September is finally here, which means the start of the NWHL season is right around the corner. Excitement is building, merch is being sold, but the single most important question is still staring you right in the face: who are you going to cheer for?

(It’s ok, we don’t know yet either.)

Let’s face it. Everyone is so excited for the NWHL to even start that it’s easy to cheer for the whole league. Who doesn’t want to support women athletes playing hockey? But we here at Today’s Slapshot want to help you make an well-informed, possibly biased choice when it comes to finding ‘your team.’ Once a week throughout September we’re going to give you some highlights of an NWHL team. By the time the puck drops on opening night, you’ll have a franchise to cheer for. Let the rivalries begin!

We’re going to start our series with the New York Riveters.

It’s going to be hard to not cheer for the Riveters this year. This is a team that’s got everything going for them: their GM, Dani Rylan, also happens to be the commissioner of the league, and their head coach, Chad Wiseman, is a veteran of the NHL, AHL, ALH (Asian League Ice Hockey) and Division 1 (Sweden). They’ve also got a great home rink with the Aviators Sports and Events Center in Brooklyn.

They’ve signed some of the most well-known names in women’s hockey. You might recognize Nana Fujimoto–small of stature at 5’4″ but with some serious talent–who earned the award for best goaltender with Team Japan at the most recent women’s World Championships. Or perhaps you’ve heard of Jenny Scrivens, a goalie who makes up one half of the first married couple in pro hockey. Her husband, Ben Scrivens, also tends the net for the Edmonton Oilers.

Maybe you’d like to cheer for another international player. How about up-and-coming Lyudmila Belyakova, who’s been on the Russian national team for several years and dazzled at the NWHL’s international camp. It’s a fact: the Riveters (at least for now) have some of the most recognizable names in the league.

Are you a history nerd? Then the Riveters are probably the team for you. Their team logo, the famous Rosie the Riveter, comes from WWII, when the US created the mostly-fictional character (she was based on munitions workers in factories) to help recruit women workers. She’s remained an icon ever since, and the Riveters win our award for ‘best logo’ for deciding to use her for their team. What better person to use to promote a professional hockey team in the USA than Rosie the Riveter?

If you do decide to cheer for the Riveters, you’ll be doubly blessed. Not only will you get to watch a solid team on the ice this year, but the Riveters look to have a stellar future ahead of them thanks to some smart drafting. The Riveters ended up with the first overall pick in the NWHL draft, but they drafted well in every round.

Their first overall pick, Alex Carpenter, already has an Olympic medal, won the Patty Kazmaeir award for top female college ice hockey player as a junior, and just helped Team USA’s U22 select team to a series victory against Team Canada this summer. Two of Carpenter’s teammates, Haley Skarupa and Dana Trivigno, were also members of Team USA during the series and both were Riveter’s draft picks this year. New York’s third round pick, Erin Ambrose, played in the series for Team Canada. All four have promising futures in hockey, and if the Riveters can sign them, they’ll be in good shape for years to come.

Be warned: the Riveters are not the team to cheer for if you’re a ‘hipster’ hockey fan. They’re probably the most hyped team in the NWHL, thanks to their incredible logo, sweet uniforms, and the fact that they’re playing hockey in the Big Apple with some of the biggest names in hockey. They’re going to have one of the biggest fan bases in the NWHL, but by no means is that a bad thing.

Did we help you decide to cheer for the Riveters? If you’re still on the fence, fear not- there’s three more teams we’ll recap for you to help solidify your allegiances.

We’ll continue this series next week with the Connecticut Whale.