PWHL hits the home stretch after taking break for worlds

UTICA, New York — The Professional Women’s Hockey League enters the home stretch of its inaugural season Thursday when it resumes following the world championship break.

Montreal is at home to Minnesota and Toronto visits Boston on Thursday.

Each of the six clubs has five games remaining in the regular season that concludes May 5 with Toronto hosting Ottawa. The playoffs start the week of May 6.

Toronto (10-3-0-6), Minnesota (8-4-3-4), Montreal (7-3-4-5) and Ottawa (7-0-6-6) were in playoff position. Boston (4-4-2-9) and New York (3-4-3-9) were on the outside looking in.

“Nobody’s been eliminated yet with five games to go. I think that’s a win for the league,” said PWHL senior vice-president of hockey operations director Jayna Hefford. “We’ve created parity across this league. That’s what we set out to do.

“Going into the playoffs for the first time, we’ve seen incredible hockey this year, but I think it’s going to step up from here. We announced the trophy last week. Six weeks, it’s going to be over quick, but it’s exciting times.”

The announcement of team names was still “a work in progress,” Hefford said.

“I think quite honestly, it’s been a blessing in disguise. Everybody talks about the PWHL. Nobody walks around saying ‘NHL’ around teams. We’ve been able to have a whole season where we’ve built the league brand.”

The PWHL has averaged 5,334 fans over its first 57 games.

Attendance ranged from a March 6 low of 728 at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a high of 19,285 in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 19. A sellout is projected for Saturday’s Toronto at Montreal clash at the 21,105-seat Bell Centre, which would set a new attendance mark.

“We’re seeing young girls and young boys and families, but we’re seeing 20-something professionals that are out having a good time at games,” Hefford said. “We’re seeing retired couples who are season-ticket holders. We have a lot of older generation women that never got a chance to be part of something like this. Our demographics are more broad than I think we thought.”

People watch PWHL games across eight different media company platforms in Canada and the U.S., including free streaming of all games on YouTube.