Welpen » I began the project by sketching

Liz Knox didn’t get a chance to rest.A day after making 24 saves to backstop her team to a road win and then flying home from Boston Nic Dowd Jersey Womens , the goaltender for the Markham Thunder worked her day job as a carpenter from 6 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, took a 10-minute nap, went for a four-mile run and squeezed in a workout before dinner.”If we were making a living wage, it’s not a big deal because I can sleep in today and go to the gym when I’m ready and have the facilities there to train,” Knox said. ”If it’s your full-time job, then that’s your full-time job and you can pay for your rent and everything else on top of that.”For now, playing women’s hockey professionally in North America isn’t lucrative enough to be a full-time job, save for the U.S. and Canadian Olympians who earn money from their national federations. In the aftermath of the U.S. winning gold at the Winter Games, several players have used their platform on a whirlwind victory tour to make the case for one professional league where there are currently two competitors: the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and National Women’s Hockey League.”I don’t play in the CWHL or the NWHL so I have no personal preference,” U.S. shootout hero Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said. ”For women’s hockey to continue its traction is to have one league, whether that’s a merger or an entirely new league that supports both the U.S. and Canada in one league, I think is going to be really important in the next season to somehow make that happen.”Current and former players have taken to social media to promote the concept of (hash)OneLeague that could pay long-term dividends for the sport. It’s a complicated issue muddled in the uncertainty between the CWHL, NWHL and NHL with, so far, no obvious path forward.The compelling journey of the U.S. team from its fight for a better contract from USA Hockey to its thrilling victory against Canada at the Olympics brought positive attention to women’s hockey that is now in danger of being cut short.”After the Olympics, all the conversation was: `Why can’t I watch this on a day-to-day basis? Why can’t I watch this every weekend?’ Well, you can’t because the talent is split right now between two leagues,” said Knox, one of the co-chairs of the CWHL Players Association. ”Merging is probably never going to work. There’s just too many differences between the two leagues and that’s been evident from the very beginning.”The CWHL , now in its 11th season, has seven teams split between the U.S., Canada and China. The NWHL began in 2015 and has four U.S.-based teams.What also divides the two are salary and bonus structures.The NWHL has paid its players a salary from its inception: Between $10 Authentic Pat Tillman Jersey ,000 and $26,000 in its first season to between $5,000 and $7,000 now. The CWHL previously focused on paying staff and player travel costs before committing to paying players starting this past year – anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000, with a team salary cap of $100,000.”Our framework has allowed for us to maintain sustainability and measured growth, and that trend will continue,” said Brenda Andress, commissioner of the nonprofit CWHL, which has partnered with NHL teams in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Partnerships can include financial assistance, marketing and promotions, ice time and office space.The NHWL is on better financial footing than it was last season, when the league was forced to cut player salaries in half to avoid the risk of folding. It now has an affiliation with the New Jersey Devils for financial and other support, and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula purchased the Buffalo Beauts to make them the first team not owned and managed by the league.”Team USA’s thrilling victory over Canada for the gold medal captivated the nation and showed a glimpse of the potential for women’s hockey in our country,” a Pegula Sports & Entertainment spokesman said. ”We believe that women’s hockey has an extremely bright future and are heavily committed to doing our part to continue its advancement.”Neither league would address any notion of specific merger talks.”One of the founding principles of the NWHL is to advance women’s hockey,” NWHL Commissioner Dani Rylan said. ”If anyone has a formal plan or ever wants to discuss how we can take the business of professional women’s hockey to the next level, the NWHL will always engage with them and do what’s best for the game, the players, our supporters and fans.”Knox and others would love for the NHL to step in and run a league like the NBA has with the WNBA.NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s stance on women’s pro hockey hasn’t changed since the NWHL was established. It’s a position he recently reiterated on Calgary’s 960-Radio by saying the two leagues must first sort out their situations.”Having two leagues makes it more difficult for us to get involved Pat Tillman Jersey Limited ,” Bettman said. ”If there were no leagues, we’d probably start one under the NHL umbrella, and I’ve told both leagues that. But I have no interest in competing with the existing leagues. I think that would be counterproductive.”Andress said the CWHL has always believed in the need for one league called it ”where the future of the women’s professional game has always been heading.”No one’s quite sure what that would look like.”Your guess is as good as mine,” said U.S. captain Meghan Duggan, who has played in the CWHL and NWHL. ”It would be awesome if we could work together and if they could work together and figure out a way to get everyone playing under the same umbrella.”U.S. forward Hilary Knight, who is back in the CWHL playing for Les Canadiennes in Montreal after two seasons with the NWHL’s Boston Pride, said whatever it looks like, it’s vital for the growth of the game to have a single league that pays a living wage.”If I have a child and I’m going to sign them up, if they were to take this seriously, what’s the career path? If they fall in love with the game, what career path are they going to have?” said Knight, who signed with Montreal last week. ”Is there going to be a place for them to play after college if they’re not going to be in the national team program or whatnot?”Right now, those are unanswered questions. Even though Knox is Canadian, she can’t help but be happy that the Olympic championship won by the Americans has put the one-league conundrum in