The PWHL announced their second annual Takeover Tour, bringing PWHL hockey to neutral sites across Canada and the United States. Last season, the tour visited nine markets, two of which became expansion teams this season in the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes. The PWHL expanded their outreach effort to 16 games this season, with eight games each in the US and Canada, visiting 11 different markets over the course of the tour.
The PWHL is returning to Denver, Detroit, Edmonton and Quebec City. Of those returning cities, Denver will host two contests at Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL. Detroit will host two games at Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL, and Edmonton will host two games at Rogers Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL.
Other markets hosting two PWHL Games include Halifax, NS at Scotiabank Centre (home of the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL), which kicks off the tour with the Montreal Victoire facing the Toronto Sceptres, and Chicago, IL at Allstate Arena, home of the AHL Chicago Wolves.
The PWHL Takeover Tour is seen as an audition for markets looking toward future league expansion. Last season, Detroit set an attendance record for women’s pro hockey in the United States with 14,288 attendees, but did not get awarded an expansion team this year. They are looking to be one of multiple teams expected to be added to the league for the 2026-27 season, and hosting two games could be a good sign for them.
Edmonton is also high on the PWHL and their two games on the schedule this season bode well for those efforts. The final PWHL Takeover Tour contest of the season will take place in Edmonton between the Boston Fleet and Vancouver Goldeneyes on April 7th, which would provide an interesting backdrop for an expansion announcement.
In addition to Halifax and Chicago, Washington, DC, and Dallas are new hosts for PWHL games in the US, while Calgary, Hamilton, and Winnipeg are new Canadian Cities for the PWHL to visit. All PWHL teams will be participating in Takeover Tour events, with the Montreal Victoire, NY Sirens, and Vancouver Goldeneyes playing in 5 neutral site matchups on the Tour, and four games each for the Seattle Torrent & Ottawa Charge. The Boston Fleet, Toronto Sceptres, and Minnesota Frost will only have three neutral-site games each.
The PWHL is also attempting a doubleheader on the Takeover Tour for the first time twice this season, with two games scheduled on the road in January multiple times. On January 3rd, the Seattle Torrent will face the Toronto Sceptres in Hamilton, Ontario, and the Vancouver Goldeneyes will face the Boston Fleet in Detroit, Michigan. One weekend later, on January 11th, the Ottawa Charge will face Boston in Halifax, NS, and Vancouver will go up against the Montreal Victoire in Quebec City.
Buffalo, Raleigh, and St. Louis hosted games last year, but were not included this time around, which leads one to believe they might not be on short lists for that expansion.
There are some big markets in men’s hockey left out of the PWHL Takeover Tour again, notably the entire state of California, which has yet to host a PWHL contest. Other significant NHL markets left out in the cold again this year are Pittsburgh (which has hosted several elite women’s hockey events before the PWHL was founded), Las Vegas, and Philadelphia. The two-time NHL Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, nor their cross-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, have yet to see the women’s professional league visit town.
The PWHL has yet to announce locations for four remaining games this season, hosted by Montreal on December 27th, Toronto on January 17th, Ottawa on April 1st, New York on April 4th, and Boston on April 11th.
