NEW YORK AND TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) continued its record-setting start to January with the largest weekend attendance in league history with 47,858 fans across three Saturday and Sunday games. The 2025-26 schedule has reached the 50-game mark with a full slate of seven games on deck this week, including the 10th stop of the PWHL Takeover Tour™ on Sunday in Denver.
PWHL SETS RECORDS FOR U.S. AND WEEKEND ATTENDANCE
A record crowd of 17,228 fans filled Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. on Sunday afternoon, representing the highest-attended in-arena game in U.S. women’s hockey history and the fourth highest attendance for a Takeover Tour™ game all time. The PWHL’s new benchmark for weekend attendance of 47,858 also included Saturday’s crowd of 17,856 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena for the third annual Battle on Bay Street presented by Scotiabank, and Sunday’s crowd of 12,774 at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. The previous weekend record of 45,382 fans was set across four games Dec. 27-28. Through 50 games of the 2025-26 PWHL season, total attendance is 440,338, with a per game average of 8,807.
DREAM DEBUT IN THE DISTRICT
The second half of the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour™ launched on Sunday with the league’s debut in Washington, D.C. The ninth stop, presented by BJ’s Wholesale Club, featured a battle between the Montréal Victoire and the New York Sirens who came out on top by a 2-1 score. In addition to the record U.S. crowd at Capital One Arena, trip highlights included open practices and autograph sessions for fans and two youth hockey clinics. Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin and forward Catherine Dubois met and swapped jerseys with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Poulin later performed the ceremonial puck drop prior to Saturday night’s Capitals game alongside teammate Hayley Scamurra, who has ties to the D.C. area, and Sirens alternate captain Jaime Bourbonnais and teammate Kayla Vespa, a lifelong Caps fan. Scamurra represented her D.C. roots for walk-ins wearing her father Peter’s old Capitals jersey, while a number of players celebrated Washington’s professional sports scene wearing Commanders, DC United and Mystics jerseys. Click here for more.
PWHL RETURNING TO DENVER
Next Sunday marks the 10th stop of the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour™ for a matchup between the league’s expansion Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes at Denver’s Ball Arena, presented by Woody Creek Distillers. Both teams will hold open practices at the Family Sports Center on Saturday, with autograph sessions for the first 50 fans to follow. Members of the Goldeneyes will also join local youth on the ice for a Grassroots Clinic. In the PWHL’s first-ever game in the Mile High City last season, the Minnesota Frost defeated Montréal 4-2 on Jan. 12, 2025, before a crowd of 14,018, which at the time set a U.S. professional women’s hockey attendance record. See the full Takeover Tour™ schedule and all public events here.
MSG MOMENTUM
One of the most highly anticipated games of the PWHL season may still be 75 days away, but momentum is building for the Sirens’ debut at Madison Square Garden, The World’s Most Famous Arena, on Apr. 4 against the Torrent. The announcement was first made live on Good Day New York and since then the Sirens have been to a New York Rangers game and performed the Closing Bell Ceremony at the Nasdaq Exchange as part of their promotional tour. The Sirens’ welcoming and inclusive culture was also a recent feature in the New York Post with a ‘Beyond the Boards’ piece written by Vanessa Wheeler.
FRANKEL BACKSTOPS FLEET TO TWO WINS
Boston’s Aerin Frankel posted two wins with a 0.96 goals-against-average and a .966 save percentage to be named PWHL Player of the Week presented by SharkNinja. The 26-year-old from Chappaqua, NY, made 21 saves in the Fleet’s 2-1 win over the Sceptres on Wednesday, then stopped a season-high 35 shots, plus all five shootout attempts, in a 2-1 triumph over the Torrent on Sunday. Frankel has allowed just one goal against in four straight games and has surrendered one or fewer goals in nine of her 12 starts this season, more than doubling the four such games she had in 2024-25. The soon-to-be first-time U.S. Olympian leads the league with eight wins, is tied for the lead with three shutouts, holds a league-low 1.23 GAA and is tied with a league-high .950 SV% among goaltenders with multiple games this season. See PWHL goaltending leaders here.
SIRENS POINT STREAK EXTENDS TO SIX
The Fleet (8-1-2-2) remain in first place in the PWHL standings with 28 points, while the Sirens (7-0-1-5) stand alone in second place with 22 points and continue to be the league’s hottest team, riding a club record six-game points streak that includes five regulation wins and an overtime loss. The Frost (5-2-2-3) snapped New York’s four-game winning streak and sit in third place with 21 points, just two ahead of the Victoire (5-2-0-5) with 19 points after seeing their three-game streak come to an end against the Sirens. The Sceptres (4-1-3-5) picked up two points with an overtime win over Vancouver and are tied with the Charge (3-4-0-6) in fifth place with 17 points after Ottawa’s record six-game win streak ended in Montréal. Both the Torrent (3-1-2-5) and Goldeneyes (3-1-2-7) picked up a point in losses beyond regulation and are tied in seventh place with 13 points each. See full PWHL standings here.
