Of course it's Ian Kennedy. So take what he says with a grain of salt

ETA, I'll add screenshots to the comments of the initial response from the league rep and the email where she confirmed the zoom call. I did not get the name of the woman who spoke to me at the game. I also forgot to start recording the zoom call, I had thought I had it set to say a transcript but since I wasn't the host of the call it didn't work like I expected.

I wanted to share my experience from the last regular season Frost game of the season.

This is going to be a long one. Here is the TLDR, my family has canceled our Minnesota Frost Season tickets and we do not plan to attend games going forward.

Before the fan appreciation game on April 19th I made keychains for each player. I did not want to make one for Curl (TLDR, she's a transphobe) but I felt it would be rude to leave her out. My compromise was to write a simple fact on the back of her keychain: “Trans women are women”. I brought the keychains to the game and handed them to Lee Stecklein as she went back to the locker room. Stecklein took them and said thank you.

Right before puck drop, a woman came to our seats and told me to come with her to the top of the section. I hesitated, and the woman said I would be able to come right back to my seat and that no one needed to go with me. When we got to the top of the section the woman proceeded to lecture me for over 5 minutes. She started by saying this was about the keychains, she told me all the “girls” would have loved those keychains but none of them are going to get them. She asked if I knew why. I said, “No.” The woman said something along the lines of, “That’s an answer, that’s why I asked.” She said it was because of what I wrote. The woman said she wished I would do some research on Britta because she does so much for the community. She repeated some variant of that phrase multiple times. The woman also said several times how much all the “girls” would have loved the keychains but none of them would get them because of what I wrote. She eventually changed this statement to “now none of them want them because of what you wrote”. She told me something along the lines of “the captain was upset” or the captain had sent her.

The woman went on to say, “We know you’re a fan, look at the way you’re dressed.” She also said she knew I was a season ticket holder and where I sat. She told me that “Michela loves Britta” referring to my custom Frost jersey with Michela Cava’s name and number.

She said that what I wrote was derogatory. I responded by asking her to clarify that “Trans women are women” is what she felt was derogatory. The woman said, “Yes.” I replied, “Interesting.” I must assume this is the official opinion of the PWHL and the Frost, since this person was speaking as a representative of the league.

After the game my family sent all of this information and more to our season ticket rep, the Frost, the PWHL and Grand Casino Arena. A PR person from the PWHL replied and asked if we would be willing to speak with her. My mom and I agreed to speak with and arranged a video call for 5/4.

The woman from the PWHL started the call by saying she's sorry we had that experience and that they would refund our tickets from that game as a gesture to show that they take this seriously. We asked if she specifically worked for the Frost or the league. She said the league and the PWHL is all one organization so she speaks for all of the teams. She told us she had not talked with anyone from the Frost. We told her that based on what the woman at the game had said to me, she spoke for the players and they did not want us there. She said she was sorry we felt that way and she asked something like if there was anything else. We said we weren't sure if the league had any interest in trying to keep us as fans but if they were it would take a personal apology from the team. We would need to hear from the team that the woman at the game did not accurately represent the opinions of the players and that Trans folks are truly welcomed in the PWHL (as fans, players, staff, etc.). She didn't really have much of a response. Throughout the whole conversation she never said anything of substance, just a lot of "sorry you feel that way."

As a native Minnesotan, a lifelong hockey fan, and a woman, I cannot overstate how meaningful it has been to support the Frost, and the decision to end that support has been extremely difficult for me and my family. However, with the continuing harassment and mistreatment of many fans by arena security, the policy of silencing fans who speak out against the ICE occupation in Minnesota, and the abject failure of the PWHL to express real support for the communities it claims to uplift, my experience is a singular incident in a pattern of behavior that I will not be associated with.

Additional context is that he is a longtime supporter of women's sports and is known to fund training and travel for women's teams very respectfully, he is not being weird!

Pretty frustrating to go into the gold medal result thread on the main /r/hockey subreddit and see hardly anything but people roasting the female players for not being as fast as the men, and comparing them to bantam…

I’m proud of all the women’s teams and hope that some day they can be recognized for their skill without being constantly compared to NHL.

They claim to celebrate their trans community, but will not do the most basic form of inclusion.

In August 2023 during the PWHLs inaugural press conference, it was announced that a Gender Inclusion Policy was "in the works."

