{"id":548738,"date":"2026-04-09T13:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/548738\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:07:15","slug":"what-comes-after-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/548738\/","title":{"rendered":"What Comes After The Garden?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you could dig up my Google Maps history from Fall 2022, you would find that I had repeatedly searched for how to get from Columbia University to the American Dream mall by public transportation. Located in East Rutherford, N.J., American Dream is the second-largest mall in the country, right behind the Mall of America. There\u2019s an indoor ski slope, roller coasters, an aquarium, a water park, and even a virtual reality cliff jumping attraction, whatever that means. But it wasn\u2019t any of those things that made me consider the journey out to New Jersey. Instead, I was much more interested in visiting the indoor, NHL-sized ice rink located in the middle of the mall.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation, a professional women\u2019s hockey league, announced that their home ice for the season was going to be the rink at the American Dream<\/a>. They\u2019d allegedly be able to have up to 2,000 spectators\u2014with the caveat that there were no built-in seats at the mall\u2019s rink, so the stands would need to be set up before every game. Controversially, then-Riveters president Digit Murphy made a comment about how players could promote the game by doing fashion shows on the ice.<\/p>\n

I wanted to see a professional women\u2019s hockey game in-person, and to root for the Riveters, but I also couldn\u2019t get over the indignity of these top-tier women\u2019s players calling a mega mall\u2019s rink their home base. It was as if they were one of the many novel spectacles at American Dream, somewhere between the Nickelodeon theme park and the Angry Birds mini golf. As one Seattle Torrent fan, Katrina L., told me this past weekend, it felt like the last few professional women\u2019s hockey leagues had been \u201creally elaborate Ponzi schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what made the introduction of the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League in 2024 so momentous. With a CBA already negotiated and more money backing the league, it seemed that women\u2019s hockey players were finally going to be treated as the high-caliber athletes they are. That meant playing regularly in real, professional arenas.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, over 18,000 spectators sold out Madison Square Garden for its first-ever PWHL game, setting a U.S. attendance record for women\u2019s hockey. The New York Sirens denied Defector\u2019s credential request, so I was watching the game the old-fashioned way, in the nosebleeds of The Garden with a friend. It felt like a good sign, in some ways. During the PWHL\u2019s inaugural season in 2024, I\u2019d attended as a media member for a New York-Minnesota game at the Islanders\u2019 arena, and half the lower bowl had been empty. They let me run all over the place, unmonitored, with my camera.<\/p>\n

\"\"PWHL New York lost in a shutout to PWHL Minnesota on March 3, 2024. The attendance that day was somewhere around 4,000 fans at UBS Arena in Long Island.Heather Chen<\/p>\n

The Sirens finished at the bottom of the league that year, and the game I attended was representative of the season they had. New York lost in a shutout to Minnesota, and team captain Madison Packer had been incensed at the post-game press conference, especially toward then-head coach Howie Draper, who seemed like he was losing the locker room. While the team parted ways with Draper later that summer, the Sirens ended up in dead last again for the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n

Despite being located in one of the most populated areas in the country, the Sirens have struggled on the attendance front compared to other PWHL teams. This season, their attendance at the Prudential Center, their home arena that they share with the New Jersey Devils, has averaged 3,814 fans, the worst out of all venues in the league. Their best showing there came after the Olympic break, when the team played against Ottawa in front of an audience of 8,264.<\/p>\n

You could attribute the Sirens\u2019 attendance issues to a variety of factors\u2014a lack of awareness about the team compared to Canadian markets, their less-than-ideal record in the league, the way they bounced back and forth between arenas in Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey in their inaugural season before settling at a rink that\u2019s quite a way\u2019s away from the state they\u2019re named after. But other teams in the league have faced similar problems too, and yet they have much better attendance numbers. The Seattle Torrent, one of two expansion teams that debuted this season, has averaged over 12,000 fans per game while splitting a rink with the Kraken, despite sitting in last place.<\/p>\n

Most articles about Saturday\u2019s game at MSG have taken a celebratory tone, and rightfully so\u2014the game set a U.S. attendance record for women\u2019s hockey. But I was wondering how pivotal this night would be specifically for the Sirens, and the future of their fanbase. For whatever reason, the team is struggling to break through. Could the MSG game be a turning point?<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t as if the Sirens don\u2019t have diehard fans. I ran into my first ones of the day around an hour and a half before puck drop in the underbelly of Penn Station. Patricia F. and Myrna M. were decked out in Sirens gear, and they told me they had begun as Riveters fans. They had never been able to attend a PHF game in person, but once the PWHL came to be in 2024, they started showing up. That first season, they went to games at all three arenas the New York team played at. Being able to see the Sirens at a sold-out MSG felt \u201ctotally extraordinary,\u201d they told me.<\/p>\n

