"That would be worth it."

heated rivalry has tons of people (especially women and queer people) getting into watching hockey. forshadowing his later plot relevance, quinn hughes makes major hockey headlines in december with his trade to the wild. the olympics are happening so it provides a great entry point for people who don't know where to start. a lot of focus is placed on the hughes brothers because they're young and attractive and inside jokes about quinn seeing ghosts become more mainstream.

usa men's and women's teams BOTH win gold medals in overtime against canada. it's triumphant, it's a great story, the men's team even built up a narrative that they're doing this to honor a dearly departed friend.

the men's team immediately goes mask-off with the conservatism and misogyny heated rivalry used as the main antagonistic force to drive the plot. pwhl teams are now selling out arenas and setting attendance records and partying with flava flav. the men's team gets served cold mcdonalds with no soda by the president.