Attendance is up, and so is scoring two-thirds by way of the Skilled Girls’s Hockey League’s second season, with the six-team league closing in on a call to broaden by as many as two franchises for subsequent yr.
“Fourteen months in, it is an thrilling time for us and we definitely have not slowed down,” govt vice-president of enterprise operations Amy Scheer stated throughout a latest name with reporters. “I feel we have confirmed over the past yr and a half that we have got endurance, and now we’re a strong a part of the hockey neighborhood.”
The league is on the verge of rising, with Scheer saying an growth choice is anticipated by early April. Scheer wouldn’t present any trace on what markets are within the working and whether or not one or two groups will likely be added.
Detroit is nonetheless thought-about a front-runner, with the PWHL additionally impressed with impartial website Takeover Tour sport turnouts in Seattle, Denver, Vancouver, Edmonton and Quebec Metropolis this yr.
Attendance leap
The league is averaging 7,365 followers per sport, up from 5,500 final common season. Together with playoffs, the PWHL has drawn a mixed 925,406 followers getting into this week, with the anticipation of surpassing a million throughout the subsequent month.
The attendance leap might be attributed to the Takeover Tour. Six of the 9 video games to date have drawn 89,953 followers, together with 19,038 in Vancouver, the fourth highest in league historical past.
One other issue is the Toronto Sceptres enjoying in a bigger venue this yr, transferring to the 7,800-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum from the two,500-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The New York Sirens have barely benefited in establishing their dwelling at New Jersey’s Prudential Heart after enjoying out of three venues final season. They’re averaging 2,648 followers by way of 10 video games at Prudential vs. 2,496 over 12 dwelling video games final yr.
WATCH l CBC Sports activities’ Hockey North breaks down last stretch of season:
Host Anastasia Bucsis is joined by PWHL Karissa Donkin to interrupt down the ultimate stretch of the season as all 4 Canadian groups compete for playoff spots.
Extra targets
The league is seeing 5.18 targets per sport, up from 4.8 final yr. The leap is attributed to a lift in power-play targets with groups combining for 70 by way of 60 video games after scoring 68 by way of 72 final season. The league launched a no-escape rule this season during which a workforce can’t make a line change on the faceoff after its participant is penalized.
“The sport is quicker, extra expert and it is extra bodily, and we attempt to discover methods to create a product that makes the sport extra entertaining,” EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford stated.
Playoff race
The query is whether or not the PWHL can replicate the intrigue over final yr’s playoff race, which wasn’t determined till eventual champion Minnesota clinched the fourth and last spot on the final day of the season.
With two months to go, the present standings characteristic the identical groups — Montreal, Toronto, Boston and Minnesota — holding the highest 4 positions, with Ottawa fifth and New York in jeopardy of ending final for a second straight yr. New York is in an 0-5-3 skid.
“No query, we’re pissed off. We need to see totally different outcomes,” New York ahead Eldridge stated after a 3-2 shootout loss to Boston in a Takeover Tour cease at Buffalo, New York, on Feb. 23.
“We’re on this collectively and there isn’t any one which’s not on the identical web page proper now, which is hard to do on a workforce that is in a little bit of a skid.”
Secondary scoring is a matter for the Sirens, with Eldridge, rookie No. 1 decide Sarah Fillier, Alex Carpenter and defenseman Ella Shelton accounting for 28 of the New York’s 47 targets.
Miller time
Toronto ahead Hannah Miller leads the PWHL factors race following a latest run during which she’s mixed for 14 factors (six targets) over an eight-game span. That features Miller turning into the league’s third participant to get pleasure from a four-point outing with two targets and two assists in a 4-1 win at New York on Feb. 19.
“I feel a mixture of every little thing, being in the appropriate spot, proper time,” stated the 29-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., who beforehand spent 5 seasons enjoying for China’s Vanke Rays in Russia’s girls’s hockey league, and represented China on the 2022 Beijing Video games.
With 10 targets and 12 assists, Miller has already surpassed her complete final yr (seven targets, 14 factors). Her surge coincides with Toronto welcoming again 2024 PWHL MVP Natalie Spooner whereas dropping ahead Sarah Nurse to harm. Toronto went 7-0-2 earlier than a 3-1 loss at Montreal final week.
Fleet footnotes
The Fleet have printed T-shirts in coming to name themselves the “Unhealthy Ladies” after former WNBA star Sue Hen attended Boston’s Takeover Tour cease in Seattle. Hen posted an image on Instagram of Boston defenseman Emily Brown within the penalty field with the caption “Unhealthy Woman.” … Boston is 3-0 in shootout choices with goalie Aerin Frankel stopping 12 of 13 makes an attempt.
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