PWHL
Breaking the ice: the new women's hockey league
Kelsey Phillip '25
Design Editor
When you think of hockey, most people think of Wayne Gretzky - with four Stanley Cup wins, or the LA Kings or Big Time Rush before they became a band, but have you ever thought to associate the sport with women? Well now you can, with the introduction of the PWHL, Professional Women’s Hockey League.
This is not the first women’s hockey league to be created, but it is a reincarnation of the first to actually pay its players. In 2007, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League was established and featured seven teams across Canada with players from both America and Canada. Players did not receive any money or healthcare benefits from being in the league, so many women were unable to support themselves.
In 2015, the Professional Hockey League was started and promised to pay each player $10,000, which is nowhere near the $13 million that is given to male players, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. This prompted the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, which featured 200 players who declared their refusal to participate in any North American Hockey Leagues unless they received the proper resources needed to play hockey. The same PWHPA will be the players union for the new PWHL and players now have salaries between $35,000 to $80,000.
The new league is growing in popularity and features three American teams: PWHL Boston, Minnesota, New York and three Canadian teams, including Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Though the teams do not currently have names, trademarks were issued for the Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, New York Sound, Montreal Echo, Toronto Torch and Ottawa Alert. These names are not being used for the current season and the teams have decided to remain without names or logos for its first season since there was a rush to get the league started.
The first game of the league was between New York and Toronto, with defender Ella Shelton, of PWHL New York, scoring the league's first of many goals. PWHL New York went on to win the game 4-0 with a shutout from goalie Corinne Schroeder with 29 saves.
The #1 overall draft pick, Taylor Heise for Minnesota, was the first scorer for the team in their game against Boston at three minutes and fifty-eight seconds in the first period. Minnesota went on to win the game, ending in a score of 3-2 with Sophia Kunin and Grace Zumwinkle scoring the other goals for Minnisota, and Theresa Schafzahl and Megan Keller scoring the goals for Boston.
The season will run until May, so perhaps tune into a game on the league’s streaming home, Youtube - channel “thepwhloffical.” Hopefully there will be some team names and logos for next season, and a return of the Boston Wicked. Though there are no current talks of expansion, but maybe some time in the near future L.A. can add a set of Queens to their list of teams.