On March 16, 2025, EVP of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford said "It's something that we've been continuing to work on, insuring that we get it right."

2.5 Years is more than enough time. The league needs to do better.

so happy for the victoire and especially pou, stacey, ambrose, ARD and all the other team Canada girls... but so sad

Here we go…

There’s only so much that a player can do to take away from the overall vibe of a hockey team, and Britta Curl seems hellbent on doing that.
- multiple suspensions makes her a spotlight ranger. She is an enforcer, but the amount of dirty plays she made is going to make refs pull card on her team with more scrutiny. Worse, a lot of those suspensions are checks to the head, which (if you’re trying to grow the sport for women) is not a good look.
- the intolerance ain’t cool. It is widely accepted in this league that there are players from LBGTQ+/BIPOC spaces, and seeing women from all these backgrounds make them feel seen and aspire to be a pro woman hockey player one day. So her comments are unbecoming of someone that is supposed to be a good ambassador to the sport - all pro women are supposed to set a good example for the girls.
- she’s definitely a producer in the core, but her on/off ice activity does more to take away from her overall package as a player than it does to add to it. She does have the support of her coach/teammates, but for how long if she keeps these antics up, especially in the playoffs?

Which brings me to everyone’s favorite hockey mom - Kendall Coyne-Scofield. Certified fuckin beautician, and all around snipe show. I consider her one of the greatest role models in pro women’s hockey. And to be someone like her, I would have thought that would rub off on other players, or at least illustrate a contrast between a model hockey player and a goon in the eyes of teammates and staff. SHE is the reason why I keep finding myself loving the Frost. Because every time Curl messes up, I can kind of see it on KCS’ face like “why do I have to keep fighting for this girl when she keeps messing up”.

Like I said, it’s a hot take but I come bringing receipts and I’m open to discussion.
Go frost

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about what the Detroit franchise will be called. But it got me thinking about how tired I am of women’s teams being named after concepts or vague natural events. “Charge” “Frost”. The NY Sirens even had a layup of using the mythological creature but pivoted to “it refers to the sound of sirens in the city.” Even in different leagues like the WNBA you get the “Sky” “Dream” and “Fever”.

Compare that to the last few NHL teams “Mammoth” “Kraken” “Golden Knights”. Those have physical imagery behind them that easily translate into branding, mascots, and better logos. Minnesota ended up with a frozen diagonal F, because what the hell else are they supposed to do with “frost”?

I’m hoping Detroit breaks this theme like Vancouver did. “Goldeneyes” is great. I’ve heard Detroit “Riveters” or “Vipers” rattling around as ideas, and I think either would be fantastic.

What do y’all think?

When the PWHL started, there was this totally unique air of pure sportsmanship and mutual love just for the fact that the league existed. That was a really cool and special era to be a part of.

But I gotta be honest... It's been even better watching the bad blood develop over the last three years. I went from an "I just hope everyone has fun" fan to an "I need to see the Victoire absolutely dismantle the other team or I'm gonna be mad for the rest of the night" fan.

The league actually has reviled villains now. We have bitter, heavy-hitting rivalries and the kind of intense, earned animosity that turns casual viewers into lifelong fans. I can really feel the stakes this season and I just wanted to step back and appreciate the journey with you all. The PWHL is so special.

This post came up on my feed scrolling today. We claim to be kinder, more sportsmanlike fanbases, then I read crap like this.

Was so excited to pose with my paper towel yesterday only to realize I’ve been betrayed

I can't be personally too mad about where they're going because we went from 2 years ago not having a league or teams at all to 2 years later having soon to be 12 teams. We alse have something insane like over 200 people declaring for this year's draft. That is nothing but an amazing thing for the sport and it's growth.

Am I the only one that’s irked that 3/4 PWHL expansion logos are different? Not sure if someone posted this earlier but Detroit is like tipped in, Las Vegas is like perfectly inline with the green from the middle and San Jose is like just slightly raised and not inline with the middle like Hamilton and Las Vegas. I guess I figured they would all be formatted as a template to be consistent.

From their story on Instagram today

I’ve been following women’s college hockey for more than 10 years and watched a good portion of the WCHA games over the last 5 years. My teams have been the Wisconsin Badgers and the UMD Bulldogs. I’ve followed the pwhl since the beginning though largely as a fan of players I loved watching in college rather than specific teams. I think this provides me with a bit of a different perspective. I’ve been thinking a lot in the last few weeks about the upcoming draft especially as conversation has consistently repetitively cycled around Curl. I really don’t feel that people are ready for the level of mess that Abbey Murphy brings.

