According to John Wawrow of the Associated Press on Friday, the Professional Women’s Hockey League is coming to Vancouver, British Columbia. This will be the fourth Canadian franchise to join the PWHL. There are existing franchises in Toronto, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario.
Vancouver’s Rogers Arena hosted a PWHL game earlier this season. The Montreal Victoire defeated the Toronto Spectre 4-2 on January 8 thanks to two goals by Canadian Olympic gold medalist Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville, Quebec. Poulin won a gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
There is an expectation by many that the PWHL will add a second franchise, and it would be on the west coast, possibly Seattle. This would make sense as Vancouver is currently the only PWHL team west of the central time zone, and travel costs for the team would be mighty expensive already.
The PWHL is on a break at the moment because of the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Hockey Championships in Ceske Budjovice, Czechia. The winner of Saturday’s semifinal between Canada and Finland will face the United States in Sunday’s championship gold medal game on Easter Sunday.
