It's time for an NHL backed Womens Professional League

**For most of this post I will be writing with Olympic womens hockey in mind as it is the most recent major team sporting event to have occurred.**

It's always been the unfortunate opinion amongst the majority of sports fans that women's sports are inferior in quality and in competition. The most popular comments you hear about games between two teams comprised only of females is that they are boring. These opinions exist for two main reasons:

1) Sports fans who immediately dismiss sporting contests involving women have probably never invested a fraction of time to genuinely sit down and enjoy a game. If they did they would probably see that although it is different, it is no less exciting.  If we look at the 2014 Olympic tournament, specifically the bronze and gold medal hockey games we are given two clear-cut examples of how exciting womens hockey can be. Both games featured tight-checking teams who played aggressively and opened up a ton of ice, both had late comebacks from 2 goal deficits, and both had thrilling game winning goals (one in an overtime that will go down in Olympic hockey history). That gold medal game was in my opinion the most exciting part of the Olympics. It was fast paced heart wrenching and had me pacing up and down for the final 2 minutes and overtime. Contrast that with a men's tournament where the bronze and gold medal games were decided after the first 10 minutes and it's clear that the womens tournament was twice as thrilling. 

This marks two Olympics in a row where the most exciting events came at the hands of a female team. At the 2012 summer Olympics in London it was Canada and the United States womens soccer teams that played what should be considered one of the most exciting soccer games to ever happen. It had everything you could want in a contest between Canada and the States. It was vicious, it was a back and forth battle and it featured a controversial ending. I remember how I've never screamed at my TV more than I did after the penalty shot called against Team Canada. I remember the coverage it got and how angry everyone seemed to be about the game. It mattered in 2012 and it still matters now.

You can look at those games objectively, feel how fast your heart is racing and how passionate you are about the outcome and say "that was an incredible game". This leads us to issue number two when it comes to womens sports

2) Most people refuse to look at games like that objectively. It could be the most exciting of games (like Canada and United States in the gold medal) or the most controversial (like the soccer game in London 2012), and it is immediately dismissed by a large group of people  because it is played by women. Think about that for a moment. These people have no legitimate reason to dislike the game other than "well girls played so it can't be good" .

This is the lens of which a large group of people view womens sports. It's wrong and it needs to change. 13 million people in Canada watched the womens gold medal game in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday. This is fantastic for a sport that many have argued should be removed from the Olympics (a ridiculous idea and anybody who feels that way just doesn't get it).  There's an audience out there and it's time to show them that women's hockey is something they can enjoy for more than 2 weeks every 4 years. 

This is why a new womens professional hockey league needs to be created. The Olympics have proven that there are many talented female hockey players in this world, a lot play for Canada and the United States, but players from Sweden and Switzerland proved that they are capable of playing with the best. There are players across schools in North America who would fit right in on a professional team. There are many great professional leagues for women that already exist, but they don't get enough exposure on a national level. This is where the NHL comes in. The league has a responsibility to promote the game at all it's levels and this would be the best of the best in womens hockey. The league also has pull in terms of television rights, and the only way to grow a sport is to get it on TV.

Imagine a 6 team womens league with franchises in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and New York. They play 24 games each and their postseason begins at the end of January/beginning of February when the NHL seems to be dragging along. It would inject some excitement back into each fan. 

Show the games on TSN, bring in the main panel and their number 1 announcing team. Allow them to stream online. I guarantee you a playoff game between the womens teams in Montreal and Boston would be more exciting than Phoenix versus Florida  in the middle of February. 

The NHL and hockey itself doesn't exist in a vacuum. Objective perspective is needed. Women's hockey is exciting and it deserves to grow even more. Changing the lens of which womens sport is viewed is something that should have already happened in 2014, but it hasn't. 

It's time. Because I for one can't wait another 4 years.