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Bodychecking and sold-out crowds: PWHL making women's hockey history

Ben Steiner
Ben Steiner
|
Jan 4 2024, 7:49 pm
Bodychecking and sold-out crowds: PWHL making women's hockey history
A record-breaking crowd in Ottawa to watch professional women's hockey (Richard Coffey)

There has never quite been a league like the PWHL, which launched earlier this week.

For the first time, the world’s best women’s hockey players, including many from Team Canada and Team USA, are all playing in a single league and being paid full-time salaries. 

With teams in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, New York, and Minnesota, the Professional Women’s Hockey League is starting with proximity but has already captured national eyes, with hundreds of thousands tuning into the game broadcasts featuring sold-out buildings in Toronto and Ottawa. 

Every team will play 24 games before the top-four make the playoffs, which feature best-of-five series in the semi-finals and final.

Here are seven fun facts about the PWHL.

1. Some bodychecking is allowed

The Olympics and World Championships are great, but seeing Emma Maltais throw body checks in Toronto’s opening game against New York City might just be a bit better.

Although women’s hockey has always been a physical game, bodychecking has never been allowed in North America. Sweden’s SDHL tried it first, but the world’s best players don’t play there.

In the PWHL, bodychecking is allowed if two players have a clear intention of playing the puck, but the definitions surrounding using the boards to eliminate a player from the play are grey at best. 

The referees have been lenient in the opening games, allowing physical play never seen before in women’s hockey. 

“These referees, they’ve been letting us play physical, and that’s a big part of our game,” Maltais said after Toronto’s opening 4-0 loss to New York. “I’m gonna try and bring that energy every shift I can… It got the crowd going, and I hope it got my teammates going as well.”

2. Interesting rule changes from NHL game

While the PWHL copied much of the NHL rulebook and uses officials who primarily work in the AHL, some rules differ from most other leagues.

If a shorthanded team scores on the penalty kill, their penalized player gets to leave the box, and they go back to even strength. In essence, a true “penalty kill” and a way to encourage more offence rather than simply icing the puck. 

In the preseason, the PWHL experimented with no shorthanded icing and fully-served two-minute penalties but did not introduce those to regular season play. 

Another difference is the scoring system, which rewards winning in regulation. 

If a team wins in regulation, they earn three points. Should they win in overtime or a shootout, they earn just two. Like the NHL, teams that push the game beyond regulation earn one point in a loss.

In the five-round shootout, a single player can shoot as many times if their team opts to continue sending them out, differing from both the NHL and international hockey. 

3. No second jobs and ticket sales are flying

pwhl fans

Richard Coffey

It wasn’t long ago that familiar Olympic stars had to have second jobs, with teams struggling to sell tickets.

When playing for the Boston Blades in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, Team USA star Hillary Knight would create comic strips to post on X, hoping to draw more people to purchase tickets. Other players, such as Mikyla Grant Mentis, who played for the Toronto Six in the Premier Hockey Federation, spent time as a delivery driver while also starring in the league.

Now, Toronto has sold out every home game; Ottawa set a pro women’s hockey attendance record at their opener, and ticket sales are booming in Montreal. For the US teams, Minnesota’s home rink is the Wilds’ Xcel Energy Center, and the New York team will play a set of games at the Islanders’ UBS Arena.

The average salary in the league is US$55,000, with top players making $80,000 before bonuses. With the backing of the Mark Walter Group, the same group that owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, there are consistent funds — and a collective bargaining agreement, two factors not seen in previous leagues.

4. There aren’t team names, but some are registered

pwhl montreal goal

Richard Coffey

In the rush to build the league from scratch and drop the puck all within seven months, the PWHL did not get to brand the teams with logos or names before the January 1 opening day. 

They could have rushed it, but they didn’t want to make a mistake.

Although teams are simply known by the league and their city names at the moment, PWHL Holdings LLC registered six team names. However, the trademark applications don’t necessarily mean these will ultimately be the names the league chooses.

  • Toronto Torch
  • Ottawa Alert
  • Montreal Echo
  • New York Sound
  • Minnesota Superior
  • Boston Wicked

5. PWHL Montreal has the women’s hockey power couple

They’ve played for years together with Team Canada and through other iterations of pro women’s hockey, but PWHL Montreal’s top line features the best power couple in hockey — Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey. 

After Stacey scored in Montreal’s 3-2 win over Ottawa to open their season, her first hug was with Poulin. The couple got engaged in May when Stacey asked Poulin the big question. 

Olympic champions, they also have played together in six world championships, earning two gold medals, three silver, and a bronze. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Marie-Philip Poulin (@pou29)

Stacey’s goal also sparked one of the best X responses in a long time. 

6. National TV rights deals

While fans tune into women’s hockey for the Olympics and World Championships, and the FIFA Women’s World Cup highlighted some of the top Google searches in Canada in 2023, women’s sport has never been this easy to watch. 

Every regular season game is available for free on YouTube, with select games on CBC, Sportsnet, and TSN, in rights-sharing deals seldom seen since the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Unlike the NHL, the league also has no local blackouts. 

7. Support from familiar NHL faces 

Often thought to be the persona of the “old hockey men” moniker, the man who brought Hernik and Daniel Sedin to the Vancouver Canucks is one of the pillars of the new league. 

Brian Burke, who has consistently supported women’s hockey throughout his executive career, is the executive director of the PWHL Players’ Association and has been critical in bringing never-before-seen professionalism to representation and collective bargaining. 

The 68-year-old also helped announce several draft selections at the inaugural PWHL Draft.

“We look forward to growing this league together; it’s an exciting time,” he said. “They’ve given us a chance here, the ownership group, to pave the way for success, and now we have to drive that one home.”

During the first game of the PWHL season, a 4-0 New York win over Toronto, Angela Price, the wife of former Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price, posted a photo of watching the game with their family.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Angela Price (@byangelaprice)

Meanwhile, Mitch Marner, John  Tavares, Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews and several other NHL players took photos wearing PWHL merchandise and wishing their best to the league. 

Boston Bruins legend Patrice Bergeron helped announce the PWHL Boston captains and attended their first game, and Toronto Marlies player Max Ellis said, “women’s hockey is in,” in a Marlies’ video ahead of the new year. 

Other players who have mentioned their excitement include Connor McDavid, Cole Caufield, and Nazem Kadri, while J.T. Comphers’ sister, Jesse Compher, plays for Toronto alongside Sarah Nurse, the cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.

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