Hot Cakes & Hot Takes I Key Articles from the Week | 5 min read

Megan Rapinoe Wins Ballon d’Or as World’s Best Player

source: Daily Mail

Megan Rapinoe won the Ballon d’Or as soccer’s women’s player of the year. Rapinoe won the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball as a top player of the tournament that led the US team to the World Cup title this summer.

Lucy Bronze of England scored second, and Alex Morgan was third. Lionel Messi reclaimed the men's trophy he last won in 2015 for the sixth time, a record.

Ballon d'Or has been awarded since 1956, but last year was the first to celebrate female players. Ada Hegerberg of Norway was the first ever female to receive the award in 2018.

THE NHL’S STANCE HASN’T CHANGED AND THE NWHL ISN’T FOLDING. WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE THE PWHPA?

Marie-Philip Poulin|Anne-Marie Pellerin source: The Hockey News

The PWHPA is set to hit the road again in January with its biggest Dream Gap Tour stop yet, but the NHL's unchanging stance and the NWHL's growth have left some wondering what the future holds.

Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker will all be taking part in January leg of the tour. This will be the most star-studded event of the league yet. However, the league has been running into problems with booking the ice, mainly because of the sponsoring issues. “I don’t think any of us thought this was going to be a real easy thing to do,” says former CWHL commissioner Jayna Hefford, “Anytime you do something that is purposeful and impactful and really going to be a part of history, it’s not easy. Having an advisor like Billie Jean King, she’s really quick to remind us of this all the time. What she did was not easy, it wasn’t fast and it did take a lot of courage on behalf of the athletes to stand up for what they believe in.”

Hefford also said the PWHPA has “a great relationship with the NHL” adding that while the NHL’s message hasn’t changed, the PWHPA’s goals haven’t, either. And it’s no secret that the PWHPA’s desire is a partnership with the NHL. The NWHL doesn’t look as though it’s going anywhere anytime soon, either. 

The question the author tries to answer is if the NHL’s position doesn’t change and the NWHL continues to succeed, what comes next for the PWHPA?

THE BOSTON PRIDE ARE THE MOST DOMINANT TEAM IN HOCKEY RIGHT NOW – BUT THEY’RE NOT SATISFIED YET

source: The Hockey News

Although the Pride are proud of their result during the beginning of the NWHL season having had nine consecutive wins, the Boston team still wants to improve. The players as well as the coach agree that the team still has to produce a full 60-minute effort. “We definitely have spurts where it feels dominant and it’s great and we’re getting that offensive-zone pressure and opportunities. We’re really hemming them in there,” Dempsey said. “But then we have spurts where we let off the gas a little bit and we give opportunities (for the opposition) to maybe get a chance to get back into the game. We cannot be giving those kinds of opportunities.”

Because of the way the season is structured, just one game can ruin a promising season. “It’s not like the Stanley Cup playoffs where you get to play seven games. It’s one game and done, and that can go either way in the playoffs,” Brand said.

We hope that kind of mindset and hard work is going to bring the desired results to the Boston team.