Despite early growing pains, PWHL believes it has the foundation to be a ‘permanent’ women’s hockey league

"We are, all of us, on the ground floor of what is going to be a very tall skyscraper.”

PWHL Boston drew 4,012 fans for their debut game on Wednesday. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

January 4, 2024

4 minutes to read

LOWELL — In Stan Kasten’s estimation, expansion teams in just about every sport are given roughly two years to set the runway before taking to the field, ice, or diamond in a true game setting.

Kasten can speak from experience, with the Los Angeles Dodgers president going through said trials and tribulations while serving as the first president of the Atlanta Thrashers.

But just six months after the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was bought out and dissolved — and four months after the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was officially introduced with six franchises — the puck was dropped at Lowell’s Tsongas Center for the inaugural season of PWHL Boston.

It’s an accelerated timeline that forced Kasten and the rest of the PWHL’s ownership group to make several concessions in order to get this opening season off the ground.

“This was not the way to do it,” Kasten acknowledged Wednesday. “It’s why we give expansion teams two years to get ready before we unveil them. And to stand up a league and six teams in six months from the day we made the agreement — four months from when we announced the teams? Yeah, that’s nuts. And yet here we are.”

The deep-pocketed backers behind a unified professional women’s hockey league know that this initial 24-game campaign in 2024 will be far from perfect.

But in Kasten’s estimation, the most important building block needed to build a sustainable league is already in place with the elite talent out on the frozen sheet.

“It’s not perfect. We knew it wouldn’t be perfect,” Kasten said. “But we got the hockey right and that’s what mattered. … “You talk to players. They know. We are, all of us, on the ground floor of what is going to be a very tall skyscraper.”

It’s tough to argue with the quality of talent present on the PWHL Boston roster, along with the other five franchises (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Minnesota) that comprise the initial framework of the PWHL’s first season.

The Mark Walter Group, which includes Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter, his wife, Kimbra Walter, tennis legend Billie Jean King, and Kasten, bought out the PHF in an effort to bridge the gap between that league and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA).

A one-league solution has allowed the top players across women’s hockey to play under a single roof — with PWHL Boston featuring star talent like Hilary Knight, Megan Keller, Aerin Frankel, and Alina Müller.

The buy-in is there from the players, especially given the fiscal support of the Mark Walter Group and the security provided by an eight-year collective bargaining agreement that offers benefits like living wages, training resources, and guaranteed ice time.

But as the PWHL looks to cultivate an audience across six hockey hotbeds, a rapid ramp-up will inevitably give way to some initial growing pains.

“We have a long way to go. We’re gonna make mistakes,” Kasten said. “I’ve said that over and over because it’s true. … But we’re gonna learn from all of our mistakes and I tell people we’re going to learn from every ticket we sell. And we’re going to learn from every ticket we don’t sell.

“We’re going to learn which of our markets needs a little more work. … But we understand that the most important thing we have to do is get the hockey right. And we’ve done that.”

With the league not officially announced until August 2023, time wasn’t on the league’s side as far as crafting unique branding and securing venue space through the winter and spring

In order to get the new league up and running, the PWHL delayed branding the teams with unique logos and names — with announcements to come at a later date. As a result, each PWHL team will be identified by its location and branded by color for the 2024 season.

Speaking last month, PWHL Boston GM Danielle Marmer wasn’t concerned about the lack of unique branding to start off this season.

“I mean, in my perspective, it’s minor,” Marmer said. “I think we see on social media, there’s rumblings about the names and I think that’s happening in every market. But we’re not too worried about it. Whatever we end up going with with a name, I think our fans will get behind.”

With nearly 6,500 seats, Lowell’s Tsongas Center also offers an established venue for PWHL Boston.

But a barn over 30 miles away from Boston does present some challenges for an already hockey-crazed fanbase, especially down on the South Shore. Wednesday’s debut game had an attendance of 4,012 fans.

“The Tsongas Center is phenomenal. It’s great. We’ll see over the course of the year if it’s the best fit or not,” Kasten said. “But I will tell you, it stands up against any venue that we’re going to be at. … If we’re here long-term, that would probably be great. But we’re going to take a year to really understand where we are.”

Even with the acknowledgment of said “rough spots” out of the gate, there has been plenty of momentum working in the PWHL’s favor. Tuesday’s game between PWHL Montreal and Ottawa set the record for the most-attended pro women’s hockey game with 8,318 fans packing into Ottawa’s TD Place.

With the PWHL in place, Kasten acknowledged that collegiate stars now have an established pipeline to follow toward pro hockey. The hope is that next season will feature over 30 games, with the opener set to begin in November.

“Right now, we have the best players in the world,” Jayna Hefford, PWHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, said. “And that’s the first piece. We’re in six great markets. I hope in 10 years we’re playing in bigger buildings, we’re maybe expanding to some new markets.

“We’re continuing to grow the game, both here in North America but also globally. So we have we have a lot of work to do still. But where we’re at right now is pretty exciting.”

As daunting as the PWHL’s start-up was this fall, Kasten believes that urgency was rooted in the desire of hockey’s top stars to finally usher in a sustainable pro hockey league — a reality that became closer to fruition this week.

“This is not short-term,” Kasten said of the league. “It’s not long-term. It’s permanent.”