TheProfessional Women's Hockey League(PWHL;French:Ligue professionnelle de hockey féminin,LPHF) is a professionalwomen's ice hockeyleague in North America, wholly owned and operated by theMark Walter Group.It consists of six franchises, three each from Canada and the United States, who play aregular seasonto earn one of four places in apostseason tournamentthat determines the winner of theWalter Cup.
Upcoming season or competition: 2024–25 PWHL season | |
 | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| First season | 2023–24 |
| Owner(s) | Mark Walter Group |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Countries |
|
| Broadcasting | |
| Most recent champion(s) | Minnesota Frost(2024) |
| Most titles | Minnesota Frost |
| Official website | www |
Differences between the PWHL and other North American professional hockey leagues include a3-2-1-0points system, terminations ofpenaltiesfollowing ashort-handedgoal, best-of-fiveshootouts,and greater restrictions onbody checking.The league's matches are broadcast nationally in Canada by theCBCandTSN,their French-language affiliatesRadio-CanadaandRDS,andSportsnet.In the United States, it is broadcastin syndication,while worldwide it isstreamedonYouTube.
Thecollapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey Leaguein 2019 led to the establishment of theProfessional Women's Hockey Players Association(PWHPA), a non-profit organization that advocated for greater professionalism in women's ice hockey. PWHPA members boycotted existing leagues, including thePremier Hockey Federation(PHF), with the goal of establishing a stable, unified professional league, and worked to build a collective bargaining agreement withMark Walterand Billie Jean King Enterprises. The Mark Walter Group acquired the assets of the PHF following its2022–23 season.Subsequently, the PWHPA worked with the Mark Walter Group to establish a unified league with new ownership and management. The league'sfirst drafttook place in September 2023, and itsfirst seasonbegan in January 2024.
History
editAntecedents and the PWHPA
editTop-level and professional women's hockey in North America has developed in starts and stops since the late twentieth century.[1]TheNational Women's Hockey League(NWHL) launched in 1999, featuring teams mainly inOntarioandQuebec.Some teams fromWestern Canadacompeted intermittently, but aWestern Women's Hockey Leaguewas formed in 2004. TheCanadian Women's Hockey League(CWHL) effectively replaced the NWHL and ran for twelve seasons, from 2007 to 2019, with teams competing for theClarkson Cup.[2]The CWHL, which operated on a non-profit basis, did not pay player salaries, but it did at times offer stipends and bonuses as it aspired to become a professional league.[3]However, the league lacked financial stability and it abruptly folded in 2019.[4]A new National Women's Hockey League—later re-named thePremier Hockey Federation—which did offer player salaries, was established in the United States in 2015, before expanding into Canada in 2020.[5]However, after the dissolution of the CWHL, hundreds of prominent women's players, including Canadian and American Olympians, founded theProfessional Women's Hockey Players' Association(PWHPA) and opted to boycott existing leagues in pursuit of a unified, financially stable professional league.[6]In the meantime, the PWHPA attracted partnerships with corporate sponsors andNational Hockey Leagueteams, organizing exhibition tournaments to generate support for their goal.[7]
In 2022, the PWHPA entered a partnership with the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises—led byLos Angeles DodgersownerMark WalterandBillie Jean King,respectively—with the intent to launch a new professional league.[8]In 2023, the two business partners purchased the assets of the Premier Hockey Federation, and the PHF ceased operations.[9][10]The PWHPA negotiated acollective bargaining agreementahead of the launch of the new professional league the union had been working towards.[11]
Founding and inaugural season
editThe establishment of the Professional Women's Hockey League was announced by Mark Walter Group in August 2023, along with the location of its six charter franchises: Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, and Toronto.[12][13]Teams began constructing their rosters that summer, with an initial ten-dayfree agencyperiod to sign three players.[14]Emily Clark,Brianne Jenner,andEmerance Maschmeyerbecame the league's first players when they signed withOttawa.[15]Theinaugural drafttook place in September at theCanadian Broadcasting Centrein Toronto, whereMinnesotachoseTaylor Heiseas the first pick in a fifteen-round, ninety-player draft from a pool of 286 eligible players.[16]The league announced that, due to time constraints, the teams would not be given nicknames until after the inaugural season, and would wearjerseysfeaturing the name of the teams' locales in a diagonal wordmark.[17]
