'Breaking record after record': PWHL carrying momentum into next phase of season
120k-plus fans have attended games so far; sellout expected next week in Toronto
Laura Stacey scored one of the biggest goals in her career almost six years ago on the ice at Ricoh Coliseum (now Coca-Cola Coliseum) in Toronto.
Stacey, who'd just returned from the Olympics with Team Canada, put a puck over goaltender Noora Raty to secure a Clarkson Cup title for the Markham Thunder.
But even a championship game in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), with the Olympics a fresh memory, didn't sell out the nearly 8,000 seats at Ricoh. It wasn't even the only game at Ricoh that day, with the AHL's Toronto Marlies taking over the ice a few hours later.
The players who sat out league play for years after the CWHL folded in 2019 always felt that, with the right marketing and resources, their product could reach more people. If only more people could see them play, they would get it.
If only they could reach the same people who watched when players put on their Team Canada jerseys, but didn't tune in when those same players laced up the same skates and put on club team jerseys, then they would be on to something.
It's only a month into the Professional Women's Hockey League's first season, but it feels like people are starting to get it.
Stacey and her PWHL Montreal team will play their next game against Toronto on Feb. 16 in front of a sold-out crowd at Scotiabank Arena, which seats nearly 20,000 people.
It looks poised to surpass the 13,316 fans who watched PWHL Minnesota play Montreal just last month at Xcel Energy Center. That game, of course, broke another record set on Jan. 2, when PWHL Ottawa drew 8,318 fans to their home opener at TD Place.
Last Sunday's game was a sell-out in Ottawa. Toronto has already sold out all its home games at Mattamy Athletic Centre, as has Montreal at Verdun Auditorium. Montreal is also drawing well at the larger Place Bell in Laval.
Stacey has played in front of big crowds on Team Canada. Just last week, she played at Scotiabank Arena as part of the PWHL 3-on-3 Challenge during NHL All-Star Weekend. But the numbers the PWHL has been drawing this season have been something different. The players feel it.
"In my career, I don't think league games have ever sold out to the extent that they are now, and making history in terms of breaking record after record after record," Stacey said.
Over the league's first 25 games, more than 120,000 people have attended a game, according to the PWHL's attendance figures.
The demand for the PWHL in its first month seems to have even caught the league by surprise, with some merchandise online sold out for weeks.
In addition to Minnesota playing all its home games this season at an NHL rink, and New York playing a handful of games at the New York Islanders' UBS Arena, the PWHL just announced two more games in NHL arenas.
Boston and Ottawa will play in Detroit on March 16, while Montreal and Toronto will face off in Pittsburgh on March 17.
Montreal alone atop standings
The PWHL's season is paused until Feb. 14 for international play, including the Canada-US Rivalry Series and the Euro Hockey Tour.
After that, Montreal will enter the big stage of its next game alone atop the standings after a 2-1 overtime win against Boston on Sunday.
It was a close game, with a costly turnover near Montreal's net the only thing separating the team from the valuable three points awarded for a regulation win.
WATCH | Stacey scores winner in overtime for Montreal victory:
Stacey scored the game winner in overtime off a pass from defender Erin Ambrose, whose elite vision was on display Sunday.
"I just drove the net, Erin had a ton of patience, and I put my stick on the ice and she made a perfect pass to me back door," Stacey said on the broadcast after the game.
It was another stingy game for Elaine Chuli, who's only allowed four goals in her three starts. She leads the league in save percentage and goals against average.
A season after backstopping the Premier Hockey Federation's Toronto Six to a championship, Chuli joins Ann-Renée Desbiens in what might be the best one-two goaltending punch in the league so far.
"Every time Elaine's been in the net, she's given us a chance to win," head coach Kori Cheverie said after the game. "Tonight was no different."
Cheverie was also happy with her team's defensive play in the game. Looking back to that first game against Ottawa on Jan. 2, she described the team's evolution as "night and day."
Playing at home
On the other side of the ice, Boston's Sophie Shirley scored her first PWHL goal against Montreal.
She's been a valuable part of Boston's top six after a solid career with the University of Wisconsin. Before that, she played a full pro season in the CWHL as a teenager with the Calgary Inferno, earning rookie of the year honours.
Shirley was a last-minute add to the roster after Montreal's Kristin O'Neill was ruled out, telling CBC Saskatoon that the call came while she was at a dog park.
"I had about 15 to 20 family in the crowd and it was a super cool experience for me," Shirley said after the game, via Hockey Canada.
"I know I was called in late, but I just wanted to do my best every time I was out there. It was probably in my very first shift, as soon as I got out there, with the atmosphere and being at home with family made it even more exciting for me."
Canada's Emily Clark (Ottawa) also got to play in front of a hometown crowd for the first time in more than a decade. The Rivalry Series continues on Friday in Regina and Sunday in Minnesota.
A learning curve
Toronto went into the break with some momentum, with two regulation wins at home in the last two games. The team sits in a three-way tie in the middle of the standings with New York and Boston, which has two games in hand.
Two more goals propelled Natalie Spooner to the league lead in scoring, while captain Blayre Turnbull got her first.
"That game kind of felt like we were getting some bounces that we may not have gotten earlier in the season, but I think overall our last few games have been our best games," Turnbull said after the game.
"So I think we're trying to keep our foot on the gas and improve. Improving every single game and keep rolling as we head into the rest of the season."
HOCKEY NORTH | Spooner can't stop scoring, NHLers return to the Olympics:
On the other side of things, Ottawa lost to New York in overtime after having a 3-0 lead in the third period.
Speaking before Sunday's game against New York, Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod told CBC Sports that her team's top priorities were finishing goal scoring opportunities, in a league where scoring is hard to come by, and being tougher to play against.
"We've seen the physicality in the league, so one is obviously implementing that and being comfortable to deliver physicality, but the other side is to accept the physicality," MacLeod said.
"So I think there's been a learning curve there league wide. That's certainly here in Ottawa, trying to be as comfortable as we can be in that style of game because we think it suits us and who we are."
Sunday's game showed the team knows how to score, including on the power play. After seven games, Ottawa has the best power play percentage in the league (29.2 per cent), a big feat given that every team has been building their special teams from scratch in this new league.
But being hard to play against, especially in a third period against a physical team like New York, still requires a bit of work.
"You've got to learn from it," MacLeod told reporters after Sunday's loss.
"Sometimes, it stings. We've had other games with a similar outcome and they didn't sting the same. You just have to let the sting settle."
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