NHL taking an interest in women's hockey

The Globe and Mail in Toronto had an interesting article highlighting the increased interest the NHL is showing in women's hockey.

The Women's World Championship is currently taking place in Burlington, VT and the women's Frozen Four was less than a month ago and according to the Globe and Mail, NHL reps have been at both.

According to the article, the NHL is helping create a strategic plan to help promote women's hockey. What they won't do, though, is offer any money. The article doesn't elaborate, but its clear that money is really the thing that women's hockey needs most.

The cache and exposure the NHL will bring to the women's game will be huge. The NHL brought four women's players - 3 Canadian and 1 American, 2 of which were Badgers (Jessie Vetter and Meaghan Mikkelson) - to the NHL All-Star weekend this year. The women signed autographs and participated in a round-table discussion that the NHL says they were suprised was so popular.

The plan is to include women more fully in the next NHL All-Star weekend, including possibly including them in the Skills competition.

The article also said the NHL is looking into hosting women's exhibition games prior to NHL games as a lead up to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Possibly most importantly, the NHL is talking about putting women's programming on NHL.com and the NHL Network. If you follow me on Twitter, you saw me rant a bunch about how the women's Frozen Four wasn't televised, so this is news to my ears.

It seems crazy that even Canadian women's hockey needs the boost and cache the NHL can give it in order to get them more fans, but its just so clear that women's sports don't receive the attention the men's do. I applaud the NHL for any involvement they have, as every little bit will help and will also lend credence to the women's cause.