The PWHL is causing a huge buzz across the hockey community as they begin their inaugural season. Six teams have taken their respective cities by storm, breaking attendance records again and again, and creating a new generation of superstar female athletes, all while inspiring the next. Let’s take a look at the league, its teams, and its rules to get the low down on the newest players taking the ice.
When did the PWHL form?
The PWHL was announced in August 2023 after its predecessor, the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), ceased operations after eight seasons when the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA), the PHF’s union, decided to enter a partnership with the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises with the intent to launch a new professional women’s league. The league began with teams in six cities– three in the United States and three in Canada. Boston, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, and Toronto are the inaugural cities for the league, with hopes of expansion in the future.
The league’s first game was played on January 1st, 2024 between Toronto and New York and was nationally televised in Canada and streamed internationally on YouTube. It is estimated that 2.9 million people tuned in throughout Canada alone, beating that day’s broadcast of the NHL’s Winter Classic.
Where did PWHL players come from? How much are PWHL players paid?
Many of the current PWHL players were picked up from the PWHPA during the league’s ten-day free agency period over the summer. Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner, and Emerence Maschmeyer were the first players to join the league when they signed with Ottawa. Other players, such as Sarah Nurse and Erin Ambrose, were signed during free agency. The PWHL also hosted a draft in September, with Minnesota making the first pick and University of Minnesota forward Taylor Heise making history as the league’s first drafted player. Overall, 90 players were drafted out of the eligible pool of 286.
The PWHL’s Players’ Association entered a collective bargaining agreement over the players’ salaries. It was agreed that teams 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 achieving an average salary of $55,000.
What are the rules and format for the PWHL? Do they differ from other leagues?
The Rules
The PWHL’s rules of play are fairly similar to leagues like the NHL but with a few notable differences. For example, the league tallies team points on a 3-2-1 system rather than the NHL’s 2-1 system. This means that when a team wins in regulation, they receive three points toward their season total. If they win in overtime or shootout, they earn two points. If they lose in overtime or shootout, they receive only one point. A regulation loss earns nothing for the team. Comparatively, in the NHL, a team earns two points for a regulation win and one point if they go to overtime, regardless of whether or not they win.
Another difference to note is an additional way that a player who took a two-minute minor penalty can be freed from the penalty box before their time expires. In both the PWHL and NHL, the penalty will end if the opposing team scores on a Power Play. However, in the PWHL, a team scoring a shorthanded goal can also free their player from the sin bin early, almost like a jailbreak. It is also important to note that in a shootout, any player can shoot at any time, including taking multiple attempts.
The Season Format
The 2024 season will consist of 24 games, and the league plans to extend that to 32 games in the 2024-2025 season. The regular season will run until May, with a midseason break in April for the IIHF Women’s World Championships, as many PWHL players will also be representing their home countries in international play. At the end of the regular season, the four teams with the highest point totals will compete in playoffs, which consist of two semifinals and one final best-of-five series.
What else do I need to know?
What are the team names?
The six PWHL franchises do not yet have team names or logos, but rather go by their founding city, such as “PWHL New York”. However, they do have signature colors– dark green for Boston, purple for Minneapolis, maroon for Montreal, sea foam green for New York City, red for Ottawa, and light blue for Toronto. The teams are expected to be fully named and branded at the conclusion of this season.
Where do the teams play?
Two teams share their home arena with an NHL team: Minnesota plays all their home games at the Minnesota Wild’s Xcel Energy Center, and New York plays a handful of their home games at the New York Islanders’ UBS Arena, but they also share Total Mortgage Arena with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. Montreal also splits its home games between two venues, the Verdun Auditorium and Place Bell, home of the AHL’s Laval Rocket. Boston plays at the Tsongas Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Ottawa plays at TD Place Arena, and Toronto plays at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Where can I watch PWHL games?
In Canada, the league is available nationally on TSN, Sportsnet, and CBC. In the United States, games can be regionally watched on Bally Sports, NESN, SportsNet Pittsburgh, and MSG Network. Additionally, all games are streamed on the PWHL’s YouTube channel, making them easily accessible worldwide. For continued updates on the PWHL, keep an eye on their social media channels as well as thepwhl.com.
