The PWHL may finally be the league that takes off for women’s ice hockey.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League was founded in 2023 and has gained a lot of recognition, but it was not the first professional women’s hockey league.
In the past, women’s hockey consisted of the Olympic team and several pro leagues that did not have the funding or resources to take off. Players would be working other jobs alongside playing hockey, which caused a lot of the programs to fall through.
The growth of women’s hockey, though, has led to the formation of the PWHL.
As is happening with other women’s sports, league officials are working heavily on publicizing the league. They have a strong social media presence and have been actively working to show what this league is about.
Unlike previous women’s leagues, the PWHL has started to prove itself. The league broke the professional women’s hockey attendance record with 21,105 fans in British Columbia last year. It set the American record of 14,288 fans this month in a game between the New York Sirens and Boston Fleet.
There are six teams in the PWHL: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York, and Minneapolis‐Saint Paul.
The league started last year. For the kick off season, every team was just named after their city as no team names were chosen. This created some controversy, but league officials said they did not want to rush the process.
This season, the league introduced names for each team, which adds more character to the league. The teams are the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victorie, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and the Toronto Sceptres.
American fans may recognize Hillary Knight and Megan Keller, who have both made names for themselves in junior and Olympic events playing for Team USA. Now they work together again on the Fleet.
Last season the fourth-seed Minnesota team won the first ever Walter Cup. With six weeks left in the regular season, the Victorie are in the lead with 45 points, and the Sceptres in second place with 42 points.
American fans are able to watch games on youtube.
