PWHL announces expansion to Vancouver, will start in 2025-26

One of the fastest growing leagues in pro sports is heading west.

On Wednesday, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced that Vancouver will receive a team, expanding the league to seven teams for its third year of operation.

It comes as no surprise the league has elected to expand its footprint to go from coast to coast. Outside of the Minnesota Frost, the PWHL has been mainly associated with the eastern seaboard. This will gave fans all across North America the best opportunity to see the best players in the world at more appropriate times.

PWHL Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Amy Scheer, says Vancouver is the right place to add a team.

“Obviously coming here to the third largest market in Canada, really important,” Scheer said at a press conference on Wednesday. “You’ve shown a remarkable commitment to growing the game of hockey. … Your fan base is engaged. It’s vibrant, it’s fun.”

The team will play at the historic Pacific Coliseum, with the team practicing at the PNE Agrodome. Both facilities will undergo substantial upgrades before the start of the 2025-26 season. Vancouver will be the primary tenant of the Coliseum, an arena that has a listed capacity of 16,281 for hockey.

The last team to call the former home of the Vancouver Canucks its own was the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, who move to Langley in 2016.

With the league’s expansion, there will be more players competing in the PWHL next season. However, the league has yet to announce plans for an expansion draft or the regular PWHL Draft on June 24. Those details are reportedly going to be released in the coming weeks.

Vancouver had been rumored to be a potential destination for the league, with multiple reports last week saying it was a definite spot for a new team. There was also a brief instance on Monday where the PWHL Shop had tabs for fans to purchase gear for teams in Vancouver and Seattle.

Vancouver is a metro area with a passion for all forms of hockey. Along with the memorable crowds during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Then, on stop two of the Takeover Tour, 19,038 jammed in Rogers Arena to see the Montreal Victoire outlast the Toronto Sceptres, the largest crowd for the tour.

Olympic gold medalist and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Jayna Hefford, knows how passionate Vancouver fans are.

“The city’s always been a terrific hockey market,” Hefford said. “But its commitment to women’s hockey is truly exceptional. … I’ll never forget stepping on the ice here in Vancouver in the 2010 Olympic Games. Almost 17,000 people in the stands, which was a record at the time. That moment, I think, really helped set the stage for where we are today and where the women’s game is.”

Seattle was another market rumoured to be in the running for a team as well. On Monday, there was a leak on the PWHL Shop page that had both Vancouver and Seattle tabs. It has not been confirmed over denied whether an eighth team will be added for next season.

The PWHL is wrapping up its regular season, with the playoffs set to begin in a little over a week.