in the Winter Olympics, and she’s considering going to Pyeongchang for a fifth. She has over thirty gold and silver medals from international competition. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Wickenheiser might be the greatest female hockey player there is, and she’s not done yet.
NWHL
The NWHL is, compared to the CWHL, an infant. The league itself isn’t even six months old yet, and they’ve already managed to sign some of the best players in the world, based on Angela Ruggiero’s reputation, and a promise of financial stability, something the CWHL just can’t offer yet.
- Janine Weber (New York Riveters)
Weber made history this summer, becoming not only the first player in history to sign with the New York Riveters, but the first player to sign a contract with the NWHL. Weber previously played for the Boston Blades of the CWHL, and in 2015 became only the second European born player to win the Clarkson Cup, scoring the overtime winner in the Final against the Montreal Stars.
She’s a member of the Austrian Women’s National Team, and in 2013, at the Div 1 Group A World Championships, finished as the tournament’s leading scorer, despite being a defender.
- Nana Fujimoto (New York Riveters)
Team Japan was one of the biggest stories at the Olympics, and they snuck up on people again at Worlds in 2015, and Fujimoto was a huge reason for this. In Malmo, at Worlds, she was selected as Best Goaltender of the Tournament, ending the tournament with a .927 save percentage. Japan-born and trained Fujimoto is perhaps the best reflection of the international kind of play the NWHL wants to promote, and while the CWHL drafted four Japanese players last month, none of them are quite the same calibre. By signing Fujimoto, the NWHL is proving they can support players from all nations, not just North America.
- Brianne McLaughlin (Buffalo Beauts)
Playing out of Robert Morris University, where she graduated from in 2009, McLaughlin set an NCAA record of almost 4000 saves over her college career, and on four separate occasions in her senior year, made more than 50 saves in a single game, culminating in a .909 save percentage, good for second in the CHA. She also has two silver Olympic medals from 2010 and 2014 while playing for USA Hockey, and two gold World Championship medals from 2011 and 2013. She was the first player to be signed by the Buffalo Beauts this offseason.
- Hannah Brandt (Connecticut Whale)
The Minnesota Gopher was selected second overall, just behind fellow American Alex Carpenter (spoiler alert: number one on this list), and after three years at college, has already amassed 218 points in 120 games. She won gold with USA hockey at the U18 World Championships in 2011, and again in the World Championships in 2015. Though she can’t officially sign with the Whale until the 2016-17 season, watching her senior year at U of Minnesota is going to be a lot of fun.
- Alex Carpenter (New York Riveters)
Carpenter is another USA Hockey alumni, with one silver Olympic medal and two gold World Championship medals. The 2015 Patty Kazmaier recipient has the honour of being the first ever first overall NWHL draft pick, after a stand out junior year at Boston College, leading the NCAA with 81 points in 37 games. Like Brandt, she still has one more year of college hockey to play before she can sign a contract with the Riveters, but it won’t be long before she’s breaking records in the NWHL.
After 14 seasons in the NHL, forward Simon Gagne has finally decided to hang up his skates and retire from hockey.
Gagne, 35, spent 11 of his 14 seasons playing with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers selected him in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. The forward played in 691 games for the Flyers, where he scored 264 goals, had 271 assists, tallied 535 points and racked up 284 penalty minutes. He scored over 40 goals in back-to-back seasons, and they were the only seasons in which he registered over 40 goals. Gagne also has over 40 points in nine of his 14 seasons in the NHL.
Gagne led the Flyers in goals three separate seasons, and also led the team twice in points. He was a two-time All-Star (2001 & 2007). The forward won the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers Team Most Valuable Player on two separate occasions. Gagne ranks ninth on the Flyers all-time list in goals with 264 scored. He also ranks 10th in franchise history with 535 points and 691 games played. Gagne ranks fourth on the Flyers all-time list among left wingers in goals and in points.
Gagne scored some pretty memorable playoff goals during his time with the Flyers. In game six of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, he scored the game-winning goal in overtime to force a game seven against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning eventually went on to win game and the Stanley Cup.
He was also instrumental in helping the Flyers to come back from a 0-3 deficit against the Boston Bruins during the 2010 playoffs. Gagne scored the game-winning goal in overtime of game four, and he also added two more goals in game five. The Flyers went on to win game six to force an important game 7 in Boston. The Flyers quickly found themselves down 3-0 before the first period was even over, but they fought back to tie the game like they had the series. Gagne scored the game-winning goal in the third period for a 4-3 game and series win. The Flyers were only the third team to come back from an 0-3 series deficit to win the series.
