Women's professional hockey in Minnesota in limbo

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Whitecaps, at least as we have known them, are no more.

The franchise's league, the Premiere Hockey Federation, was bought two weeks ago with the plan to combine North America's two women's hockey leagues.

"The Whitecaps were acquired as an asset," said the Whitecaps' now-former general manager Chi-Yin Tse. "So the name is no longer."

No matter what happens, it's the end of an era -- with severe ramifications.

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"I can't say if there's gonna be a Minnesota team or not," said Tse.

The purchase of the Premiere Hockey Federation by the stakeholders of the other North American League - the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association - means the end of the Whitecaps team. All the players' contracts were voided on Monday.

"Everybody's just sad," said Tse. "In disbelief and don't really know what happened and don't understand. And I'd say we're all in the same boat."  

Tse was in the midst of a busy offseason, signing and re-signing players up until the announcement came out of the blue.

"I feel terrible about the players' situations," said Tse. "I know that we had built a pretty strong roster. And I think we were gonna win this year. Sad that we didn't get that opportunity."

Previously, the PHF had seven teams. The PWHPA had four. But word is that there will be only six teams in the new, un-named league. Three in Canada and three in the U.S. No announcement on where the trio of stateside teams will be located.

"It's definitely worth their while to have Minnesota be an organization. There's so much talent here and the opportunity to continue the growth of women's hockey here is very high," said Tse.

For now, there's a healthy chance, there will be no women's pro hockey team in Minnesota next season. Unifying a sport often seems best for long-term growth. In this case, at least immediately, it has left around 80 women's hockey players without a team.

"I think in the long run it's a good idea," said Tse. "I think they probably should have done it a different route."