Anabelle and Ben P., who had travelled from New Haven for the game, also hopped on the Sirens\u2019 wagon in 2024. Anabelle had been pregnant that first season. \u201cNow I get to bring her to a game,\u201d she told me as she held their two-year-old daughter Nora. \u201cShe\u2019s gonna be able to grow up and watch professional women\u2019s hockey.\u201d Their joy was so infectious, and we hadn\u2019t even entered the arena yet.<\/p>\n

At the plaza right outside of Penn Station, I stopped one fan when I noticed that his Sirens jersey only read \u201cNew York,\u201d which meant that it was an inaugural season jersey from back when the teams didn\u2019t even have names yet. Rick H. had brought his son, Arbor, with him to the game. His family had gotten into women\u2019s hockey through the local NCAA Division III team in his hometown upstate. When he had learned that the PWHL was going to allow checking, he was all in. Saturday, however, was his first in-person PWHL game. He had driven nearly six hours, but the venue made it worthwhile.<\/p>\n

For the longtime Sirens fans I spoke to, Saturday\u2019s game was evidence of the PWHL\u2019s success. Playing at Madison Square Garden, in the heart of Manhattan, just has a ring to it that the Prudential Center in Newark does not, and that brand presented an opportunity for the Sirens to bring in new supporters. Jane F., a WNBA and Unrivaled fan, was one of these new-to-hockey people I met. She had become interested in women\u2019s hockey during the Olympics, and she dragged her friends Alyssa S. and Emma J. along for the ride. When I asked what drew her in, she echoed a sentiment I heard from other fans as well\u2014she only watched women\u2019s sports, and this was another women\u2019s sporting event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen\u2019s sports are just, like, objectively better and more entertaining and really gay\u2014it\u2019s just beautiful,\u201d Jane told me. \u201cI\u2019m just tired of men\u2019s sports in general. I\u2019m just tired of men in general.\u201d She had wanted to attend a game, but \u201ccouldn\u2019t get out\u201d to the Prudential Center. The idea of MSG being sold out was appealing, too.<\/p>\n

There was this other thing that took me aback as I spoke to more and more fans\u2014some of them told me they didn\u2019t care who won, even if they were wearing a Sirens shirt and would ostensibly want their team to gain ground in the playoff chase. There was a startling lack of haterism all throughout the arena. The crowd cheered for the starting lineups on both teams. When New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller appeared on the jumbotron, I was the only person in my section that booed. This enthusiasm was unlike any hockey game I had ever been to before. People were so excited for every single thing that was happening. They even got hyped up for the ice crew. It felt like it was everyone\u2019s first day on Earth.<\/p>\n

Some of this is likely an effect of so many people in the crowd attending or watching their first hockey game ever, learning audience etiquette in real time. The newcomers quickly picked up the Sirens\u2019 unique \u201cwee woo\u201d chant. Trish M., who has the loudest voice I have ever heard, led a call-and-response two sections away from me. I felt so rallied by her shouts that I wee-wooed too. Trish told me that she only started attending Siren games earlier this season, but she and her friend had matching \u201cWEE\u201d and \u201cWOO\u201d shirts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see women\u2019s hockey here within three years is really incredible,\u201d she said. The fans tonight were much louder than usual, Trish noted. \u201cA Tuesday night at Prudential, you don\u2019t get this kind of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Annabelle P. and Ben P. travelled with their daughter Nora from New Haven for the game.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"Tom L. has been a fan of women\u2019s hockey since he watched the U.S. women\u2019s team win gold at Nagano in 1992.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"During the PHF era, Patricia F., right, and Myrna M., left, were Riveters fans.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"Rick H. came to Saturday\u2019s game with his son, Arbor. They drove six hours from upstate New York to make it to their first PWHL game.Heather Chen\/Defector<\/p>\n

During the dance cam, two femmes wearing Heated Rivalry jerseys cheered and then kissed when the camera turned to them. The whole crowd went crazy. The video director was clearly inspired, too, because the jumbotron quickly switched to a Heated Rivalry sing-along. At the second intermission, I interviewed three girls on the concourse, one of whom was wearing a sweatshirt that read \u201cmentally i\u2019m at the cottage,\u201d another Heated Rivalry reference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I\u2019ve been to some Rangers games,\u201d Janine G. told me. \u201cThis is way more fun than that. The crowd is a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I turned back to find my friend, she let me know that while I was chatting with Janine and her friends, I missed out on four other queer couples making out on the jumbotron.<\/p>\n

