Is the FHL slowly legitimizing itself?

210

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FPHL Danbury has higher attendance than the highest drawing NWHL team. Comparing purely skill, they have fairly close skill levels and I would still give the edge to the Fed. And mind you, that’s the best women’s hockey league in the world and 5th tier semi professional hockey.

Danbury: 1169
Stats - Federal Prospects Hockey League

Minnesota Whitecaps: 1200
Attendance numbers, merchandise sales, more from NWHL’s 2018–19 season released by league

Now for the record Danbury's numbers are 19-20 and the Whitecaps are 18-19, but I'll gladly revisit this once the 19-20 numbers for the NWHL are released.
 

Barclay Donaldson

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JMCx4

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FPHL Danbury has higher attendance than the highest drawing NWHL team. Comparing purely skill, they have fairly close skill levels and I would still give the edge to the Fed. And mind you, that’s the best women’s hockey league in the world and 5th tier semi professional hockey.
If the new Toronto NWHL organization turns their early player signings into the kind of draw it appears they're seeking, I reckon both they and the Whitecaps will outdraw FPHL Danbury & their competitors.

And you should be ashamed, tossing in that "best women's hockey league in the world and 5th tier semi professional hockey" smack talk. Beyond attendance (indicative of entertainment value to hockey fans) and the rules of their shared game (except for body checking), men's & women's hockey play have no current basis for comparison. That will require time & an admission from the hockey world's male population that women can be formidable athletes and competitors. You're clearly not there yet.
 

Barclay Donaldson

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If the new Toronto NWHL organization turns their early player signings into the kind of draw it appears they're seeking, I reckon both they and the Whitecaps will outdraw FPHL Danbury & their competitors.

And you should be ashamed, tossing in that "best women's hockey league in the world and 5th tier semi professional hockey" smack talk. Beyond attendance (indicative of entertainment value to hockey fans) and the rules of their shared game (except for body checking), men's & women's hockey play have no current basis for comparison. That will require time & an admission from the hockey world's male population that women can be formidable athletes and competitors. You're clearly not there yet.

I would hope NWHL Toronto draws well. Management seems to be all in putting together a contender from the start. NWHL Minnesota's rink's capacity is 1200 so it is likely they are maxed out.

The comparison of the quality of play was equally legitimate and accurate. The post indicated surprise that the NWHL is not outdrawing the FPHL in a market that shares a NWHL and FPHL team. I remarked it should not be surprising for markets used to a higher-level of hockey to support the FPHL team in greater numbers.

I am not saying women cannot be formidable athletes. I am saying the full-timers in the Canadian and USA women's national teams regularly lose to the U18 and prep school boys teams they play, in addition to the NCAA Division 1 college teams they will also scrimmage. That is factual. And like most sports in the world, it is because of physiological and biological difference. Male athletes are physiologically larger, faster and stronger than female athletes. This does not mean females cannot be formidable athletes. It does mean that males will typically perform at a higher level.
 
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Barclay Donaldson

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I posted the actual league source...

Usually HockeyDB is fairly accurate as well. League sites have had errors that HockeyDB has not had.

For example, the NAHL league source has St. Cloud Blizzard's 2019-20 attendance as 33 people per game because there are only 3 homes games with attendance accounted for, with one of them being a zero. HockeyDB has their attendance at a much more likely 464.
 

210

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Usually HockeyDB is fairly accurate as well. League sites have had errors that HockeyDB has not had.

For example, the NAHL league source has St. Cloud Blizzard's 2019-20 attendance as 33 people per game because there are only 3 homes games with attendance accounted for, with one of them being a zero. HockeyDB has their attendance at a much more likely 464.

464 is apparently the average attendance for the team the year before...
NAHL's St. Cloud Blizzard considered move to Marshall, East Grand Forks | Grand Forks Herald
 

sabremike

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Danbury: 1169
Stats - Federal Prospects Hockey League

Minnesota Whitecaps: 1200
Attendance numbers, merchandise sales, more from NWHL’s 2018–19 season released by league

Now for the record Danbury's numbers are 19-20 and the Whitecaps are 18-19, but I'll gladly revisit this once the 19-20 numbers for the NWHL are released.
Whenever I see an attendance figure like 1200 it's a red flag that it's not accurate/an estimate, but even if it is it's a pedantic point because it's a difference of 39 people a game so it's basically even taking the numbers at face value. Also think it would be a safe bet that the NWHL numbers were down this season because all the best players refuse to play in it.
 

210

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Whenever I see an attendance figure like 1200 it's a red flag that it's not accurate/an estimate, but even if it is it's a pedantic point because it's a difference of 39 people a game so it's basically even taking the numbers at face value. Also think it would be a safe bet that the NWHL numbers were down this season because all the best players refuse to play in it.

It's 1,200 because that's what their building sits. Every game sold out.
 
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JMCx4

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didnt fhl teams used to affiliate with echl teams what happened to that??? example Dayton demonz and komets were affilated
That was the only FHL-ECHL pairing I ever read about, and it didn't last long. There can't be much benefit to an ECHL team to affiliate with an F(P)HL team, when they can simply "call up" players to fill bench spots. A single A hockey team's marketing power is very limited in scope & geography, so I can't imagine the Komets received much benefit from whatever business relationship they had with the Demonz.
 

royals119

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also the berlin riverdrivers and evansville icemen

EVANSVILLE is now Jacksonville, there is no team in Berlin, or anywhere else except for the USPHL Junior Monarchs
I think Hurricanesfan was identifying a historical ECHL/FHL affiliation - something I think you would understand and appreciate as a student of hockey history. :D

That said, I don't think there have ever been affiliations between the ECHL and SPHL or FHL in an official capacity like it is with the AHL, because ECHL teams can't assign players down to a lower league. I was told that isn't permitted in their contracts, and because those leagues players aren't represented by the PHPA. They can have a business arrangement they call an "affiliation", but it is a one way street, and the ECHL team could still sign players from other teams, and other ECHL teams could still take players from that SPHL or FHL team, so it doesn't change anything.
 

210

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There was some sort of affiliation between the CHL's Bloomington Blaze and the FHL's Danville Dashers...but it was probably more on the business side as opposed to the on-ice product.
 

hurricanesfan123

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I think Hurricanesfan was identifying a historical ECHL/FHL affiliation - something I think you would understand and appreciate as a student of hockey history. :D

That said, I don't think there have ever been affiliations between the ECHL and SPHL or FHL in an official capacity like it is with the AHL, because ECHL teams can't assign players down to a lower league. I was told that isn't permitted in their contracts, and because those leagues players aren't represented by the PHPA. They can have a business arrangement they call an "affiliation", but it is a one way street, and the ECHL team could still sign players from other teams, and other ECHL teams could still take players from that SPHL or FHL team, so it doesn't change anything.
exactly lol. I dont understand hutch sometimes.
 

Captain Crash

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The Brooklyn Aviators also had an affiliation with the Wheeling Nailers. Needless to say, it didn't last long.
 

jabberoski

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didnt fhl teams used to affiliate with echl teams what happened to that??? example Dayton demonz and komets were affilated

Those affiliations aren't really pure affiliations. ECHL teams cannot assign players to the FHL or SPHL. They can encourage players they release to go to a certain team, but they can't assign a player there like an AHL team can assign a player on a contract to an ECHL team.
 
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JMCx4

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There was some sort of affiliation between the CHL's Bloomington Blaze and the FHL's Danville Dashers...but it was probably more on the business side as opposed to the on-ice product.
Dunno about the paper agreement, but in practice it was a mutual marketing agreement. I-74 cousins.
 

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