Prior to the start of theinaugural season,all six teams congregated at theUtica University Nexus Centerin early December for a five day evaluation camp, including scrimmages used to experiment with new rules.[18][19]The first game took place on January 1, 2024, whenTorontohostedNew Yorkat theMattamy Athletic Centre.[20]New York'sElla Sheltonscored the league's first goal en route to a 4–0 win.[21]The game's Canadian television audience of 2.9 million viewers was the largest for a sports or entertainment broadcast that day, beating the2024 NHL Winter Classic.[22][23]The attendance record for a professional women's ice hockey match would be set multiple times during the ensuing season: 8,318 at Ottawa's first home game atTD Place Arenaon January 2;[24]13,316 at Minnesota's first home game at theXcel Energy Centeron January 6;[25]19,285 at the inaugural "Battle on Bay Street" match atScotiabank Arenaon February 16;[26]and 21,105 at the "Duel at the Top" match at theBell Centreon April 20.[27][28]The latter two drew the largest ever crowds for women's ice hockey, surpassing the 18,013 that watched Canada play Finland at the2013 Women's World Championship.[26][28]
Toronto finished atop the standings at the end of the inaugural season—they chose to play fourth place Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, leavingMontréalandBostonto play the other series.[29]Minnesota defeated Toronto in a five-game series, while Boston defeated Montréal in three straight games, with every decision coming in overtime.[30][31]In the final, Minnesota defeated Boston in a five game series to capture the first Walter Cup championship.[32]Natalie Spoonerwas the league's first scoring champion and the inaugural winner of the league's Bill Jean King Most Valuable Player award, while Taylor Heise led the playoffs in scoring and was given postseason MVP honours.[33][34]
Organization
editThe PWHL and all six of its teams are owned by theMark WalterGroup. The Advisory Board of the PWHL is formed byBillie Jean King,Ilana Kloss,Stan Kasten,and Royce Cohen.[35]Jayna Heffordis the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations andAmy Scheeris the Senior Vice President of Business Operations.[36]Former hockey player and broadcasterCassie Campbell-Pascallis an advisor to the Board.[37][38]The league hired over 100 staff members to support league operations, distinguishing it from past women's hockey leagues that have lacked such operational support.[1]
The PWHPA organized a formal players' union in early 2023—thePWHL Players Association(PWHLPA)—that became the players' union representing all PWHL players.[39]Unique to professional women's hockey, the PWHL established an eight-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the players' union.[40][41]The CBA establishes that each team must sign at least six players to a minimum salary of $80,000, and no more than nine players to a league minimum salary of $35,000, with teams instructed to achieve an average salary of $55,000. The base and average salaries are slated to increase 3% per season through the end of the agreement in 2031.[42]The CBA further outlines performance and team bonuses, including a $63,250 bonus for the championship-winning team, and other financial incentives, including housing stipends.[42]Brian Burkeacts as the executive director of the players' union.[43]
Format and rules
edit
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| An example of the3-2-1-0points system; Team A has 18 points for 6 wins, while Team B has 9 points for 3 wins, 4 points for 2 overtime wins and 1 point for an overtime loss, adding up to a sum of 14 points. |
The inaugural PWHL season consisted of a 24-game schedule lasting from January to May.[44][45]From the 2024–25 season, the schedule comprises 30 games played from November to May, with each team facing their opponents six times.[46]The schedule includes a mid-season break during the annualIIHF World Women's Championshipin April.[44][46]A3-2-1-0points system is used for classification, whereby a team is awarded 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an overtime or shootout win, and 1 for an overtime or shootout loss.[47]At the end of the regular season, the best four teams qualify for apostseason tournamentthat determines the champion, comprising two semi-finals and a final played asbest-of-fiveseries.[48][49]The teams compete for theWalter Cup,a trophy named after the league's financial backers, the Walter family.[50]
PWHL rules closely follow National Hockey League andInternational Ice Hockey Federation(IIHF) standards, with some notable innovations.[51]A "jailbreak" rule allows a team to terminate aminor penaltyagainst by scoring ashort-handedgoal.[47]During best-of-fiveshootouts,any player is eligible to shoot at any time, including taking multiple attempts.[51]Like theSwedish Women's Hockey League,the PWHL breaks women's ice hockey and IIHF conventions and allowsbody checking,with the rule-book outlining that checking is permissible "when there is a clear intention of playing the puck or attempting to 'gain possession' of the puck", allowed principally along the boards.[52][53]League executive Jayna Hefford has stated that body checking was included at the behest of the players.[52]There are two main factors which determine the legality of a body check. The first is being able to determine whether or not gaining possession of the puck is the sole purpose of the player initiating the body check—a blatant example of an illegal body check would be if a player is across the ice from the puck, and they initiate a body check against another player. The second factor is the movement of players. Under rule 52.1, "a player who is stationary is entitled to that area of the ice. It is up to the opponent to avoid body contact with such a player." If a player were to initiate a body check on a player who is stationary and without the puck, there would be grounds for a referee to assess a penalty.