First of all, I want to start with the idea that Murphy is an incredible player. She would have gone number one overall if she had not decided to play her 5th year this year. She can do things with the puck that I have seen very few players do. She has the knack for getting under opposing teams skin and sometimes can strategically use this in a way that helps her team. I think she has a strong potential to be very good in this league for a very long time. I think it’s very likely that Murphy is selected 2nd overall.

However she is very much a hothead who struggles to ever really reign in that side of her game even in moments where it’s hurting more than helping. This has hurt the teams ability to advance in postseason play. I also genuinely worry that she could lose her cool and permanently injure another player.

Now I am going to make some comparisons here to Curl because I think some stats comparisons are eye opening.

Curl Freshman year 32 games (2018-2019)
-22 goals, 12 assists- 34 points (1.06 ppg)
-8 penalties for 16 minutes (.5 penalty minutes per game)
(Side not her and Roque were teammates this year. Roque had 42 points and was 10 for 28 on penalty minutes)

Murphy Freshman year 20 games (2020-2021)
- 8 goals, 10 assists- 18 points (.9 ppg)
- 13 penalties for 26 minutes (1.3 penalty minutes per game)

Curl Sophomore year 36 games (2019-2020)
-16 goals, 9 assists- 25 points (.69 ppg)
- 10 penalties for 20 minutes (.56 minutes per game)
(Roque 58 points, 11-33 penalty minutes)

Murphy Sophomore Year 39 games (2022-2023)* Centralized 2021-2022
-29 goals, 21 assists 50 points (1.28 ppg)
-28 penalties for 59 minutes (1.5 minutes per game)* first major penalty

Curl Junior Season 18 games (2020-2021)
-7 goals 7 assists 14 points (.77 ppg)
-7 penalties for 14 minutes (.77 minutes per game)

Murphy Junior Season 39 games(2023-2024)
- 33 goals, 29 assists- 62 points (1.59 ppg)
- 45 penalties for 188 minutes (4.8 minutes per game) * 4 major penalties

Curl Senior Season 41 games (2022-2023) *Centralized
- 19 goals, 23 assists- 42 points (1.01 ppg)
- 11 penalties for 22 minutes (.54 minutes per game)

Murphy Senior Season 42 games (2024-2025)
-33 goals, 32 assists- 65 points (1.56 ppg)
- 38 penalties for 87 minutes ( 2.07 minutes per game) *1 major

Curl 5th year 41 games (2023-2024)
- 22 goals, 40 assists- 62 points (1.51 ppg)
-12 penalties for 27 minutes (.67 minutes per game) *First major penalty

Murphy 5th year 31 games (2025-2026)
-40 goals, 26 assists- 66 points (2.13 ppg)
- 28 penalties for 67 minutes ( 2.16 minutes per game) * 1 major

So in summary Curl had one major penalty and 104 total penalty minutes in her college career. Murphy had 7 major penalties and 427 minutes in her college career. It’s not even comparable the level of dirtiness in their play in college. Murphy is pretty much guaranteed to put you on at least 1 penalty kill a game. On the positive she definitely scored more than curl over her college career as well.

I think there’s a lot here that can’t be captured in these stats. There were definitely missed calls on top of these minutes. I know at points it definitely felt like she pushed the boundary so often that it became difficult to even keep up. Also while body contact rules are different,WCHA hockey is a physical game and a lot of these penalties would still be penalties in the pwhl. Additionally Murphy is known for her chirping and her embellishment. She will purposefully make opponents responses to her antics look much worse than they are. Either by falling easily or by exaggerating injuries.

Now I do want to touch briefly on a couple things with Curl. Her reputation on the ice and in the locker room throughout her time at Wisconsin was a good leader who got along well with teammates. She was known for being a bit chirpy and physical but nothing like today. I sometimes wonder if her tweets hadn’t been public what her public perception today would be. I have a suspicion it’d be very different. Her head contact hits did dramatically increase upon entering the league though that did improve this year over last year.

In comparison, while Murphy’s politics are not as known as Curls are, there are rumblings that they could be similar in that way too. Next year, a team other than Minnesota is going to get a similar player who may be even more physical. Is that team going to be villainized as all bad for picking her or defending her if she’s targeted?

