The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) released its expanded 90-game 2024/25 schedule on Tuesday, with the puck dropping on the league’s second season on November 30th.
The PWHL’s six teams — all featuring fresh branding including new names and logos — will play 30 games each, up from 24 last hockey season.
“Our teams and players are so eager to bring their new identities to life, and the schedule announcement elevates that sense of anticipation,” stated Senior VP of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford in an official league release.
“We have more games, new uniforms, a talented rookie class, and so much more for the PWHL community to look forward to. For our players and our fans, the season ahead will be intense, competitive, and fun.”
PWHL teams to face each other six times
PWHL teams will play each other six times across the season, with three home and three road matchups on the schedule.
Opening day will see the Boston Fleet visit the Toronto Sceptres at 2 PM ET, with the Montréal Victoire hosting the Ottawa Charge at 5 PM ET. Last year’s champions, the Minnesota Frost, will open their 2024/25 title defense at home against the New York Sirens at 6 PM ET on December 1st.
Speaking of the defending Walter Cup Champions, the Frost’s second game will be a rematch of last season’s deciding Game 5, as Minnesota visits 2023/24 runners-up Boston on December 4th.
PWHL regular season play will run through May 3rd, 2025, with three international breaks on the docket. They start with one-week gaps in December and February for the Women’s Euro Hockey Tour and the Canada-USA Rivalry Series, followed by a 22-day pause in April for the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
Record-breaking inaugural season shifts some PWHL venues
With the first-year league seemingly breaking attendance records every few days last season, some PWHL teams moved into larger venues during the offseason to accommodate demand.
The Sceptres home ice is now Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum, which seats 8,140 fans — more than double the 3,850 capacity of their previous home, the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Toronto already sold out their new arena during last season’s playoffs, packing 8,500 into the Coliseum.
Similarly, Quebec’s Place Bell will now permanently house the Victoire, increasing Montreal’s fan capacity from Verdun Auditorium’s 3,795-seats to more than 10,000.
After two successful games at New Jersey’s Prudential Center last season, the New York Sirens will call the NHL venue home throughout their 2024/25 campaign.
The newly released schedule also includes 14 games without a listed venue, as the PWHL solidifies plans to stage those tilts at either neutral sites or larger arenas in home markets.
It’s a tactic that paid off last season, which saw Toronto and Montreal draw the sport’s largest crowd on record when 21,105 packed Montreal’s Bell Centre. The league also saw success in drawing hockey fans from non-PWHL cities, including Detroit and Pittsburgh.
Camps and contract negotiations impact PWHL rosters
While all six teams released their training camps rosters on October 11th, final lists aren’t due to the league until November 27th, after training camps and scrimmages.
Each franchise can roster a maximum of 23 players, plus an additional three reserves.
Contract negotiations can continue through the training camp period, with fans most anxiously awaiting news of Princeton University alum Sarah Fillier. The PWHL’s 2024 overall No. 1 draft pick remains the league’s only first-round selectee still without a signed contract.
While she features on the Sirens’s training-camp list, Fillier is reportedly seeking a shorter two-year deal in order to enter negotiations in 2026 — one season earlier than the three-year contract on the table.
2024/25 PWHL season ticket packages now on sale
While the league is still finalizing broadcast details for the upcoming season, fans will be able to buy season ticket packages starting as early as Thursday, October 17th, depending on their local team’s roll-out schedule.
Canadian teams are set to release single-game tickets on October 30th, with US franchises dropping theirs on November 1st.
