For years women have been waiting for their chance to show off their hockey skills on the pro stage. The World Junior tournament is no longer the highest level of competition the girls can reach in hockey. As of January 2024, they can now play at a professional level.
The inaugural season for the Professional Women’s Hockey League is underway and is not disappointing, with six teams in the first season, it’s similar to the NHL. Teams include Minnesota, Montreal, Boston, New York, Ottawa and Toronto.
“Today is the day we look ahead to a phenomenal future for women’s hockey. Today, our sport begins a new journey, and we’re incredibly proud to have you with us,” chairperson for the PWHL, Jeya Hefford said.
The teams in the PWHL don’t have team names, they are called by only their locations. This is because the league wanted to start as quickly as possible. This is also the reason for the minimalist jersey designs. All teams have the same design just with different colors.
“The Professional Women’s Hockey League was officially introduced today with a foundational announcement naming its six markets across Canada and the United States,” PWHL Director of Communications Paul Krotz said.
With all the details of the teams set, the only thing missing is the players. With there being no players in the league they can’t do an expansion draft like the NHL does when there is a new team. They have to start by signing any free agents.
Free agency was Sept. 1-10 2023. In this time any team can offer any eligible player a contract. Fans typically see big stars going to teams close to home like Hillary Knight signing with New York.
“I really like how they did it. It gave the big stars a choice of where they wanted to go so they could stay close to home and stay with family.” freshman hockey player Eliza Caldwell said. Once free agency was over, the PWHL held its first draft. This draft is not like other professional sport drafts. There was no guarantee for which position a team would be drafting in like there is in the NFL. There is a draft lottery like there is in the NHL and NBA but since there are only six teams and no season prior every team has an equal chance to receive the No. 1 overall pick. The draft is also set in a snake drafting style, after the first round of picks is done the order is reversed.
“Minnesota has been awarded the first overall pick, followed by Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa, and Montreal.” according to the PWHL official website.
Each team has played close to eight games with Minnesota leading the way in the standings with eight games played and three wins, one loss and two overtime losses. Toronto is at the bottom with only two wins and five losses.
“It’s really fun to watch and cool to see all these girls playing professionally.” senior Micheal Dorwaldt said.
The PWHL has only had positive feedback from fans and is selling out arenas and breaking all sorts of records. It has given young girls everywhere a chance to see what they can do at the professional level.
