The first time a woman ever played hockey professionally was in 1992, when goaltender Manon Rhéaume played for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an NHL exhibition game. She faced nine shots and let just two through, taking the first step in a long period of growth for women’s hockey.
Since then, women have made a constant effort to play at the professional level.
Canada was the first country to establish a professional league, just seven years later in 1999. The National Women’s Hockey League, run by the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, allowed women of any age to play hockey at the highest level. Throughout the league’s history, it changed names various times and even expanded to include American teams. Beginning in 2009, they established their version of the Stanley Cup called the Clarkson Cup, which was donated to the NWHL by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. The Montréal Stars were the inaugural winners.
In 2015, the United States created their own NWHL, also titled the PHF (Premier Hockey Federation), with a budget of $2.5 million. Including one team from Canada, the participating squads included the Boston Pride, the Buffalo Beauts, the Connecticut Whale, the Metropolitan Riveters, the Toronto Six and the Minnesota Whitecaps. Created by Dani Rylan, it was the first women’s league to pay its players their own salaries.
The PHF went strong until June of 2023, when it was bought out by Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walters Group. Before this occurred, however, they partnered with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
For both Walters and King, their main goal behind this partnership was to create a women’s hockey league that encompasses all of North America, unifying all the leagues as one. Their goal was achieved on Aug. 29, 2023, when they announced the brand-new Professional Women’s Hockey League. They also announced the inaugural teams from Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Minnesota.
Not only did this announcement go down in the history of women’s hockey, but the inaugural draft that took place on Sept. 18 did as well. 23-year-old Minnesota native Taylor Heise was the first ever pick, selected by her home state’s team.
“It’s my home, everyone that I love is there and it’s the state of hockey,” noted Heise in an interview with CBC Sports after being drafted. “I’m just really honored I’m going to be able to play and to show the little girls that anything is possible if you just keep working hard.”
Since the PWHL started its season in the beginning of 2024, the level of interest has been staggering. In Ottawa’s debut, they had 8,318 fans come see them play. Just three days later, Minnesota crushed that with 13,361 fans in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center. Nearly every single game so far has boasted sellout crowds, showing that this league is taking the world by storm.
If fans can’t make it to a game or their local television does not broadcast their favorite team, the PWHL livestreams each game on their YouTube channel. This makes it one of the most viewer-accessible leagues in sports, which is a fantastic strategy for building its future.
Their rulebook is also unique compared to the NHL’s, including the 3-2-1 rule. This means that each team will earn three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss and zero for a loss in regulation. They also are allowing body checking, which is a first for a women’s league.
Sarah Nurse, forward for Toronto PWHL, stated in an interview with the NHL Network, “I’m proud of everybody who has worked so hard to get this off the ground.”
At the draft, founder and former tennis star Billie Jean King stated, “It’s not about a moment, it’s about a movement.”
The players are there to show the younger generation of women that the future of breaking the glass ceiling of sports is right here and right now.
This is only the beginning.