Women’s hockey team enters the New York market

Good morning. It is Wednesday. Today we’re introduced to New York’s newest professional sports team, which will play its first game tonight at the UBS Arena in Belmont Park on Long Island. We will also check the state of two states, New York and New Jersey.

Billie Jean King dropped the puck to start the first game of New York’s newest professional sports team, but it was an away game in Toronto. Bryan Trottier, the Hall of Famer who played for the New York Islanders in the 1980s, will drop the puck when the team plays its first game tonight at UBS Arena in Belmont Park.

These are household names, but the team itself does not have as catchy a name as the Rangers and the Islanders. It’s “PWHL New York,” one of six teams in the new Professional Women’s Hockey League. So far, New York is 1-1 after splitting the first two games of the season with Toronto.

PWHL New York played its second game at the team’s other home, Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Our colleague Hailey Salvian from De Athletics, who has been reporting on the emerging competitionnoted that attendance was 2,152, the lowest of any PWHL game to date, a fraction of the largest PWHL crowd to date, 13,316 at the Minnesota-Montreal game on January 6.

Entering the New York market is a challenge for any newcomer, and the UBS Arena, on the Long Island side of the Queens-Nassau border, is as close to New York City as the New York team can get.

But the league is optimistic about the New York team splitting its home games between two arenas, one close to the city, the other a 90-minute to two-hour train ride away. “We are able to maximize our visibility in the tri-state area and bridge three distinct markets: Connecticut, New York City and Long Island,” said Amy Scheer, the league’s senior vice president of business operations.

That, she said, made the New York team “unique in its ability to reach a larger potential fan base.” But there’s talk on social media that Bridgeport is too far away to draw fans from the city.

Salvian told me that PWHL Boston was seen as the team to beat before the season started, but New York has “flown under the radar.”

Still, Salvian said, “New York has a lot of depth at every position.” (And Boston is 0-1 after losing its only game so far.)

Corine Schroeder, as goalkeeper for PWHL New York, made 16 saves in the second period of the game in Montreal. “She kept them in the game when Toronto started pushing,” Salvian said. “She really closed the door.” Her stick is on its way to the Hall of Fame after the first shutout in the short history of the PWHL.

New York’s roster also includes the forward Alex Timmermanwho won silver medals at the 2014 and 2022 Winter Olympics.

The league came together in just six months, although the idea had been percolating for several years amid a feud in women’s professional ice hockey.

King’s wife, Ilana Kloss, CEO of Billie Jean King Enterprises, said Kendall Coyne Schofield, the captain of the U.S. women’s national team, called in March 2019 and asked if King and Kloss wanted to talk to a women’s hockey group. players. Ice hockey was also not a sport and had been followed closely. “I grew up in Southern California, so I had no idea about hockey,” King told me.

“I grew up in South Africa, so the only ice I saw was in a drink,” Kloss added.

But the couple offered encouragement and support. And an agreement with the players’ union last summer cleared the way for the PWHL, owned by Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his wife Kimbra.

Weather

Rain and wind from a strong coastal storm will continue until midday. A citywide flood watch remains in effect until noon. Expect temperatures in the mid 40s. Rain will let up as the storm system moves through, but winds will continue as clouds appear in the evening, with temperatures in the low 30s.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In effect until January 15 (Martin Luther King’s birthday).

The latest Metro news

Tuesday was State of the State day in two states, New York and New Jersey.

In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul used a significant portion of her speech to focus on crime, mental health and affordability. My colleagues Grace Ashford and Jay Root write that her approach was apparently intended to address the concerns of a state struggling to balance public safety and criminal justice.

Yesterday’s newsletter gave a preview of themes that Hochul had outlined in advance. In her speech, Hochul praised her government’s past achievements and also:

• called for a significant expansion of psychiatric services, including 200 new hospital beds.

• proposed a joint task force to tackle organized shoplifting networks.

• called for legislation to crack down on unlicensed cannabis sellers.

• tried to revive a tax credit intended to encourage the development of affordable housing.

She did not discuss the migrant crisis in detail; the word “migrant” did not appear once in the 180-page briefing book issued with her address. But she told lawmakers she would present a plan to support migrants when she submits her annual budget proposal.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said he was satisfied with Hochul’s priorities. But Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris didn’t even wait for the end of Hochul’s strike song to attack her housing proposal. He called it a “developer’s dream” and complained that there were no protections for tenants. Hochul, Adams and Gianaris are all Democrats.

New Jersey

New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy set only modest policy goals as he looked ahead to his final two years in office. As a second-term governor, Murphy cannot seek re-election next time.

My colleague Tracey Tully says Murphy used his State of the State speech to:

• announces its support for legislative proposals to eliminate out-of-pocket spending on abortions and make it easier to build affordable housing.

• proposing debt relief bills to help families “avoid falling into a medical death trap.” Health-related costs are the No. 1 source of debt in the United States, the White House said.

• promise initiatives to “teach our children the basics of reading – such as pronouncing letters and combining them into words.” New Jersey joins a list of states with governors supporting the increased use of phonics in reading instruction. Hochul, in New York, also calls for modernizing the way reading is taught.

METROPOLITAN diary

Soggy Shakespeare

Dear Diary:

A few years ago I waited in an extremely long line for tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. Just as they were being distributed, the heavens opened in an unexpected downpour.

As I waited for the light to turn green to cross Central Park West, a woman with three young children and who had also been given tickets was waiting to cross as well.

When the light changed, I took the youngest child’s hand and we all walked across together.

The woman asked if I lived nearby. When I told her I lived in Brooklyn and had decided not to go home that night before the show, she invited me to her small apartment on Amsterdam Avenue.

When we got there, she offered me a robe while she threw my clothes in the dryer. And there I was, a complete stranger in her living room with her little ones, while she took a shower.

– Aliza Avital

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send your entries here And read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. – JB

PS Here is today’s Mini crossword And Game competition. You can find all our puzzles here.

Geordon Wollner contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team via nytoday@nytimes.com.

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