ONE-GOAL GAME STREAKS
All six games in last week’s PWHL schedule were decided by one goal, including two in overtime and one in a shootout. Additionally, the first nine games of the PWHL Takeover Tour™ have been one-goal results, including two in overtime and three in shootouts. Through 50 games of the regular season there have been 26 one-goal games (52%), with 12 extending beyond regulation (24%), including seven games ending in overtime (14%) and five in shootouts (10%). Last season, 25 of the league’s first 50 games were decided by one goal, including 15 beyond regulation (eight overtime, seven shootouts). Montréal (8) and Toronto (8) have played in the most one-goal games this season, including a streak of seven straight for the Victoire. Seattle (7) is next followed by Boston (6), New York (6), Ottawa (6) and Vancouver (6), with the Fleet playing in six straight after opening the season with seven multi-goal margins. Minnesota (5) has played the fewest one-goal games but are tied with Ottawa and Toronto with four overtime/shootout games. Follow all PWHL results here.
OTTAWA AND VANCOUVER COMPLETE SIX-PLAYER TRADE
The Charge and Goldeneyes completed a trade Sunday involving six players with each team acquiring three players in the deal. Ottawa acquired forwards Michela Cava and Brooke McQuigge along with defender Emma Greco from Vancouver in exchange for forwards Mannon McMahon, Anna Meixner and Anna Shokhina. This marks the biggest trade in PWHL history by way of the number of players involved, and the first trade since regular-season games began on Nov. 21. The PWHL trade deadline is March 30. Click here for more.
WELCOME BACK NURSE
Vancouver got a boost in their lineup with the return of forward Sarah Nurse ahead of Saturday’s game in Toronto against her former team. The Goldeneyes alternate captain had been on LTIR with an upper-body injury sustained in the team’s inaugural home opener on Nov. 21. One of 23 PWHL players named to Canada’s Olympic roster, Nurse scored the team’s first-ever goal in the opener and made it a two-game goal streak with a tally at Scotiabank Arena.
MÜLLER BECOMES BOSTON’S ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER
Alina Müller scored a goal and an assist on Wednesday to become Boston’s all-time leading scorer with 42 points (14G, 28A), surpassing the mark previously held by Torrent captain Hilary Knight who had 40 points (21G, 19A) during her two-year tenure as Fleet captain. In Toronto, Renata Fast has 38 career points (9G, 29A) and is tied for the most by a Sceptre all-time with Hannah Miller (17G, 21A) who led the team through two seasons before signing with the Goldeneyes. Natalie Spooner (25G, 12A) and Nurse (17G, 20A) are tied with 37 all-time points with Toronto, followed by Daryl Watts with 36 (18G, 18A) after her overtime heroics at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday. Sarah Fillier is also closing in on New York’s all-time mark with 36 points (14G, 22A), seven back of Torrent alternate captain Alex Carpenter who recorded 43 points (19G, 24A) in her time with the Sirens. See PWHL all-time leaders here.
FOUR FROST AMONG TOP SIX SCORERS
Six players have 12 or more points in the PWHL and four of them are on the Frost. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield leads the league with nine goals and has 14 points in 12 games alongside teammate Britta Curl-Salemme (5G, 9A). Taylor Heise has six points in her last three games and a league-high 10 assists as part of her 12 points, tied with Frost alternate captain Kelly Pannek (5G, 7A) through 12 games. Poulin (5G, 7A) has 12 points in 12 games and Charge captain Brianne Jenner (7G, 5A) has 12 points in 13 games. Fleet captain Megan Keller leads all defenders with five goals and 11 points in 13 games, and all skaters with four power play goals. First overall pick Kristýna Kaltounková (8G) and third overall pick Casey O’Brien (4G, 4A) lead all rookies with eight points in 13 games. See this season’s PWHL leaders here.
CHERKOWSKI SCORES FIRST CAREER GOAL
Sirens second-round pick Anne Cherkowski produced the winning tally in Sunday’s contest in Washington, D.C. for her first career PWHL goal in her 13th career game. The Clarkson University graduate is the sixth Sirens rookie to score a goal this season, the most among all rookie classes across the PWHL. There have been 93 different goal scorers this PWHL season including 20 rookies. See this season’s PWHL rookie leaders here.
U.S. WINS GOLD AT U18 WOMEN’S WORLDS
The United States won its 10th gold medal at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, defeating Canada 2-0 on Sunday in Cape Breton, NS. The Americans never trailed throughout the tournament and never had a tie game besides 0-0 scores at puck drop. Jane Daley of Medfield, MA, was named MVP with a single-tournament record of 12 goals, finishing her six games with 17 points. Czechia picked up a medal for the third straight year, beating Sweden 4-3 for bronze, and Slovakia’s Nela Lopusanova tied Coyne Schofield’s all-time tournament records with 22 goals and 33 points. A total of 115 current PWHL players have competed in the event, including 33 gold medal winners with Team USA. Among them, Heise (2016-18) and Torrent defender Cayla Barnes (2015-17) each won three consecutive golds. Click here for more about the event.
