PWHL Preview: What's in store for season two of the Professional Women's Hockey League

First the bad news.

The all-time attendance record for a women's hockey game – set on April 21, 2024 when 21,105 fans attended a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) game between Toronto and Montreal – is unlikely to be broken this upcoming season.

“The 21,000 at Bell Center [in Montreal] won't break until we do an outdoor play,” said Amy Scheer, senior vice president of operations for the PWHL. “Because that's the largest venue in North America.”

For the PWHL — which had one of the most successful inaugural season launches in recent history, including winning “Breakthrough of the Year” by Sports Business Journal — the bad news is also pretty good news. They can't set more attendance records for indoor hockey because bigger venues don't exist.

Although the league, which is backed by Mark Walter and Billie Jean King, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will not play outdoor games this season, it will host nine regular-season games at neutral sites in the United States and Canada. The competitions, also called the Takeover Tour, will be held in three cities in Canada that currently have no teams, and six in the United States, including Raleigh, Buffalo and Detroit. The cities will help introduce more fans to PWHL hockey and provide the league with crucial information for testing potential markets for future expansion.

“We're only in six markets and we need to continue to grow our audience. We need to make sure people can see our product live,” Scheer said in an interview in Toronto, where the league has seen breakneck growth. “There is a large group of fans who watch and engage with our sport.”

Building on last year's wins is the name of the game in the PWHL's second season, which will feature an expanded 30-game regular season for six teams. There has also been an influx of international talent, which should improve the quality of play across the league. The biggest changes this year are both the names on the jerseys and the jerseys themselves. In just eight months, the league created six new names and brand identities for its franchises: the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.

While the league declined to share specific jersey sales figures, Scheer said the week of the team name announcement was the highest sales week in the new league's history.

The PWHL is also looking to capitalize on the momentum in women's sports. Scheer, a former New York Liberty executive, said the WNBA's unprecedented growth this past season could help lift all boats, including its league.

“It's beyond exciting for me… there's definitely a tailwind that I think we're all riding with, and it's important to be ready for that moment, to be ready for that tailwind and to drive it as long as possible. “

So that's off the ice – and the arrows point to the PWHL – but what can fans expect on the ice this coming season? We went around the horn with the league's GMs and head coaches to find out.

Boston Fleet

2023/24 record (8-4-3-9, 3rd)

The Boston Fleet, which plays home games in Lowell, Mass., finished third in the standings last season and defeated Montreal in the playoffs to advance to the finals. Boston lost in five games to Minnesota, which won the league's first championship, the Walter Cup.

The team is led by U.S. women's national team members Hilary Knight, Megan Keller and goalkeeper Aerin Frankel. The 35-year-old Knight, who recently recovered from a lower-body injury, is ready to roll this season and the Fleet will look to get their offense back on track. Boston scored just 60 goals last season, last in the league.

“This season, Boston fans can look forward to an exciting and dynamic brand of hockey,” said Fleet GM Danielle Marmer. “Last year's rule change, which encourages a more physical game, is not just something we have adapted to – it has become part of our identity and represents what it means to play Fleet hockey. Now that our core players have a year of experience together, we will see stronger team chemistry and a deeper commitment to winning habits. This allows us to play punishing defense while excelling in a fast-paced transition game.”

Minnesota Monarch

2023/24 record (8-4-3-9, 4th)

It was a strong first year for the PWHL, and the Minnesota Frost made it memorable by winning the first Walter Cup. However, they followed up the championship with a change at GM, announcing that Natalie Darwitz would not return this season. Melissa Caruso is now the team's general manager.

USWNT captain Kendall Coyne Schofield anchors this squad, which turned things around in the playoffs after losing the last five games of the regular season. Former NHL player and Frost head coach Ken Klee told ESPN that the Frost will have a “target on your back” mentality this season as reigning champions. “But it's also a sense of pride, of achievement. It's incredibly difficult to win a professional sports championship. So we have that, but it's also a new year, a new season – we have to be ready to compete .” We know every game will be exciting, and we're excited about it.”

Victory in Montreal

2023/24 record (10-3-5-6, 2nd)

It has been a season of adapting to changes for all PWHL teams, including the Montreal Victoire. Head coach Kori Cheverie, who quickly learned French to communicate with the press, recently told reporters she was adapting to a new league initiative called the “No Escape Rule” for penalty killings. The rule prevents the penalized team from making substitutions until play has resumed, giving the power play team an advantage.

The team from Montreal is led by captain Marie-Philip Poulin, also known as Captain Clutch. She is perhaps best known for scoring the winning goal in the gold medal matches at three of the four Olympic Games in which she competed. General Manager Danile Sauvageau told ESPN that she expects “the influx of new talent from the draft and Europe will make the caliber [of players] so much better. Add to that the exponential interest from fans ready for season two, and it should make for a memorable season.”

Montreal already has what can be described as a rabid fan base and will play a neutral-site match in hockey-mad Quebec City.

Sirens from New York

2023/24 record (5-4-3-12, 6th)

There's no choice but to root for the New York Sirens, who started off strong last season with a four-game win streak but faltered, finishing the season at the bottom of the standings and being selected first in the 2024 PWHL draft .The Sirens have a new head coach and just signed first overall draft pick Sarah Fillier (Princeton) to a one-year player contract. Fillier won gold with Canada in 2022 and has represented the country at the last four IIHF Women's World Championships, winning three gold medals and one silver.

“In addition to the incredible individual talent we have at every position,” said Sirens GM Pascal Daoust, “we want our hunger for puck possession, our dedication to taking care of the puck and our ability to impose our speed and physicality to bring New York.

Ottawa charge

Season 2023-24 (8-1-6-9 5th)

Fun Fact: The Ottawa Charge features a pair of rookies – forward and second overall draft pick Danielle Serdachny and defenseman Stephanie Markowski – who have been best friends since grade school and played together on the 2019 Team Alberta team that won gold at the Canadian winter games.

Ottawa ended the season with a loss to Toronto, eliminating them from the playoffs. This year, head coach Carla MacLeod wants her team to be a stronger opponent on the ice.

“We want to raise the level of competition. We have to become harder to play against. Last year we conceded too many goals. We want to make sure we become the team we say we are. We want to show it. It will be a being part of the competition in training camp. It's one thing to embrace the competition. Sometimes it's harder to have a teammate against you. You have to realize that this will improve us at times when the competition will be strong.

Scepters of Toronto

Season 2023-24 (13-4-0-7 1st)

Toronto was the first team to clinch a playoff spot last season and finished the regular season atop the standings. The PWHL allows the first-ranked player to choose their semifinal opponent, and Toronto chose Minnesota. As it turned out, they made a poor choice and lost to the eventual Walter Cup champions in five games. The Toronto team is dominated by Canadian national team members, including Sarah Nurse, Renata Fast, Blayre Turnbull and Natalie Spooner, who won the league's MVP in the inaugural season.

General Manager Gina Kingsburg said: “Season 2 of the PWHL will undoubtedly deliver a higher level of play than Season 1, with every team in the league improving significantly on paper, and I believe there will be great parity between the six teams. We expect our team to be one of the toughest teams to play against in the league; we expect to play a collective team game and play the game at a high pace and pace day in and day out to compete consistently.”