Prior to the2024–25 season,the PWHL announced the "No Escape Rule." Under this rule, when a team takes a penalty, all of the players for the penalized team must remain on the ice until after the ensuing faceoff. This rule is similar to the existing rule which keeps players on the ice after their teamicesthe puck.[54][55][56]
Teams
edit
As of the2024–25 season,six teams compete in the league: theMontréal Victoire,Ottawa Charge,andToronto Sceptresfrom Canada, and theBoston Fleet,Minnesota Frost,andNew York Sirensfrom the United States.[57]The six clubs have been described as the league's own "Inaugural Six".[58][59]The teams' locations were chosen for being markets of National Hockey League franchises with "track records of supporting hockey and, specifically, the women's game."[60]The teams are located in five of the seven Premier Hockey Federation markets—theBuffalo BeautsandConnecticut Whalewere not given PWHL replacements, while Ottawa gained a franchise.[57]Pittsburgh,Washington, D.C.,andLondon, Ontario,were also considered for inaugural franchises.[61]
Potential franchisenicknameswere registered with theUnited States Patent and Trademark Officein October 2023: Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montreal Echo, New York Sound, Ottawa Alert, and Toronto Torch.[62]However, the league ultimately opted to forgo unique club identities for the inaugural season, emphasizing league branding instead.[63]This meant that teams lacked nicknames,crests,and stylizedjerseys,and were identified by their city.[64][65]On September 9, 2024, ahead of the league's second season, team names and logos were announced, with none of them matching the trademarked names from 2023: the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres.[66]
Some teams experimented with multiple venues during the inaugural season, and the league also organized a number of neutral-site games. Minnesota plays its home games at theXcel Energy Center,the largest-capacity venue in the league at 17,954.[67]New York plays in the second largest venue at Newark'sPrudential Center.[68]Boston plays at theTsongas Centerat theUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell.[69]Montréal hosts games atPlace BellinLaval.[70]Ottawa plays atTD Place ArenainLansdowne Park.[71]Finally, Toronto plays atCoca-Cola Coliseum.[72]The league has presented one-off matches at other large venues, including theBell Centrein Montreal andScotiabank Arenain Toronto in games dubbed the "Duel at the Top" and "Battle on Bay Street" rivalry matches between Montréal and Toronto.[27][73]Other one-off match venues have includedLittle Caesars Arenain Detroit;[74]PPG Paints Arenain Pittsburgh;[75]and thePrudential Centerin Newark.[76]
| Team | Location | Venue | Cap. | General manager | Head coach | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Fleet | Lowell, MA | Tsongas Center | 6,003 | Danielle Marmer | Courtney Kessel | Hilary Knight |
| Minnesota Frost | Saint Paul, MN | Xcel Energy Center | 17,954 | Melissa Caruso | Ken Klee | Kendall Coyne Schofield |
| Montréal Victoire | Laval, QC | Place Bell | 10,062 | Danièle Sauvageau | Kori Cheverie | Marie-Philip Poulin |
| New York Sirens | Newark, NJ | Prudential Center | 16,514 | Pascal Daoust | Greg Fargo | Micah Zandee-Hart |
| Ottawa Charge | Ottawa, ON | TD Place Arena | 8,585 | Michael Hirshfeld | Carla MacLeod | Brianne Jenner |
| Toronto Sceptres | Toronto, ON | Coca-Cola Coliseum | 8,100 | Gina Kingsbury | Troy Ryan | Blayre Turnbull |
All-Stars