WOMEN’S BEANPOT CHAMPIONSHIP ON TUESDAY
The 47th Women’s Beanpot Championship will be decided on Tuesday night at TD Garden between Boston University and Harvard. One of the most renowned titles in NCAA women’s hockey has been celebrated by 21 current PWHL players since 2012. The last time the Terriers and Crimson met in the final was 2019 with Toronto’s Jesse Compher and Seattle’s Corinne Schroeder emerging victorious for BU. Past Harvard winners include Boston’s Mia Biotti, Toronto’s Kristin Della Rovere and Minnesota’s Dominique Petrie in 2022, and Vancouver’s Emerance Maschmeyer in 2015. Last season, Montréal third-round pick Skylar Irving won a third straight Beanpot title with a goal and an assist in a 4-0 Northeastern win over Boston University. Click here to learn more.
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE
PWHL action resumes with a Tuesday double header featuring the first two bobblehead giveaways of the season. In New York, the first 2,000 fans will receive a Micah Zandee-Hart bobblehead when the Sirens host the Charge at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. ET, then the first 6,000 fans in Seattle can get their hands on a Carly Jackson bobblehead when the Torrent host the Sceptres at 10 p.m. ET, all while supplies last. Wednesday night it’s the Frost’s Black History Celebration when they host the Victoire at Grand Casino Arena at 7 p.m. ET. The Goldeneyes will host their first Lunar New Year Celebration on Thursday when the Sceptres make their first visit to Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum at 10 p.m. ET. On Saturday, it’s the Victoire’s Kids and Youth Hockey Day at 2 p.m. ET when they take on the Charge at Place Bell, followed by Hockey Day Weekend in Minnesota on Sunday when the Frost host the Sirens at 2 p.m. ET and the PWHL Takeover Tour at Denver’s Ball Arena between the Goldeneyes and Torrent at 6 p.m. ET. Full broadcast details are below and available online here.
Tuesday, January 20 – 7 PM ET
Ottawa Charge at New York Sirens (Prudential Center)
- Canada: Prime Video
- U.S. (In-Market): MSGSN
- U.S. (Out of Market): FOX 11+ Los Angeles
Tuesday, January 20 – 10 PM ET
Toronto Sceptres at Seattle Torrent (Climate Pledge Arena)
- Canada: Prime Video
- U.S. (In-Market): FOX 13+
- U.S. (Out of Market): Last Frontier Sports & Entertainment Network (Alaska), NESN+ (Boston), SNP (Pittsburgh)
Wednesday, January 21 – 7 PM ET
Montréal Victoire at Minnesota Frost (Grand Casino Arena)
- Canada: TSN and RDS
- U.S. (In-Market): FanDuel Sports Network North, FOX 9+
- U.S. (Out of Market): FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin Extra, Great Lakes Sports & Entertainment Network, Last Frontier Sports & Entertainment Network (Alaska), NESN (Boston), Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network, Rock Entertainment Sports Network, Scripps Sports, SNP+ (Pittsburgh), South Texas Sports, Tennessee Valley Sports Network (Huntsville only)
Thursday, January 22 – 10 PM ET
Toronto Sceptres at Vancouver Goldeneyes (Pacific Coliseum)
- Canada: Sportsnet (East, Ontario, Pacific)
- U.S. (Out of Market): NESN+ (Boston), SNP+ (Pittsburgh)
Saturday, January 24 – 2 PM ET
Ottawa Charge at Montréal Victoire (Place Bell)
- Canada: CBC and CBC Gem, Radio-Canada
- U.S. (Out of Market): FanDuel Sports Network (Detroit, Florida, Midwest, North Extra, Ohio, Southeast, Southwest, West, Wisconsin)
Sunday, January 25 – 2 PM ET
New York Sirens at Minnesota Frost (Grand Casino Arena)
- Canada: Sportsnet
- U.S. (In-Market): FanDuel Sports Network North, FOX 9+, MSG
- U.S. (Out of Market): FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin Extra, FOX 10 Xtra Phoenix, Matrix Midwest (St. Louis), NESN (Boston), SNP+ (Pittsburgh)
Sunday, January 25 – 6 PM ET – PWHL Takeover Tour
Vancouver Goldeneyes vs. Seattle Torrent (Ball Arena – Denver, CO)
- Canada: CBC and CBC Gem
- U.S. (In-Market): KTVD 20 Denver, FOX 13+
- U.S. (Out of Market): Last Frontier Sports & Entertainment Network (Alaska), NESN (Boston), SNP+ (Pittsburgh)
You must be logged in to post a comment.