the spotlight.”That’s the biggest voice that we have right now in North America,” Knox said. ”The stuff that they’re doing right now and helping to promote the idea that we could all play in one league is really, really important for the growth of women’s hockey here in North America.”It’s an effort borne out of frustration for players who want nothing more than to play with and against each other in the same league instead of being forced to choose. They know fans also have to split their attention, which isn’t necessarily a sustainable way to build the popularity of women’s hockey.”A lot of people only discover women’s hockey every four years at the Olympics,” Knight said. ”We’re here every single year, every single day training and there’s places that you can come see us, but we just don’t have those marketing dollars, those resources behind us to really bridge the gap between a product and the consumer. Hopefully combining efforts would help take care of that and we can get some big names on board to help fix that problem.” PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Gritty has schmoozed with Jimmy Fallon , gave a bushy bro hug to the Phillie Phanatic and saw his wild-haired http://www.arizonacardinalsteamonline.com/pat-tillman-jersey , googly-eyed, fuzzy face plastered on beer cans , protest signs and even as tattoos .Pick a time of day and there’s Gritty: “Good Morning America ,” ”Last Week Tonight ” and “Weekend Update” all put their comic spin on the Philadelphia Flyers‘ mascot.Hungry? Hop in an Uber for a Philly food tour and load up on Gritty cupcakes , Gritty mac ‘n cheese fries , Gritty Italian ice and, of course, the Gritty cheesesteak (steak, whiz wit, French fries and Cheetos).Gritty’s been loved and lampooned, swept into politics and become more than just an orange face that turned into a No. 1-trending hashtag.There’s little need to play 82 games this season to find the NHL rookie of the year: it’s Gritty.Even the commish admits he’s a Gritty Guy.“If he’s supposed to bring attention to the game , I think he’s done a pretty good job of doing that,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.Gritty’s been in your face (and invaded your dreams ) since his debut last week.Gritty got off to a slow start when the Flyers unveiled him with a stock photo of a menacing mascot that made him look like more like the cold-blooded Pennywise than a lovable monster that a kid would want to hug.Gritty can’t be blamed for looking more threatening than the Flyers’ Stanley Cup chances once he stumbled out of captivity. The Flyers say Gritty was found by the team in his secret hideout during offseason renovations at the Wells Fargo Center.His father was a “bully,” and his unkempt beard suggests he may have arisen from the ashes of the Flyers’ long-ago home, the Spectrum. And those crossed-eyes? Well, yours would be too if you spent all that time trapped trying to find Patrick Kane’s Game 6 goal.Mascot mythology is fun.But the truth is, the Flyers had missed out on the in-game frivolity, the merchandise revenue streams and the community outreach programs that result from a marketable mascot. At the 2016 NHL All-Star game in Nashville, Tennessee, the Flyers’ marketing department saw the rest of the league’s mascots — like Bailey the Lion , S.J. Sharkie and Stormy — competing in various games and realized it was time to make a mascot from myth to reality.The Flyers had tried a mascot before, but Slapshot lasted just one season in 1976.“Our players Authentic Josh Rosen Jersey , the Flyers’ wives, the alumni, you can only ask them to do so much,” said Joe Heller, Flyers’ vice president of marketing. “We felt that there is so much more we could do by creating a mascot program.”Some mascots are obvious: The Panthers mascot is, well, a panther. The New Jersey Devils? Yup, a Devil. The Arizona Coyotes mascot is … wait for it … a coyote!The Flyers were stumped.“It didn’t seem like any animal or person would fit what a Flyer would be,” Heller said.The Flyers didn’t have to search far for inspiration: the mascot gold standard — make that, the green, potbellied, red-tongue and big-beaked, ATV wheeling mascot standard — was launching hot dogs and dancing on dugouts across the street.The Flyers leaned on advice from character branding consultant Dave Raymond, better known as the founding father of the Phillie Phanatic for the baseball team. Raymond played the Phanatic for 15 years and has helped franchises decide everything from character development to choosing the person inside that XXXXXXL jersey.Raymond said the best mascots are as synonymous with their teams as their Hall of Fame players, such as the Phanatic, Brutus Buckeye or the Suns gorilla.“I really believe Gritty is on a path to becoming that,” Raymond said.The Flyers considered over 100 options before they settled on a sketch from freelance designer Brian Allen of Flyland Designs.“I began the project by sketching over 20 different possible mascots, including, bats, bulls, groundhogs, dragons http://www.arizonacardinalsteamonline.com/josh-rosen-jersey , tough guys, yetis, and even a flying squirrel,” Allen wrote on his website. “Once the client saw the sketches, they picked a big dumpy monster I had drawn as the starting point.”Character Translations, in suburban Philly, created the outfit that includes 33 1/2 size skates and a size 58 jersey.The name was decided over the summer by team president Paul Holmgren.“(He) chimed in, ‘How great would it be if we named our mascot Gritty?” Heller said.Just like that, a social media star was hatched.“He’s getting a ton of attention, and I suppose that’s what mascots are supposed to do,” Bettman said. “Looking at social media, he has admirers and he has doubters, but it looks like the greater Philadelphia community and in particular the Philadelphia hockey community has embraced him.”Yes, a GoFundMe page was set up to euthanize Gritty. And comedian Jon Oliver said Gritty “looks like the end result of the orange McDonald’s Fry Guy hooking up with Grimace.”But Philadelphia’s new director of fun won over the city in his debut when he bit it on skates and fell on his fuzzy rear at a preseason game. Gritty’s been carved on pumpkins, made beer menus and palled around with Flyers stars Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds . He made it into HQ Trivia and has nearly 120,000 Twitter followers in just 10 days.“I don’t think we have our arms around everything that’s out there,” Heller said.Gritty’s going to throw his around everyone he can — and wins fans over one furry hug at a time.