PWHL’S effect may increase the tempo at women’s worlds
N.Y. • How the new Professional Women’s Hockey League will change the international game is the buzz heading into the 2024 women’s world hockey championship.
The 10-country tournament, which opened here Wednesday, is the first world championship since the sixteam PWHL began operating Jan. 1 in Canada and the United States.
The rosters of defending champion U.S. and rival Canada are dominated by PWHL players with a combined 30 between them.
“It’s one of the first times that we’ve come in completely game-ready having come off a season,” Canadian forward Sarah Nurse said.
“We have some players who have come from NCAA, but the majority of our players have come from the PWHL and the pace of play there, the level of physicality, the level of skill that we’ve seen in the PWHL, I definitely feel will be felt in this tournament.”
Another nine PWHL players are sprinkled across other countries’ lineups, including four on the Czech team. Canada’s first game is Thursday against Finland.
Team Canada GM Gina Kingsbury and head coach Troy Ryan hold the same positions with PWHL Toronto. With a leg in each entity, the duo has a lens on how the new league could impact Canada’s fortunes.
“The level our athletes have been able to continue to train at, and now compete at, it’s just remarkable,” Kingsbury said. “We’re seeing an athlete that is far more ready coming into camps and events and Rivalry Series, but also more tired.
“This league can have an incredible impact on our success at a national team level, if we are aware of the changing dynamics, and if we maximize the opportunities that this league provides us, which is a daily training environment that’s much higher than we’ve had in the last five years or in the last forever years, to be quite honest with you.”
After losing the first three in a seven-game Rivalry Series against the U.S., Canada scratched out a December shootout victory before winning three straight in February.
Ryan believes the game-readiness the PWHL provided had a hand in Canada’s comeback.
“Heading into February’s last leg of the Rivalry Series, I remember the first practice and I was, ‘OK, this group is ready to go,’” Ryan said. “There was no getting them up to speed.
“We probably have a few older athletes that earlier in the year were not getting meaningful games and needed a little bit of grease to get the wheels going type of thing. A lot of the young athletes that the U.S. are playing ... were 10 games into their NCAA year.”
Canada’s run of titles — 2021 and 2022 world championship gold and 2022 Olympic gold in the span of just over a year — was halted in a 6-3 loss to the U.S. in last year’s world championship final in Brampton, Ont.
The U.S., Canada, 2023 bronze medallist Czechia, Switzerland and Finland comprise the tournament’s top five seeds in Group A. Sweden, Japan, Germany, Denmark and China are the sixth to 10th seeds in Group B.
The IIHF continues to bar Russia from tournaments because of that country’s invasion of Ukraine just more than two years ago.