We need to talk about women’s hockey again.
The momentum that the sport is experiencing right now cannot and should not go unnoticed. At SkateGuard, we wrote a two-part series back in 2023 chronicling how after years—decades, if we’re being fair to many of the early ambassadors of the women’s game—of very well-intentioned efforts to forge a place for women’s hockey in the professional sporting landscape, we were finally seeing some green shoots.
When the Professional Women’s Hockey League was founded in August of 2023, there was more optimism than ever that the hockey world was finally going to have a sustainable, competitive, well-supported pro women’s league. There had been attempts before, but none seemed to have the right combination of the requisite upfront investment, the corporate buy-in, and the marketing know-how to allow these nascent leagues to reach critical mass. But the PWHL felt different. Now nearly two full seasons on, what have we learned?
For one thing, the league can put fans in seats. After averaging almost 5,700 fans per game across 85 regular season and playoff games last season, the league averaged over 7,400 fans per game over the first 70 games this season. In addition, the league has set the global attendance record for a women’s hockey game (21,105 at the Bell Centre on April 20, 2024), as well as the highest attended women’s professional hockey game in the U.S., at 14,288 on Sunday, March 16, breaking the previous record of 14,018 set in Denver two months prior.
Now, it feels as though expansion is likely to be announced soon. The league will likely add two teams, possibly as early as next season. We will have to see what direction the PWHL wants to go, but in two years they have certainly demonstrated that there is an appetite across the continent for professional women’s hockey. There has been a lot of chatter about the league heading west. In fact, on April 21, the league may have tipped their hand, following the online PWHL store containing a section dedicated to franchises in Vancouver and Seattle (teams that have not been announced yet). This would make sense, as both are proven hockey markets, and it would make little sense to have only one team out on the west coast from a travel and logistics perspective.
While we’re on the topic of Seattle, one other “women in hockey” story that we feel strongly is deserving of recognition is the success of Jessica Campbell. She just completed her first season behind the bench as an assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken. This is the first time a woman has held a full-time job as an assistant coach for an NHL team. Despite Kraken letting go of head coach Dan Bylsma after the season, it was announced that Campbell would be retained by the team—a strong vote of confidence in the 32-year-old.
Finally, we at SkateGuard wanted to give a shout-out to the women’s game—particularly the PWHL—for what we think are some excellent decisions regarding the on-ice product. They have implemented a couple of rule changes that we believe have been a huge net positive. The first is allowing body contact. Hockey isn’t the same without the ability to use your body to separate a player from the puck, and the PWHL has now demonstrated that there’s no reason why the women’s game can’t incorporate physicality the same way the men’s game does. Secondly, the league has not been afraid to implement innovative new rules to improve the product. Three that we feel should be adopted across all levels of hockey immediately:
- The “jailbreak” rule. Simple: if your team scores a shorthanded goal, the player in the penalty box gets out.
- The 3-2-1-0 points system. Three points for a win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an OT or shootout loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.
- For leagues with a draft, the “Gold Plan” rule. The team that accrues the MOST points AFTER being eliminated from playoff contention gets the first overall pick. Keep these eliminated teams playing for something!
Overall, it has been a big two years for women’s hockey. We look forward to watching the sport continue to grow, and given that the attendance record for the women’s world hockey championship was just set at the 2025 tournament hosted in Czechia, it shows how the sport is continuing to gain popularity in North America and around the world. Exciting times!
