The inaugural season of the Professional Women's Hockey League has set one attendance record after another while putting the sport on the map across North America outside the Olympics.
FILE - New York’s Abby Roque is congratulated for her goal against Montreal during the second period of a PWHL hockey game Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Bridgeport, Conn. The inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League has set one attendance record after another while putting the sport on the map across North America. FILE - Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell, left, celebrates with teammates after their overtime win against Toronto in a PWHL hockey game Tuesday, Feb.
That success is still in its infancy, though the first four-plus months of the PWHL has raised expectations of how fast and how much it can grow beyond the current six-team structure based in Boston, New York, Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. A total of 392,259 fans attended games during the regular season at venues that included various NHL rinks and highlighted by aTelevision broadcasts nationally in Canada and regionally in the U.S.
“You’ve got the kind of barrier of overcoming just the sort of marginalization of hockey in American culture and then on top of that added in this additional layer of the marginalization of women’s sports in American culture,” said Cheryl Cooky, professor of women’s gender and sexuality studies at Purdue University. “Adding those together, it creates this sort of double jeopardy for women’s hockey.
“These kinds of role models that show women that they can be fierce, serious athletes, I can’t think of anything better,” Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said. “The strength of the fan support speaks to the fact that there was something missing, that there was something that was needed.”
The PWHL has deals with companies running the gamut from equipment manufacturers like Bauer and CCM to Canadian Tire, Molson, Tim Hortons and Barbie. More agreements are coming soon, as is eventual expansion, though that will have to wait, as will increased salaries for players and other modifications.
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