Jo L., who had been wearing a Shane Hollander jersey, later told me that they had planned to kiss their friend if they made it on the big screen. The camera crew had been hovering around their section\u2014Jo said that \u201cone of the forwards for the New York Rangers\u201d (Miller) was sitting two rows ahead of them\u2014and so they had been angling to make an appearance.<\/p>\n

Jo is a bit of a PWHL and Heated Rivalry influencer on TikTok\u2014they moderate a Discord where they teach Heated Rivalry fans about the league, and help them find their PWHL team. While Jo grew up playing hockey in Texas alongside Torrent player Hannah Bilka, they eventually left the sport because they had felt \u201cshoved out.\u201d The PWHL, and Bilka\u2019s position on the Torrent, had brought Jo back.<\/p>\n

This was Jo\u2019s second Sirens game of the week. They had been at the April 1 game at the Prudential Center, where star forward Sarah Fillier had clinched a narrow 4-3 win for the team with a natural hat trick. The energy had been great there, they said, but MSG was unreal. Jo felt like the issues the Sirens were facing mostly stem from its arena location. \u201cThe accessibility on a very physical level is already a challenge,\u201d they said. \u201cIt creates these hardships for fans to actually be in the space and to be enjoying it.\u201d It was \u201ca bummer\u201d to look up at the upper sections of Prudential and see them curtained off.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jane F., left, is a WNBA fan and loves women\u2019s sports. She wanted to experience the sold-out crowd at MSG.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"Angeli L., middle, got into women\u2019s hockey a few months ago. She only watches women\u2019s sports, and brought her friends along for the game.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"Ayden L., left, brought a bag full of Sirens merch to distribute to her friends.Heather Chen\/Defector\"\"Trish M., professional wee-woo leader, poses with her friend.Heather Chen\/Defector<\/p>\n

While Saturday\u2019s game ended on a thrilling note, for much of the third period, I was worried that I was about to watch the Sirens get shut out again. Alex Carpenter, former Riveter and current Torrent forward, opened up the scoring in the second period, but the game was quiet\u2014even boring\u2014after that, as Seattle played conservatively to protect that slim lead. Luckily for the home crowd, Fillier tied the game with 3:45 left in the third. People celebrated for about a whole minute after that goal, and then they wee-wooed to top it off. When the teams went scoreless in overtime, the crowd was treated to a five-round shootout, where New York\u2019s Kayle Osborne made the winning save on Carpenter.<\/p>\n

At the postgame press conference, the Sirens were asked what big arena they wanted to play at in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to play as many games right back here,\u201d Sirens head coach Greg Fargo said. \u201cThat\u2019d be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree, it was awesome,\u201d Fillier added. \u201cI\u2019d love to be able to come back here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sentiment I hear from other fans too, especially ones from Long Island and Connecticut who feel that the trip to New Jersey is too far. Some of them endure the trek; others say that they\u2019re hoping the Sirens will make MSG a more regular stop. But with both the Rangers and the Knicks playing at The Garden, it\u2019s unlikely that the Sirens will be able to play more than one or two games there per season. The team will have to hope that fans\u2014old and new\u2014will make their way to Newark. That won\u2019t be an easy sell, because if you were going to go to one Sirens game this year, it should have been this one. MSG was the perfect experience for a first-time fan, and a satisfying win in a supercharged environment for anyone who\u2019d only had Bridgeport, Long Island, or Newark as a point of comparison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if I understand their reasoning, however, it was a little disappointing when I spoke to some fans who told me they\u2019d wait it out for the Sirens to return to MSG. We\u2019d come so far from the Riveters playing at American Dream, but I couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that we hadn\u2019t truly moved past the point of treating women\u2019s sports as primarily an inspirational spectacle. As much positivity as there was in MSG, I also want to be able to feel the stakes of a season on the line, where you\u2019re forced to pick a side instead of simply cheering for the thrill of female athletes. I\u2019m confident that the Sirens\u2019 overall attendance will trend up, and that their most passionate fans will help grow a culture of ticketholders who are willing to cross state lines and brave NJ Transit. And I also hope some of the PWHL first-timers who are new to watching sports altogether learn, in time, about the heartbreak of a playoff series loss, and the spirit of being a hater.<\/p>\n

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