The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has started its inaugural season on a high note. The league has been able to bring over most if not all of the best women in the sport which is impressive considering it has never been done before. On top of that, viewership is great with the league streaming all their games for free on YouTube, and attendance is good as well with PWHL Minnesota breaking the attendance record for a professional women’s hockey team. PWHL Toronto is threatening to break the record again when they play in Scotiabank Arena.
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The success of the league has already brought up the topic of expansion and interest from cities like Pittsburgh, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, and Detroit. While those cities will one day get a team, a city that hasn’t gotten a lot of looks is Phoenix and its metropolitan area. There are definitely a lot of advantages that the city has compared to others but of course, there are some challenges in bringing the PWHL all the way to the Valley of the Sun.
Why the PWHL Could Work In Arizona
The Arizona Coyotes have been an interesting case and are the main reason many hockey fans would be cautious about another pro hockey team going to Arizona. Of course, the PWHL won’t likely move to the area until the Coyotes get a permanent home but the PWHL is also different. It’s still a growing league and will likely require a smaller arena than the Coyotes. That makes Mullett Arena a great candidate to house the team.
Mullett Arena at 5,000 seats would be the third smallest venue in the league behind PWHL Montreal’s Verdun Auditorium and PWHL Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. However, it would be the newest venue in the league. 5,000 people wouldn’t be bad for a PWHL team. It supports Arizona State’s NCAA hockey team well and most likely will do the same for a women’s team.
Arizona has had great success with women’s hockey in the past. The Arizona Kachinas is a testament to that. The Kachinas are the tier-one girl’s hockey association of the Coyotes. Former USA Olympian Lindsey Fry helped start the program that aims to create an opportunity for every girl in Arizona to play hockey safely and develop a lifelong love for the game. The program has seen a handful of national tournament berths and has helped grow the sport for women all over the state. At a time, Arizona ranked first among all U.S. NHL markets in girls’ eight and under percentage, and girls’ (19 and under) youth growth percentage.
Arizona State launched its women’s hockey program in 2016 under head coach Lindsey Ellis. She was born in Peoria, AZ, and went to school at Miami University. After winning multiple American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) championships as a player on the team, the Arizona native went back to her hometown state to begin the team to help others in the area keep playing the game she loved.
Since the creation of the team, the Sun Devils have been very successful, going to the conference finals in the past three seasons and finally winning their first conference championship last season and earning their first appearance in the ACHA National Tournament.
All the success in women’s hockey has garnered the attention of multiple women’s leagues. Before folding, the Professional Hockey Federation (PHF) hosted their championship game in Mullett Arena between the Toronto 76 and the Minnesota Whitecaps. A well-attended game that saw the 76 win the final Isobel Cup. More recently, Team USA and Team Canada played a game of the Rivalry Series in Mullett that was also well attended.
Multiple star players that now play in the PWHL played in that game including PWHL Minnesota forward Taylor Heise. She scored in the eventual 3-1 Team USA win and was excited to see the amount of fans in attendance in the first game of the series.
“I think any rivalry series that we can get where we’re able to bring our team, our fans, and gain new fans is a time we’re always excited for,” Heise said. “This is a big opportunity. The girl’s game is growing here and that’s not always something you’ve seen. It’s usually sometimes either stagnant or on the rise. So I’m just glad that a lot of girls here get to watch the pro products.”
Even players on Team Canada acknowledged the growth of hockey in the state. Someone like PWHL Toronto forward Sarah Nurse hopes to be back in Mullett Arena one day.
“This facility is phenomenal,” Nurse said. “It’s super cool. Super well done. I think it’s great for the university. Hopefully, they can get some women’s hockey here in the next few years. I think it’s a great facility. I’m excited to be here.”
Women’s hockey in Arizona hasn’t been talked about a lot but it continues to grow and thrive, perhaps more than men’s hockey. Outside of Tempe and its nearby suburbs, Grand Canyon University has operated a women’s team for around seven years and the University of Arizona will be welcoming a women’s hockey team of their own in late 2024.
Challenges In Bringing a Team To Arizona
There are a couple of challenges in bringing a PWHL team to Arizona. The first and obvious thing is that the league is still in its first season of play. There are only six teams in the league and only one of those are located in a western time zone. The league probably doesn’t want their first team out west to be as far west as Arizona is. They’ll probably want to build out and slowly go out west with teams in Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Vancouver before settling in Arizona in order to create a schedule that is okay for the teams and players.
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To add on, the PWHL probably also wants to expand slowly and make sure every franchise is successfully operating. The current six teams don’t even have names yet. The league will most likely wait for a while until all six of its current teams are working well and then set their sights on expansion.
The second challenge is that the state and its fans have to vocalize their interest. There’s no doubt that there is interest especially with two major women’s hockey games being played in the state within the past three years. However, a city like Pittsburgh has been extremely vocal about trying to get a team to the city. Arizona will need to share the same vocalization if it wants to be one of the first states out west to receive a team (from ‘Eyeing PWHL expansion, Penguins prepare for a women’s team: ‘This will work in Pittsburgh’’, The Athletic, 1/23/24).
The final challenge is that the Coyotes need to be in an arena by the time the PWHL expands. While the NHL and the PWHL are separate leagues, there’s no doubt hockey fans will be upset if Arizona gets a second pro hockey team while its NHL team is still playing out of a 5,000-seat arena. Mullett Arena’s schedule is also already tight with the ASU NCAA men’s team and the Coyotes currently using the facility every other day. There’s no way that it could make room for a third team regularly using the arena. Another reason why the Coyotes must have their own arena before the PWHL even thinks about expanding.
In the end, Arizona is a hotbed for women’s hockey just ready to be exposed to the rest of the world. Adding the PWHL to the Valley will bring so much including more potential ice rinks, which the area desperately needs. There’s no doubt given the history of women’s hockey around the area that the team will succeed. The league (and the area) just needs more time to grow. Eventually, when the PWHL starts setting up shop out west, Arizona will be one of the first markets it eyes. Fry and Ellis’ respective programs have paved the way to this point. It’s up to the league and its finest players like Heise and Nurse to help complete the path and continue to help grow the thriving sport for the girls in the state.