He was traded to the Lightning in the summer of 2010 for Matt Walker and a conditional fourth round in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers selected Marcel Noebels in the fourth round. Gagne became a free agent in the summer and signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings, where he helped to lead the Kings to a Stanley Cup. In February 2013, Gagne was traded back to the Flyers. Gagne won a roster spot with the Bruins last season, but only played 23 games and registered four points.
Gagne missed good chunks of two seasons (2007-08 & 2011-12) due to concussions, but he still managed to put up good numbers despite the concussions.
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With the Minnesota Wild’s first game coming up on Oct. 8, many fans are wondering how the 2015-16 season will pan out. Will the Wild be a top team in the NHL? Will they make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year? If they do make the playoffs, how far will the Wild go? Obviously, it is too early to answer most of these questions, we will just have to wait and see what happens; but, like always, there are opinions circulating around, whether it’s from NHL critics, or just from fans. Although the Wild didn’t add many newcomers to the roster this offseason; and many NHL critics think that they will not make the playoffs this year, it would not be surprising if the Wild defied the odds, and made another playoff berth.
The Wild are known for being a young and talented team. They have many young, key players, such as Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund, whom have already had breakout seasons. These young guns will be a huge factor in whether or not the Wild make the playoffs this season. Zucker has proven to be an impact player, one who has a knack for scoring, as he had 21 goals in 51 games this past regular season. He has had a history of injury, but if he can stay healthy, he will most likely be one of the top scorers on the roster. Coyle and Niederreiter are also important players on the ice, as they can score goals, but can also set their teammates up. Brodin has demonstrated that he is an impact player, skating alongside Ryan Suter; and was even a Calder Trophy finalist during his rookie season. Granlund has previously proven his worth, as he has been a player the Wild look to since his rookie season in 2012.
The Wild have young players in their system who have yet to make an NHL debut, such as first round draft picks Alex Tuch and Joel Eriksson Ek; plus Mike Reilly, whom they signed to a contract earlier this summer. Tuch and Eriksson Ek probably will not make an NHL debut this season, but there is a strong possibility that Reilly may. Reilly was the top scorer for his college team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, last season, which is impressive, but even more so because he is a defenseman. He is extremely talented in his ability to play offense, but also to stop his opponent from scoring. The Wild seem to always have difficulty putting the puck in the net, so another player who has that gift is always a good thing to have on the roster. On the other hand, they can always use another player who can help prevent their opponents from scoring.
It’s no secret that the Wild highly rely on their veterans’ performance. Players such as Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville and Devan Dubnyk have been their reason for success in the past, so if these guys can play well and provide leadership to younger teammates, the Wild could make a deep playoff run. Parise and Suter, who both signed long-term contracts with the Wild on July 4, 2012, have made a huge impact on the Wild’s success. The Wild have made the playoffs every year since Parise and Suter threw on their sweater, showing that these two have made a large difference on whether or not the team finds success. Both are known for having great leadership; Parise was even the captain of Team USA at the 2014 Olympics. Mikko Koivu is also known for having great leadership skills, as he has been the Wild’s captain since 2009. On top of their leadership skills, Koivu, Parise and Suter are all very talented, and are players that teammates look to in order to get things done on the ice. Vanek and Pominville are both players who have shown their ability to rack up points in the past, so if they play at their top level, it will positively influence the Wild’s winning record quite a bit. Devan Dubnyk; the team’s starting goaltender is also crucial to the Wild’s success. Before Dubnyk came to Minnesota last season, the Wild were struggling, and it was looking as if they wouldn’t make the playoffs. When Dubnyk was traded from the Arizona Coyotes, he turned the Wild’s season, and his career, around. His stellar play lead the Wild to the playoffs, and he was even named a Vezina Finalist. So, if these veteran players are on top of their game, the Wild have an increased shot at a playoff spot.
Quite possibly the only thing holding the Wild off from making another playoff berth is their tough division. The Central Division is easily one of the toughest – if not the toughest – division in the NHL. In their division is defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, who will likely be around until late in the playoffs again. The St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, foes whom they have squared off against in the playoffs recently, are both very talented teams, as well. The Blues gave the Wild a run for their money in the 2015 playoffs, and there was many times it looked as if they may get defeated in the first round. Vladimir Tarasenko, the Blues’ young gun, is never a fun guy to play against, as he has jaw-dropping talent, and has the ability to score important goals, even if just one small mistake is made. Although the Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season, they are by no means a bad team, as they have many talented, young players. Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog are players to watch, as is star goaltender Semyon Varlamov. On top of that, it doesn’t look like star veteran, Jarome Iginla, is slowing down anytime soon. The Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets are both very talented teams, despite their early playoff exits. The Predators were one of the top teams in the league last year, with many young players that showed their worth, such as Seth Jones, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg. The Jets are one of the most underrated teams in the NHL, and will most likely be just as good, if not better than they were last year. They have talent all across the board, with players like Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Tobias Enstrom and Ondrej Pavelec. The Wild’s final foe in their division is the Dallas Stars, a team stacked with skill. Even though they did not make the playoffs last year, they are one of the most talented teams in the league. With players like Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, the Stars are an offensive powerhouse. It doesn’t hurt that they have just added veteran star, Patrick Sharp, to their roster. If they can play better defense, they will most likely make it far into the playoffs, and could be Stanley Cup Champions within the next couple of years. So, clearly the Minnesota Wild have their work cut out for them this year, as there is no bad team in their division; all have the potential to make it to the playoffs, and it would not be surprising to see one of these teams as the 2016 Stanley Cup Champions.
