UNIONDALE, NY – NOVEMBER 22: The New York Islanders ice girls handle cleaning the ice during the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 22, 2014 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders defeated the Penguins 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The New York Islanders are getting rid of their Ice Girls

The New York Islanders have discontinued their Ice Girls. With the Islanders moving to the Barclay’s Center for the 2015-16 season, the club decided it was time to stop the Ice Girls who were scantily dressed women in charge of shoveling the ice. Ice Girls have received their fair share of criticism for promoting sexism. The Islanders have had a crew since 2001.

 

Barry Baum, chief communications officer for Barclays Center, told Allan Muir of  Sports Illustrated that the Islanders are instead going to use a co-ed ice crew which will be in charge of “helping create the best ice possible as mandated by the NHL.”

The decision was made because Baum wanted to the club to go in a different direction, saying they are still going to bring what made the Islanders great to Brooklyn.

“We decided to go in a different direction,” “We held a number of meetings with our fans on Long Island to ensure we’d bring the best traditions to Brooklyn and we think they’ll be very happy with the result.”

This is a nice first step by the Islanders. While they’re not the first team to get rid of Ice Girls, they may be the first team to do it permanently. As Muir notes, the Flyers got rid of Ice Girls last season and replaced them with a male ice crew, only to reverse the decision when the new group proved to be unpopular.

Let’s hope this is the first of many teams to get rid of Ice Girls.

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com

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