What is the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)?
The Professional Women's Hockey League or PWHL is a women's professional Hockey league based in North America with teams in Canada and the United States. So far the league has played 5 games with two setting attendance records.
The PWHL replaces the Premier Hockey Federation or PHF which was sold to Los Angeles Dodgers’ owner Mark Walter’s firm in July of 2023. The league will be run by Mark and Kimbra Walter, Dodgers team president Stan Kasten, and former world number one ranked tennis player Billie Jean King. In August of 2023 the PWHL held its first 15 round draft with a pool of 286 eligible players. Minnesota won the first draft pick lottery and drafted Taylor Heise as the No. 1 overall pick for the team and League.
The PWHL consist of six teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. So far five games have been played with Minnesota starting strong with two wins over Boston and Montreal. Three teams are currently sitting with one win and one loss while Boston and Ottawa have one loss.
The excitement around the PWHL is real. On Saturday January 6, 2024 Montreal faced Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center setting a league attendance record of 13,316 attendees just days after Ottawa set the record at 8,318. Toronto has sold out all its ticketing products for the season, including season passes and regular game tickets.
The PWHL has 67 games scheduled, the season is just starting, what's going to happen for the rest of the season is anyone's guess but one thing is for sure, the Professional Womens Hockey League is here to stay and is looking to become the most dominant Womens Hockey League of all time.