ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Beneath the grandstand at TRIA Rink, about 100 people from the sellout crowd of 1,200 waited in the hallway outside the Minnesota Whitecaps dressing room for the players to emerge. Out they came one by one, greeting friends and relatives, signing autographs or posing for photos with kids. The overlapping chatter in a small space made it hard to hear the person next to you.

The scene brought smiles to Brooke White-Lancette and Winny Brodt Brown, two of the four Whitecaps with the club since its semipro beginnings in 2004. Until joining the National Women's Hockey League this season, the Whitecaps never attracted this kind of attention. Co-coach Jack Brodt, Brown's father, remembers games outside the Twin Cities where, just for fun, he stood behind the bench and counted the spectators.

It usually didn't take long.

"Ninety percent of our road games," he said, "there was probably a maximum of 100."

Now, as the NWHL's first expansion team, the Whitecaps are the hottest thing in the so-called Saintly City. League commissioner Dani Rylan said the Whitecaps are the first NWHL team to turn a profit, boosted by a league-record 500 season tickets sold and significant merchandise sales. That's encouraging for a four-year-old league that largely depended on investors and one major sponsor, Dunkin' Donuts, to stay in business.

All eight Whitecaps home games sold out at TRIA, the year-old practice rink of the NHL's Minnesota Wild. Only the Buffalo Beauts, based at the 1,800-capacity HarborCenter, draw better in the five-team league. Many Minnesotans take their hockey standing up, which is why about 200 people hung out at the concourse rails and around the glass earlier this month as the Whitecaps routed the Connecticut Whale 9-0 in their final home regular-season game.

The Whitecaps set up a postgame autograph table, and the line of people waiting wrapped around the end boards, goal line to goal line. White-Lancette, in her dark blue uniform top and shorts, was on her way there when she stopped in the hallway to take in the scene.

"To walk into a crowd like this and see everyone is so excited to be behind us, it's a dream come true for sure," she said. "It definitely gives you chills and makes you feel special. We've come a long way."

Throughout their history the Whitecaps fielded a strong roster of U.S. national team veterans and hopefuls, most with Minnesota ties. This year's team might be one of their deepest. The Whitecaps (10-4) lead the league with 20 points, four ahead of the Boston Pride and the Buffalo Beauts. The Whitecaps must finish first or second to guarantee a home game in the single-elimination Isobel Cup playoffs in mid-March.

Since the NWHL owns and operates every franchise except Buffalo, which Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula purchased in December 2017, the Whitecaps' financial success directly benefits the league's bottom line.