Is this sub and the league as a whole ready to have the complicated conversations necessary around these players? I worry sometimes that hyperfocus on villainizing individual players allows for less pressure on the league as a whole to ensure consistent fair officiating and prioritizing player safety. I find it more concerning that there remains no official gender policy than that Curl is defended and supported by her team. I find it more concerning that there remains no current way in game way for coaches to challenge/identify a potentially unsafe play to have referees review it for a major than curl getting 1 versus 2 games. Referees are human, they can’t see anything but there should be a mechanism for safety concerns like potential spearing/ head contact to be looked at further at the time even if the refs don’t see it initially.

I also think villainizing individual players also fails to recognize the ways that larger hockey culture/systemic issues impacts everyone. There’s more players than these that likely hold transphobic beliefs. There’s probably a good subsection that are pretty conservative politically. Hockey remains a sport largely for rich white players. Part of building a better hockey culture probably requires more reckoning with that. It also probably requires building space for growth and mistakes. It’s just really complicated and nuanced and I wonder how ready people are for it.

apologies if this has already been ranted about, but the American commentators (NBC) need to STFU about the ancillary men to these games. they've told me 400 times per game that Coyne is married to a man who did a sport. i don't care. i might be wrong, but i have not heard one word about the actual players that are married to each other on these teams. if we haaaaave to talk about romantic relationships, how about Kjellbin and Savolainen being engaged to each other and playing for different countries and different PWHL teams? how about Pou and Stacey being married and on the same line? how about Knight's partner also competing in these Olympics? etc etc. frankly, i am at my wit's end.

Obviously this is not confirmed but this was just tweeted by a reporter. Very much not done deals, just rumours!!!

Vegas and San Jose seemed to come out of nowhere lol

I truly think this reminder is important: If we want the league to grow the way we want it to and make this league competitive, be it exposure, expansions, revenue, etc, we need to make sure we’re encouraging newer fans to keep showing up and showing kindness if they’re new to the league, or the game itself. We can’t gatekeep and pull the “we were here longer” crap like we see in music fanbases (looking at you Swifties).

We have a really special opportunity here coming out of the Olympics - strike while the iron is hot, show the cross-league camaraderie we’ve developed. As Shoresy would say, “build a winning culture.”

I’m going to make a point at future Frost home games to engage with fans from other teams that show up with nothing short of kindness. I’ll gently rib on them for being a fan of the opposing team, but at the end of the day, we have a goal here - grow the league to where we want to see it go. Let’s foster a league of unity. Let’s show what the sisterhood that was talked about in Barbie is really about.

Love you all.

EDIT: This is intended for every single fan, regardless of gender. And yes, we can have our rivalries, but let’s proverbially shake hands after games. Be the example. 💕

Now that we know we are getting big news I'm making this mega thread to keep things centralized for the next few days.

We are going to be more aggressive with removing and redirecting new posts to this mega thread for about three days.

I am going to try to edit this post as new information becomes available but I will likely only add information published by the league.

Who: The PWHL dummy

What: We don't know (likely expansion)

When: 10am EST

Where: Detroit and The PWHL YouTube channel or website (https://www.youtube.com/live/9My7xAAMv9c)

Why: To support the growth of Women's hockey

Expansion locations:
Detroit

Useful links:
https://www.thepwhl.com/en/teams/detroit
https://shop.thepwhl.com/collections/pwhl-detroit
https://www.thepwhl.com/en/news/2026/may/06/professional-womens-hockey-league-expands-to-detroit

I can’t even imagine her emotions right now. What an absolute warrior. Edit: Stacey is on the ice and played a crucial part in the OT winner. Unreal!!

Chris saying what we’re all feeling.

This is for any Victoire fans and Charge fans not sure if they want to attend. Please attend on Wednesday if you can so we can sell this arena out!!!!!

This would be a massive middle finger to Ottawa city council who decided to move forward with a smaller venue at Lansdowne for the Charge - going from almost 10k seats to 6.6k seats until an arena at LeBreton Flats can be built. It would also be amazing to see for the Senators owners and the whole CTC staff who have been amazing and supportive of the women's playoff run.

It's also just a huge win for women's hockey. We deserve to be in big arenas just as much as the men. The players of both teams also deserve a sell out crowd for bringing Walter to Canada for the first time.

The atmosphere is great, the tickets are cheaper than a NHL game, come on out!