DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: A heartening PWHL game in Winnipeg

A couple weeks ago I wrote about how Canada’s loss in the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game was so important to me as a sports fan.

Last week I had another emotional moment watching sports, but this time it was more as a sportswriter and less as a fan.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League Takeover Tour game in Winnipeg was impressive in so many ways.

On the ice, seeing the physicality the league allows women to play with is a breath of fresh air the game at the highest level needed.

But what struck me was how many kids were at the game. I’m used to seeing kids crowd the boards during warm-ups, but this was on another level. So many young girls, so many kids wearing their minor hockey jerseys. It was clear seeing a women’s game on such a big stage meant a lot.

As someone who will watch 200 lower-level hockey games in a year, I sometimes worry about the future. Are we generating enough local fans who will be invested in the game? Or is hockey just a game with a dwindling fanbase? These are the kind of passing thoughts that are impossible to answer, and not worth thinking about at such a micro level, but I’m nothing if not an over-thinker.

At the PWHL game, it was clear, kids (of all genders) still love hockey.

Most of the fans in attendance seemed to be young girls, who behaved exactly like the young boys I often see at Pistons games. They offered trades for pre-game pucks, brought hand-drawn signs to their seats, and didn’t cheer for much until a possible scrum or fight broke out, then went absolutely insane for the potential of a fight.

I oftentimes notice cheering for fights/post-whistle scrums is higher pitched than for goals, as adults hesitate and think about cheering for that sort of thing. But the kids, both at the PWHL game and every other game I attend, go bonkers for it.

I think the PWHL could be growing a new generation of hockey fans, and I’m very relieved to have seen it with my own eyes.