editFor its inaugural season, the PWHL announced that it would collaborate with the National Hockey League on its All-Star festivities, intending to host its own All-Star game in future seasons.[77][78]PWHL All-Stars participated in the "PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase" on February 1 during the2024 NHL All-Star weekendin Toronto where it featured 24 PWHL players divided between Team King and Team Kloss—named afterBillie Jean KingandIlana Kloss,respectively—coached byCassie Campbell-PascallandMeghan Duggan.[78]
Broadcasting
editInternationally, the Professional Women's Hockey League isstreamedvia the league's officialYouTubechannel. In Canada, the league is also available nationally onTSN,Sportsnet,andCBC(in French on RDS, Radio-Canada and IciTouTv). In the United States, the league is availableregionallyonBally Sports North,NESN,SportsNet Pittsburgh,the Women's Sports Network, andMSG Network.[79][80]
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The 21,105 fans who attended the game broke the record for attendance at a female hockey game set in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena...
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Xcel Energy Center officially seats 17,954 for Minnesota Wild games...
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...the PWHL announced Tuesday that its Boston team will play home games at UMass Lowell's Tsongas Center...
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Ottawa's new professional women's hockey team will play its games at TD Place this season.
- ^"PWHL Toronto relocates to Coca-Cola Coliseum for 2024-2025".TSN.September 3, 2024.Archivedfrom the original on September 4, 2024.RetrievedSeptember 9,2024.
- ^Ibrahim, Abdulhamid (February 16, 2024)."PWHL Toronto tops Montreal 3-0 in front of record-setting crowd at Scotiabank Arena".CP24.Archivedfrom the original on February 17, 2024.RetrievedApril 21,2024.
Toronto took the "Battle on Bay Street" over Montreal 3-0 in Professional Women's Hockey League action on Friday. The PWHL's first game at Scotiabank Arena...
- ^"Saturday's hockey: PWHL sets attendance record in Detroit; UM edges Minnesota".The Detroit News.March 16, 2024.Archivedfrom the original on April 21, 2024.RetrievedApril 21,2024.
A record crowd of 13,736 watched Boston beat Ottawa, 2-1, in a shootout at Little Caesars Arena.
- ^Antonio, Rossetti (March 17, 2024)."Toronto edges Montreal before nearly 9,000 fans during PWHL Takeover Weekend at PPG Paints Arena".Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.Archivedfrom the original on March 27, 2024.RetrievedApril 21,2024.
Fans from all over Pittsburgh and Canada filled the lower bowl at PPG Paints Arena [...] as part of Professional Women's Hockey League Takeover Weekend.
- ^Menning, Rick (April 20, 2024)."Boston Spoils New York's Prudential Center Debut".The Hockey News.Archivedfrom the original on April 21, 2024.RetrievedApril 21,2024.
PWHL Boston forward Lexie Adzija spoiled New York's inaugural party at the Prudential Center...
- ^"Poulin, Knight highlights PWHL representatives at NHL All-Star weekend".TSN.CP. January 15, 2024.Archivedfrom the original on January 16, 2024.RetrievedJanuary 17,2024.
- ^abAyala, Erica L. (January 16, 2024)."2024 NHL All-Star Weekend: Brianne Jenner among 24 PWHL players set to participate in women's 3-on-3 showcase".CBS Sports.Archivedfrom the original on January 17, 2024.RetrievedJanuary 19,2024.
- ^"Professional Women's Hockey League announces national broadcast partnerships for inaugural 2024 season".CTV News.December 29, 2023.Archivedfrom the original on January 2, 2024.RetrievedJanuary 4,2024.
- ^Shircliff, Elaine (December 31, 2023)."How to Watch the Inaugural PWHL Season".fullpresshockey.com.Archivedfrom the original on December 31, 2023.RetrievedMay 29,2023.