Despite their tough division, it still wouldn’t be shocking to see the Wild make their fourth consecutive playoff appearance. They have veteran leadership and talent, plus a lot of young guns that have proven their worth; and some who are ready to have breakout years, as well. They have a solid goaltender and great defense, so if they can find a way to put the puck in the net, the Wild will be a threat out on the ice. The Wild cannot afford to play many bad games, as they will not have any easy wins. If everyone can play their parts, the Wild can defy NHL critics’ odds, and make the playoffs, once again.
With the end of summer upon us and the start of hockey season skating into view, many of you may notice that the stores and farmers markets have an abundance of zucchini to close out the season. Zucchini with its versatility in terms of cooking and baking can be the perfect addition to any dish. For me, anything zucchini has always been one of my favorite things, zucchini pie, zucchini carrot cake, zucchini bread, etc, etc, etc.
This recipe for Raspberry Lemon Zucchini Bread is easy, not overly time consuming and absolutely delicious — channel your inner Betty Crocker and get to baking. There’s no hockey on, what else do you have to do?
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup pineapple juice
Zest of 1 lemon, plus one squeeze lemon juice
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup raspberries (I suspect blueberries would be delicious as well!)
Directions
Pre-heat over to 350 degrees
- Mix all ingredients, with the exception of the raspberries in a large bowl until a batter is formed.
- Lightly fold in the raspberries
- Spray or grease two loaf pans and pour the batter evenly between the two pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top.
The Philadelphia Flyers have the depth to roll four lines out every game, but the biggest question on the offensive side of the puck is how often do the secondary scorers contribute?
The Flyers did score 212 goals last season, but 96 of them came from Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek and Michael Raffl. These four forwards were the only players to score more than 20 goals in the season. The rest of the forwards that played regularly during the season contributed 79 goals.
The defensive duo of Mark Streit and Michael Del Zotto combined for 19 goals, which was three more then the 16 that forwards Matt Read and Vincent Lecavalier combined to score. Read played through a high ankle sprain for most of the season last year and that slowed him down. Lecavalier has a chance to work with a new head coach and a clean slate. There is a slim chance that he surprises everyone and has a bounce back season.
Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier will be under pressure to produce for the opposite reasons. Schenn had 18 goals to go with 47 points last season, but he hasn’t had his breakout season offensively yet. This could be the year with a contract on the line since he is a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Couturier just signed a six-year extension in the off season. He has a new coach and contract so look for him to have the breakout season that everyone has been waiting for him to have.
The Flyers got some more depth with the addition of Sam Gagner. He can play all three forward positions. Gagner had 15 goals and 41 points with the Arizona Coyotes last season. R.J. Umberger is another guy that can play all three forward positions. He had nine goals last season before having hip surgery. Will he be able to bounce back and contribute to this offense?
The surprise player on offense could be Chris VandeVelde. Dave Hakstol, the Flyers new head coach, is familiar with VandeVelde because he was his college coach. VandeVelde has the advantage of knowing the system that Hakstol wants his team to play and VandeVelde will also know what is expected from the team. It should be interesting to see how Hakstol uses VandeVelde during the course of games.
The defense will also contribute some on offense. Streit and Del Zotto contributed 19 goals to go along with 84 total points in the offense last season. The other defensemen will contribute in the offensive zone, but not nearly as much as those two.
If the primary and secondary scorers can be on the same page then the Flyers could be a scary team in the offensive zone.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will open the doors to the Air Canada Centre this weekend to hold the team’s second annual Fan Fest.
The Fan Fest is free to attend, but the tickets were distributed through a weekly lottery. The Fan Fest starts on Thursday, September 10 and will wrap up on Sunday, September 13. The fans will have an opportunity to ask questions to the Maple Leafs front office members, coaches, alumni and current players during a Town Hall meeting on Thursday night. The question and answer session will include Brendan Shanahan, Lou Lamoriello and coach Mike Babcock. Shanahan will also make a special Legends Row announcement at the Town Hall.
