Dear Colorado Avalanche (and perhaps the entire NHL for that matter),
I am an Avalanche season ticket holder, and can say with confidence that I know the team well; I do have a blog about the Avalanche after all. So, in an unlikely event, I purchased a program on the opening night of the season in order to read up about the new players I didn't know well.
I’ll admit, the opening night game was so entertaining that I didn’t give the program much notice. However, I have the privilege to attend the Mile High Dreams Gala tomorrow evening that the Colorado Avalanche team will attend, and decided to do some research on the new boys I might not know. I was pumped I had held onto the program.
This is the coverage 5 Avs players had.
When I went through the program, I was shocked to realize they did not have any player profiles on the team. There was a team roster, as well as a game day roster for the Avs and Stars (insert only), but when I went in search of more player info, there was none.
Aside, for the Q&A with Patrick Wiercioch (on the last page), and the full page highlight of Beauchemin, Duchene, Grigorenko, Iggy, and Varly, with only position, height, dominate hand, DOB, and hometown listed, there was nothing mentioned about the players themselves. No photos. Nothing.
However, they did have head shots (and full body shots on select members) of the “Ram Trucks Avalanche Ice girls”. Yes, I really spent money to learn that Terri most admires her father. I do value that Terri admires her father, who was in the Air Force, and know that they are all great skaters, most likely hockey players themselves. My brother’s friend was an Ice Girl and referee’s games in Europe, however there was still no profile on the Avalanche players.
This is what the Ice Girls had.
The NHL might be considered a more “male” sport because of its brutality, but women make up nearly half of the viewership. I am ashamed of the Avalanche and NHL for allowing such blatant bias. Truthfully, I think it is great to include women in NHL, but the league could do it in much less discriminating ways than having them literally clean up the ice after the men.
The US women's national ice hockey team has won gold seven out of the last nine attempts in the last International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Championships. The last three years being gold. When was the last time the US men's team won the IIHF Championship? 1960.
The only thing the men's US team did during the recent World Cup was embarrass the country. Maybe the American men can't skate compared to the rest of the world, but the American women sure can.
Clearly women can play hockey, and as female fan, I feel disrespected. The NHL needs to realize that men aren’t the only proprietors of their programs, or of the sport in general. I am an active member of the fan base. I attend games to watch the sport, buy programs to learn about the team, and buy appeal (non pink or jeweled) to support the team.
Please give respect to your fans by providing interesting information about our teams, designing non-gender specific clothing, and realizing that the game is what draws people to the sport. Hockey is an amazing game that should be shared no matter your gender, race, religion or any other affiliation. In the end, it’s all about the “good old hockey game”.
Sincerely,
A Disgruntled Female Fan Hoping to Make a Difference