What Does the Future of Women's Hockey Look Like?
With the possibility of the league expanding in the future, what does that mean for women's hockey at all levels?
With the Professional Women’s Hockey League season nearing its end as the postseason is in the Final Round, it’s time to talk about the league's success and what that means for the future of women’s hockey. They played 72 games through the regular season, and the attendance was 392,259, which is pretty impressive! It equals an average of 5,448 people per game. For the first season, that’s amazing, and of course, not all games equaled that amount, with some being more and some being less.
Their single-game attendance record in Canada was 21,105, and in the United States, it was 13,736. These numbers were great for the league's first year and can only get better from here. The original six-team plan will stay in place for a bit longer as they figure out the money side and what they need to expand in the future.
They’re still looking to add more talent to the league, so they’ll have their second annual PWHL Draft this summer. It’ll be held in Minnesota this June, and it’ll be interesting to see what talent each team picks.
With six teams, there won't be as many players selected but bringing in new talent is always exciting. What will be interesting as this league builds and potentially expands, where they'll be taking their talent from. While nearly every player in the league this past season played some form of college hockey, that may not be the case in years to come.
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