VANCOUVER — Just two years into its existence, the PWHL is growing to a seven-team league.
Wednesday morning, league executives and local dignitaries gathered on a stunning rooftop in Vancouver’s business district for the official announcement that the city would be home to the PWHL’s first expansion franchise.
The league started in 2023 with six teams in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston and Minnesota, and is approaching the end of its second campaign.
PWHL Vancouver will start play in he 2025-26 season, which is expected to begin in November. The team will be the primary tenant at the Pacific Coliseum on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition in East Vancouver. It will practise steps away at the PNE Agrodome.
The team will be known as PWHL Vancouver until an identity and brand are finalized. The team's colours are described as Pacific blue and cream.
Management and staff announcements are also expected soon, along with details of how the expansion draft will operate.
The runway is short. The new squad will take part in the 2025 PWHL Draft, which is set for June 24 in Ottawa.
After 19,038 fans packed Rogers Arena for the Vancouver stop of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour on Jan. 8, it felt fitting that the official announcement came from members of the under-11 Vancouver Angels — armed once again with their homemade signs.
“Back in January, my teammates and I went to the very first PWHL Takeover Tour game,” said nine-year-old Sidney Mildon. “It was the coolest day ever. We saw six goals, danced in the stands, waved our signs and cheered so loud for the players. It felt like anything was possible.
"It made me think, I want to be just like them someday, playing in the PWHL. It was at that game that we made it clear we want a PWHL team, and today, we are so excited. Because right here in Vancouver, we got a team.”
The expansion announcement is the culmination of eight months of work by the league, which launched in 2023 and has quickly established a strong foothold.
Ticket demand led both the Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire to move into larger primary arenas this year, and games staged in NHL arenas have drawn well in both PWHL markets and at neutral sites.
Buoyed by that early success, executives and board members of the single-entity league, owned by Mark and Kimbra Walter, began identifying markets that best fit their expansion criteria.
“Coming here to the third-largest market in Canada was really important,” said Amy Scheer, the PWHL’s executive vice president of business operations. “You've shown a remarkable commitment to growing the game of hockey. I think the last stat I saw from B.C. Hockey was the girls’ and boys’ registration is just about 50/50, and that’s huge. We want to help build and continue that momentum that you’ve already started.”
The partnership with the PNE gives the new team both a home for its games and a practice facility.
The Pacific Coliseum, which opened in 1968 and has a capacity of about 16,000, was the original home of the Vancouver Canucks from 1970 to 1995, and to the WHL’s Vancouver Giants from 2001 to 2016. The Agrodome is a smaller multi-use facility, which seats about 3,000 for hockey or lacrosse.
Capital improvements on the venues will begin immediately, with Phase I completion targeted for mid-October.
PWHL Vancouver continues a rich history of women’s hockey in the city. More than a century ago, the Vancouver Amazons skated at the downtown Denman Arena. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Canadian women brought home a gold medal on Marie-Philip Poulin’s golden goal.
“I don't know, 15 years ago, if we thought we would have been here doing this," said Jayna Hefford, the PWHL’s executive vice president of hockey operations and a Hockey Hall of Famer who played on that 2010 team. “It's pretty awesome to be able to share this moment with you.”
Reports this past weekend indicated the PWHL would not only announce Vancouver as its newest team, but also that Seattle was being considered as a second expansion team. The league hosted a game at Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena on Jan. 5 between the Victoire and Boston Fleet as part of its nine-game Takeover Tour of neutral sites. Attendance was 12,608.
The PWHL would not comment on any other potential markets, but Amy Scheer, the PWHL's executive vice-president of business operations, indicated a second team is on the way.
"I think we are hopeful that we will have a second team announced at some point this year," said Scheer. "Not sure what the timing will be, but we're hopeful there will be a second team for this year."
With files from Abdulhamid Ibrahim in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2025.
Carol Schram, The Canadian Press