The fun will continue for fans on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. with the new additions to Legends Row being unveiled. The fans will also be able to meet some Maple Leafs greats from the past and the present. There will be a tour of the Maple Leafs locker room available so the fans can see where their favorite players get ready for the game. The fans will be able to take pictures with banners of certain players, which will include Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin, Wendel Clark, Bill Barilko and Ace Bailey.
The Fan Fest continues on Sunday at 10 a.m. The fans can step into the Maple Leafs penalty box, where they can enjoy the view of the rink from ice level. They can also tour the visitor’s locker room to see where the “enemy” gets ready for the game. There will be live programming on stage that will include Leafs legends. There will also be interview and photo opportunities available during the weekend.
The Maple Leafs will also be selling game-worn equipment throughout the weekend. There will be a chance for Leafs fans to win tickets during a scavenger hunt that will take place during the Fan Fest.
The Leafs are just one of many NHL teams that do a Fan Fest to give back to the fans that have supported the fans throughout the years and will continue to support the team into the future.
Who wouldn’t love this hockey themed swimming pool to get through the summer? It’s certainly one way to beat the heat … Who’s building us one? #ItsAlmostOctober
By Rochelle Bergman
On May 20th 2015, I wrote a column called O Canada, Will Be Sung! The column was about a game which played on Sunday May 17th 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic. It was the gold medal game of the IIHF World Hockey Championships. Canada played Russia, winning the competition with a final score of 6-1.
The controversy wasn’t during play but what happened after the game. Instead of staying on the ice and standing still for the National Anthem of Canada along with other medal winners; the Russian players skated off the ice towards their dressing room. The team’s defense was that the rink side door was open and they assumed that they could leave the ice. No other team has ever been confused by the protocol of the end of annual championship before in the IIHF. All teams stay on the ice till the very end which includes all medal presentations and anthems. So why did the Russians do this? We will probably never know. Could the feeling of defeat really have taken them to an ugly place? Who knows? Regardless of their motivation, the IIHF issued a ruling and a fine as a result of their behavior.
The IIHF ruled that the Russians left the ice in a bad display of sportsmanship. The open gate was not an excuse to skate off the ice right then. A fine of $85,000 was assessed to the Russian national team. The IIHF also stated that the players and officials knew the rules before the game. They knew that this was a medal game and a ceremony was going to take place after the game. The ruling said that Kovalchuk through a “head gesture” told his teammates to skate off the ice after getting their silver medals. Kovalchuk who played in the NHL for three years as a New Jersey Devil should have known better.
As a fan of hockey in general I am hurt that one player cannot stand up and cheer for another. I cannot believe that any player who knows the rules can forget them in a moment of despair for not coming in first. Hockey is sportsmanship. Hockey is working together as a team, but it’s more than that. Yes, it is playing to win, but it is playing to win with respect for the other team. To know that everyone is equal underneath their sweaters. Dignity with skates on. I really don’t know why the Russians skated off the ice on May 17th in Prague but it felt like a slap across the face for me as a hockey lover and as a Canadian. That may never have been their intention, but that, for me, was the emotion sparked by their lack of sportsmanship.
Photo Credit: NHL.com
The (in)famous Islanders Ice Girls will not be joining the team as they move west to their new home in Brooklyn. On October 9th the Islanders will take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks at the Barclays Center however, a long-time on-ice presence will be missing. In recent years there has been a flurry of controversy surrounding the NHL and their various ice crews. Reports of the harsh conditions that these women are forced to work under and the poor treatment they receive from the organizations have surfaced across the internet. With all that said, am I sad that the Islanders are leaving the Ice Girls behind? In short…no.
While obviously every team needs an ice crew, I always felt that the Ice Girls were gimmicky and cheapened the image of the team. With their various outfit changes throughout the course of a season, they always appeared to be more about putting on a show than clearing off the ice. When watching games at other arenas it was evident that other teams had their ice cleared off in a fraction of the time it took the Ice Girls to do it. From a financial stand point the marketing and promotion dollars could be better spent on things to better the team’s image and help to raise us out of being a “second rate” franchise. Overall, I am hoping that the team follows in the footsteps of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers. I have observed both teams’ ice crews in person and they are fast, professional, and do not detract from the game and feeling of being in a hockey arena.
With the move to Brooklyn, it will be even harder for the team to compete now as they are even closer to both the Devils and inter-state rivals, the New York Rangers. The removal of the Ice Girls squad is just one of many steps the team can take to help revamp the Islanders image among New York sports fans and NHL fans alike. This is a chance for the team to take itself more seriously as an organization and to create a better experience for fans.
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