Local ladies signing onto the new women’s professional hockey league

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This article was published 08/08/2015 (3969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the puck drops on a brand-new professional women’s hockey league this October, at least two young Manitoban stars will be ready to hit the ice.

On Friday, Winnipeg’s Tatiana Rafter and Ste. Anne product Shelby Bram signed with the Buffalo Beauts, one of four U.S. teams that will make up the new National Women’s Hockey League. They are the first two Manitobans slated to suit up for the NWHL’s inaugural season, and bring the Beauts to five forwards on the roster.

“Being able to play in the first paid professional women’s league is incredible,” Bram said in a statement. “On top of that, getting to play in one of the greatest hockey towns in the nation is truly a blessing. The Beauts are a perfect fit. I will represent them with nothing but professionalism, both on and off the ice.”

Both players head to Buffalo on the back of standout college careers. Bram, who turns 22 later this month, is the younger sister of Team Canada forward Bailey Bram, and played her midget hockey for the Eastman Selects. After high school, she headed to Mercyhurst College in the NCAA. In her freshman season there, she and her sister served as a sisterly punch on the Lakers’ top line.

In 2014, Bram was named College Hockey America’s top defensive forward. The 5-1 sparkplug wrapped up her senior season earlier this year as an assistant captain.

Meanwhile, Rafter too just closed her senior season on a high note, after five years with the CIS’s UBC Thunderbirds. The former Balmoral Hall Blazer rode a breakout 2013-14 season to top Canada West honours. That season, the 5-10 forward led the conference in scoring, notching 20 goals and 18 assists in 28 regular-season games.

In joining the Beauts, Bram and Rafter will be part of a vanguard experiment in the women’s game. The brainchild of 28-year-old former NCAA player Dani Rylan and one-time Team USA star Angela Ruggiero, the NWHL has made big ripples since launching in March.

Rylan, whose father once worked for the Tampa Bay Lightning, will serve as league commissioner as well as the general manager of its New York Riveters.

The league is rounded out by the Boston Pride and the Connecticut Whale, whose name and logos were inspired (with permission) by the NHL’s fondly-remembered Hartford Whalers.

Although players will be paid, they won’t be getting rich. For its first season, the NWHL is setting a salary cap of $270,000, which works out to a maximum average of $15,000 per each of 18 players for the five-month season.

Still, that’s a higher cap than many lower-tier men’s professional leagues, including the Southern Professional Hockey League — and players will have all of their gear and other play-related costs covered. Meanwhile, games will be played weekends, which will allow players to seek other part-time employment.

Will it work? Time will tell. The NWHL has snagged early buzz by locking up some rising women’s stars from all over. One of the most intriguing signings is Japanese goalie Nana Fujimoto, a 5-4 keeper from Sapporo who delighted fans at the 2014 Sochi Olympics with her sparkling play. She will lace ’em up for the Riveters.

What is certain is no matter what growing pains await the new league, its founding represents a new chapter in the women’s game. That fact isn’t lost on Rafter, who made it clear in Friday’s release she was ready for the adventure. The Beauts will kick off their season on Oct. 11 against Boston.

“I am excited to play for the Beauts because every time I lace up my skates I will be a part of history,” Rafter said in a statement.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca