The PWHL will open its 2024-25 season on Saturday, Nov. 30 with a game between the Toronto Scepters and Boston Fleet at Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto’s new 8,140-seat home arena.
The league released the full regular-season schedule on Tuesday morning. Each team will play 30 regular-season games — up from the 24 played in the league’s inaugural year. The season will run until May 3. The playoff format and start date have yet to be announced.
The countdown to Season Two is ON❗
Our full 2024-25 schedule presented by @CanadianTire.
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All six teams — with new names, logos and yet-to-be-released jerseys — will play in the opening weekend, which begins with Toronto’s home opener versus Boston at 2 p.m. ET. The Montreal Victoire will host the Ottawa Charge at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 30 at Place Bell, Montreal’s new full-time home arena. On Sunday, Dec. 1, the New York Sirens will travel to St. Paul, Minn., to play the Minnesota Frost, the defending Walter Cup Champions, at 6 p.m. ET. That game should be 2024 No. 1 pick Sarah Fillier’s debut for New York, should the two sides agree to a contract.
Boston’s home opener will be a Walter Cup Final rematch against Minnesota on Dec. 4 at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass., where the Frost beat the Fleet in Game 5 of the championship series last May. Ottawa’s first home game will be Dec. 3 at TD Place against Toronto, where former Ottawa star forward Daryl Watts signed in the offseason. New York will play its first home game of the season on Dec. 18 at the Prudential Center, home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
“Our teams and players are so eager to bring their new identities to life, and the schedule announcement elevates that sense of anticipation,” Jayna Hefford, the PWHL’s Senior VP of Hockey Operations, said in the league’s release. “We have more games, new uniforms, a talented rookie class and so much more for the PWHL community to look forward to. For our players and our fans, the season ahead will be intense, competitive and fun.”
There will be three international breaks this season: Dec. 9-16 for the Women’s Euro Hockey Tour; Feb. 3-10 for the final games of the Canada-USA Rivalry Series; and April 3-25 for the 2025 Women’s World Championship.
The 90-game schedule includes six head-to-head matchups between each team. Games will once again be well spaced out with 69 standalone matchups and only nine days featuring two games. April 26, coming out of the women’s worlds break, will be the busiest day on the calendar with all six teams scheduled to play.
The schedule indicates a venue is still to be announced for several games, which means more neutral site games could be coming in Year 2 after successful pop-ups in NHL markets like Pittsburgh and Detroit last season and record-breaking games at the Bell Centre in Montreal and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The league release says non-primary venue games, along with broadcast and streaming information, will be announced in the coming weeks.
(Photo of Sarah Nurse celebrating after a Toronto goal on Boston goaltender Emma Söderberg: Chris Tanouye / Getty Images)
