It was the week before Christmas, and Rockefeller Center was alive with visitors and shoppers and visiting shoppers. 

Down on the skating rink, they shuffled along, clutching each other or clutching the boards, if not both.

Then the soundtrack paused. The amateur skaters were ushered off the ice. A Zamboni swept the surface clean. The stage was set anew, as passersby peered down, their curiosity piqued. Cue Frank Sinatra: I’m gonna make a brand-new start of it, in old New York.

That’s when the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s New York team took the stage.