The Professional Women’s Hockey League is growing its footprint by expanding two time zones west with a new team in Vancouver.
The league, currently in its second season, announced the new team Wednesday. It will mean a West Coast trip starting next season for the original six clubs located in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, New York and St. Paul, Minn.
And the new team will be without a regional rival, at least for now, with the Minnesota Frost the closest competition in the Central time zone.
Vancouver’s neutral-site PWHL game Jan 6. between the Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire outdrew the NHL’s Canucks to that point in the season with 19,038 in Rogers Arena to watch the women.
The expansion team, which will operate as PWHL Vancouver until a permanent name is announced, will play out of the Pacific Coliseum starting in the 2025-26 season. The team’s colours are described as Pacific blue and cream.
Vancouver’s neutral-site PWHL game Jan 6. between the Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire outdrew the NHL’s Canucks to that point in the season with 19,038 in Rogers Arena to watch the women.
The league also hosted a game at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on Jan. 5 between the Victoire and Boston Fleet as part of its nine-game Takeover Tour of neutral sites. Attendance was 12,608.
Quebec City drew 18,259 to the Videotron Centre for a game between the Victoire and Ottawa Charge on Jan. 19. The Sceptres and Charge had 17,518 fans in Edmonton’s Rogers Place at Feb. 16.
The Takeover Tour also included stops in Denver, Detroit, St. Louis, Raleigh, N.C., and Buffalo, N.Y.
While the league stated its intention to add up to two teams in 2025-26, PWHL senior vice-president of business operations Amy Scheer reserved the right on the eve of this season to postpone expansion.
“The goal is to expand at a rate in which the talent of hockey can support,” she said in November.
The PWHL was under some pressure to add teams as the world produces more players for a league that currently offers 138 full-time jobs and 18 reserve contracts.
A total of 167 players declared for the league’s second draft in 2024 and 42 were selected.
Opening day rosters this season were dominated by Canadians (75) and Americans (62), but players from Czechia, Sweden, Finland, Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland were also in the league.
The league stated in early April that attendance this season has averaged 7,354 through 79 games for a total of 580,962.
In its shorter inaugural season of 72 games, the league averaged 5,500 fans and set a women’s pro hockey attendance record of 21,105 at Montreal’s Bell Centre on April 20, 2024.
The league is owned by Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter.
The PWHL has nine games remaining in its regular season when it resumes Saturday following the international break for the world championships. Playoffs start May 6.
