The Connecticut Whale kick off their inaugural season Sunday, Oct. 11 as part of the National Women's Hockey League. You can learn more about the league here.
Their name is an homage to the Hartford Whalers, an NHL team that spent nearly 20 years in Hartford before moving to North Carolina in 1997 and becoming the Carolina Hurricanes.
Colors: Blue, green, white
GM: Harry Rosenholz
Coach: Jake Mastel. Mastel played hockey for University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he won a Division III championship in 1994.
Arena: Chelsea Piers Connecticut (Stamford, Conn.)
Season opener: Versus New York Riveters, Sunday Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Kelli Stack (Getty Images)
Major signing: Two-time Olympian Kelli Stack is one of the headliners for the Whale. Stack had a goal and four assists for the U.S. over five games in the 2014 Olympics. The forward broke records at Boston College with 209 points, including 111 assists in 140 games. She was the first three-time Hockey East Player of the Year and was the conference's top scorer twice.
THE TEAMS: Boston Pride | Buffalo Beauts | New York Riveters
Draft picks: University of Minnesota forward Hannah Brandt was the first Whale draft selection, taken second overall. Brandt has 221 points in 122 games with the Gophers. The Whale drafted three defenseman with their five draft picks — Michelle Picard (Harvard), Milica McMillan (Minnesota) and Cassandra Poudrier (Cornell).
Cassandra Negley is a contributor at Sporting News. She's currently the sports editor at the Thomasville Times-Enterprise in Georgia and writes for the Mets blog, Rising Apple. You can follow her on Twitter, @casnegley.