X75 Productions

Tag: Hilary Knight

  • TXHT Jersey Share – Gold Medal Caliber

    TXHT Jersey Share – Gold Medal Caliber

    Today in another edition of TXHT Jersey Share, we are going to take a look at a Replica Nike Team USA Hockey jersey that our very own Scott Fairchild got signed by the women’s 2018 Olympic Gold Medal winning team at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

     

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    Scott: First of all, the jersey is very comfortable as it has a Dri-Fit feel to it which is very typical of how Nike makes their jerseys and clothes. It also makes the jersey feel very breathable on you and doesn’t feel heavy or itchy at all. I’ve always been a fan of this jersey with the patriotic design and how the red stripes flowing out of the letter “S” like a waving flag.

    Now as for it being signed, I was very lucky and fortunate to be able to get the majority of the 2018 gold medal winning women’s hockey team at the Olympics to sign it. I happened to be off work one day due to a really bad wind storm which caused power outages that closed schools, and the team was visiting MedStar Capitals Iceplex (then know as Kettler Capitals Iceplex) to sign autographs and run a kids hockey clinic. I was able to get a good amount of signatures that day and I even got to hold Hilary Knight’s Gold Medal (see picture below). The team was also in town for the 2018 Stadium Series between the Washington Capitals & Toronto Maple Leafs. The whole team was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans at the fan fest before the game began as they were being honored for their accomplishment of winning the Gold Medal at the Olympics.

     

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    Here are the signatures featured on the jersey:

    Hilary Knight, Jocelyn Lamoreaux-Davidson (game winning goal in the shootout), Monique Lamoreaux-Morando (game tying goal), Amanda Pelky, Kelly Panek, Hannah Brandt, Nicole Hensley, Maddie Rooney (winning goalie of record in the Gold Medal game), Kendall Coyne Schofield, Sidney Morin

     

    Got a hockey jersey in your collection you’d like to share? Let us know, and we can add it to our TXHT Jersey Share series.

  • Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    A little before noon today over 200 professional female hockey players announced that they will be boycotting this upcoming season until the get a “Long-Term Viable” Professional Women’s Hockey League.

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    In the statement above that was released by around 200 professional female hockey players it states that it is time to create a sustainable league for Women’s hockey that will give them the abilities to have health insurance, have the ability to train adequately for games, and most importantly, making a livable wage playing hockey.

     

    A couple hours after the #ForTheGame announcement was made, NWHL put out the following statement:

    Screenshot_20190502-134630_Yahoo Mail

     

    In this statement from the NWHL, the biggest takeaway is that they have all intentions moving forward with the 2019-20 season, and that they will be offering increased salaries, and a 50-50 in revenue from sponsorships and media rights deals after long constructive and positive conversations with the NWHL Player’s Association over the past month.

     

    In regards to the NWHLPA, Director Anya Battaglino had the following statement when reached for comment on the news:

    “In the off season the NWHLPA has been working hard to continue to drive the betterment of our professional athletes every day. This announcement halts our ability to finally have the best players on one stage, and unfortunately sets the Women’s Hockey game backward. With the powerful opportunity we have this year to drive unprecedented growth, this new fragmentation will only slow that growth.”

     

    While examining Mrs. Battaglino’s statement here, we have to agree with her assessment on this situation. While yesterday, May 1st, marked the official end of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) as they closed their doors, the NWHL acted swiftly and added two more teams to their league with the prospects of a third team to make it an 8 team league when the initial announcement was made in an effort to give more women an opportunity to play professionally in the NWHL.

     

    Also, look at the growth of Women’s hockey in these last two years specifically. From the US Olympic Hockey Team winning the gold medal against Team Canada, to setting a US attendance record for a Women’s hockey game at the NWHL All Star Game in Nashville, to having Kendall Coyne Schofield becoming the first woman to participate in the NHL All Star Skills Competition. These women have made great gains only to halt it’s momentum to a near dead halt, and it’s a damn shame.

     

    Do these women deserve to play professionally, and make a living wage doing so? Oh hell yes they do. They deserve it, and most importantly they’ve earned it, but what they are doing does not seem like the way to go about it. While we don’t have the answers here ourselves, we do believe that there has to be a better way to accomplish the ultimate goal, and that is to have the ultimate professional Women’s hockey league that brings great stability and a long term viable option for women to play the game.

     

    We do know that one player has spoken out against the #ForTheGame movement as reported by The Ice Garden, and that is Boston Pride player Kaleigh Fratkin.

     

    We will have more here on TXHT as everything unfolds, but to quote our Connecticut Whale writer Christopher Vasilas ( @shaggy901516 ):

    “We’re definitely at the crossroads, every decision by the league and players is gonna have huge impact on future generations”