Aside from some playoff pools, it is kind of the “fantasy summer” for quite a few fantasy hockey fans out there. So, it was decided that a miniseries of sorts could be done for the readers from different angles. The goal was to ask a series of mostly simple baseline questions of women who play fantasy hockey. Hopefully at the very least, people will get something out of this.
The idea for this project started very humbly. When taking a look at some fantasy leagues, we realized just what these women were bringing to the table. Admittedly, I was guilty of not knowing more of the finest but was given a quick lesson on the best of the best.
An even bigger problem is reputation. It does not help that sex sells. For example, there is the Fantasy Sports Girl. Here is a video of what she does. Honestly this is rather self-explanatory.
Granted, a lot of the advice is pretty straight forward and was mostly very correct. However, this is not what the ideal focus is. What is that ideal? The stereotype is twofold. First, there is the theory of the puck bunny. Second, women just are not that active in fantasy hockey.
What we did find is that fantasy hockey numbers are pretty low but steadily growing. Also, more and more women are diehard hockey fans. Yes there is still the puck bunny mystique (there always will be) but the facts are facts. Increasingly, the numbers keep rising as women in fantasy hockey are becoming so much more commonplace.
This was an old IPSOS survey from 2008 but it did show some trends. The numbers were so miniscule in 2000 and just the fact that there was more than just a blip is encouraging. When searching around we found this little gem and update. It illustrates the obvious. Women in a lot of ways are just as competitive, if not more so than men.
More women are running the show also. Take this group of leagues from Jen of Anaheim Calling. We have even seen expert audits from Dobberhockey. The linked one was taken from two and a half years ago.
When you fast forward to the present, there is such an amazing difference and rise of women in fantasy hockey. The number of commissioners is up by over 200% and the number of players has nearly doubled since 2009. Oh by the way, it has become very apparent that women are starting to kick some men right in the tail too.
Our first interview, which should hopefully be up by sometime later next week focuses on my personal podcast fantasy league. The winner of the league was one of two women that entered said league. Her record was a mind blowing 164-48-19 (.751 winning percentage). There are so many aspects that go into winning a league and it is a topic that we will expand on next week.
For now, we leave with a simple humble request. If you know a female fantasy hockey player that you would like to see interviewed on THW, just drop us a comment or an email, we want to hear from them. The best is truly yet to come.
Hey Chris,
Great article and thanks for linking my site. I’m with lakingshockeyforwomen.com. I’ve played fantasy hockey for a couple years and an currently in a playoff league as well if you have questions you can email me at lakinghockeyforwomen@gmail.com.