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Friday, Oct. 9 the NWHL announced their streaming packages after a long wait by fans anxious to watch the upcoming season.

Per Phil Giubileo, the new Voice for the Connecticut Whale, the NWHL will be streaming its regular-season games via YouTube. The first will be free, per Gilubeo.

Excited to say that I'll be calling 1st ever @NWHL_ game this Sun! @CTWhale_NWHL & @NYRiveters LIVE on @YouTube at 1:30 w/ @erikalawler2 — Phil Giubileo (@philgpbp) October 9, 2015

re: last tweet – exact URL upcoming later for @NWHL_ inaugural game w/@CTWhale_NWHL & @NYRiveters – but will be @YouTube video stream & FREE — Phil Giubileo (@philgpbp) October 9, 2015

Using YouTube to stream games is a brilliant idea by the NWHL. YouTube is a behemoth and accessible to nearly everyone with a computer. It rarely glitches out and can support any quality of video from something as low and grainy as 144p to the picture-perfect HD.

YouTube videos even have the option of subtitles for the hearing impaired, though when auto-generated by YouTube they are notorious for providing gibberish. Whether subtitles are available on livestreams at all is unclear.

The following day the NWHL tweeted out a link to Cross-Ice Pass, the name of the streaming channel for the league. The YouTube stream will be embedded on their website. The tweet also indicated that such streaming would be free.

Check out our website for the Cross-Ice Pass, your hub for NWHL live streaming! #FREE http://t.co/ZKwTdtureD pic.twitter.com/6AoC7pJZMm — NWHL (@NWHL) October 10, 2015

Given that season ticket holders were promised 10 percent off a streaming fee, the NWHL may be planning to have a level for season ticket holders and a free level, which could mean those watching the games free will be subject to ads.

If season ticket holders find they are missing out on that 10% discount, the league may find itself in the position of having to refund a portion of what fans paid for season tickets or making some other perk available in place of the reduced streaming rate.

Fans planning to stream games instead of attend should bookmark nwhl.co/cross-ice-pass/ in their preferred browsers.

Although the timing of the announcement coincides with the start of the season, holding this information until only a few days before the long-awaited Oct. 11 games is not the best idea. It leaves many scrambling for information at the last minute, particularly fans who may not necessarily be as Twitter-savvy as the millennial generation is known to be.

However, announcing so close to the inaugural game creates a frenzy and builds excitement for opening weekend, which the league may have considered tantamount in building for its first games.