TORONTO — The Professional Women's Hockey League has its kinks to straighten out.
The league came together quickly, with a full season coming to form within five months of its inception. However there are some missing pieces, such as names and logos for the six teams.
"I don't, I don't," PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten said Monday on whether he has a timeline for those key elements to be included. "But I really love seeing our teams referred to now as PWHL Toronto, PWHL New York because every time you're talking about a team, you're talking about our league."
"You're mentioning our league's name. That isn't bad," added Kasten, who was in Toronto for the league's opening game. "So we have professional people working on that, and other things — the secondary but very important things. I don't have a timeline but we'll get to it."
The formulation of the PWHL began after it was announced on June 30 that the new league would launch in 2024, along with news that Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter's firm purchased assets of the now-defunct Premier Hockey Federation.
The PWHL announced its six teams on Aug. 29 along with other building blocks, including each team's 24-game regular-season schedule beginning this month.
The draft took place Sept. 18 in downtown Toronto, with a free-agency period before it. Teams held training camps in November. The six teams gathered in Utica, N.Y., for pre-season scrimmages Dec. 4-7.
“We’ve done everything we could in six months to get a professional league up and running to have a place where these women can be treated professional every day,” PWHL hockey operations senior vice-president Jayna Hefford said Tuesday before Montreal faced Ottawa.
“People in Ottawa want to cheer for their home team, it doesn’t matter that they don’t have a team name right now or a logo.”
Hefford said the priority is to get through all the home openers and getting things up and running.
"We’ll get it right,” said Hefford. “If we get it right in three months, then it will be three months. If we get it right next season, it will be next season, but, you know, we’re not in a rush to do something we’re not comfortable with.
"And I think we want to understand what our team can mean to this market, what we represent and have the fans help us create what our identity is going to be.”
On the league's speedy formation, Kasten said: "It's crazy. Never try it again would be my advice. If you could get longer, try to get longer.
"But I'm proud of everyone who has been involved in this, (everyone) has done an amazing job. Sometimes deadlines are what get things done. In this case, it certainly did."
The league hasn't had many issues with selling tickets, with Toronto having sold out all its home games at Toronto Metropolitan University's Mattamy Athletic Centre.
"You know what? I hope that there are a raft of stories all season talking about 'our league needs bigger buildings,'" Kasten said. "I hope that's a storyline. That would be great.
"Not thinking about today, but that would be great for that to be a story."
One thing Kasten did acknowledge, however, is that the league knows that its inaugural season will be a "learning experience."
"As I like to tell people, we know we're going to make mistakes this year," he said. "Some of you have been generous enough to point some of them out already and I know you will continue in that generous spirit of pointing those out but we will get them fixed.
"By next year, which will be our first 32-game season, we'll have the problems, the bugs ironed out because this year, in many respects, is a learning experience for all of us."
— With files from Lisa Wallace in Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2024.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
