If you grew up playing women's hockey, playing in college was most likely the end of the road for your playing career. The Canadian Women's Hockey League is an option for a few players, but the league has its own issues. The league consisting of five teams does not pay it's players and the women have to provide their own equipment.

The only other options are to hang up your skates and continue to play in beer leagues, or if you are uber talanted, you could make a professional men's hockey league like two-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist Shannon Szabados, who plays for the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Stories like that, however, are few and far between. 

Finally, there's hope.

After a conversation between Dani Rylan, a former Northeastern hockey player, and retired USA Hockey star Angela Ruggiero, the National Women's Hockey League came about.

The new league will consist of four teams, the New York Riveters, Boston Pride, the Buffalo Beauts and the Connecticut Whale and is slated to open Oct. 2015. Unlike the CWHL, the players in the NWHL will be paid and their equipment will be provided for them. According to Puck Daddy, the league will operate a business model similar to some of the men's professional hockey leagues. 

A salary cap of $270,000 will be in place for the teams and players will be responsible for negotiating their own contracts. 

The paid contracts might be able to persuade some of the stars of the CWHL, like Hllary Knight, to join the NWHL.

The season will consist of nine home games and nine road games and will run in its entirety, preaseason until the end of the playoffs, from October to March. Free agency will start May 2015, and the draft for college juniors will take place in June.

With nine total teams between the CWHL and NWHL, could both leagues merge in the future a la WHA and NHL, or AFL and NFL? Only time will tell.