Women’s league testing Detroit, Pittsburgh for possible expansion

DETROIT — Boston defenceman Megan Keller can already foresee the potential for expansion with the Professional Women’s Hockey League holding neutral site games in Pittsburgh and Detroit this weekend.

It’s not a matter of if, Keller believes, but when for the firstyear, six-team league.

“I think it’s inevitable,” she said during a PWHL video conference call this week.

“There’s so much room for growth in women’s hockey, and especially at the professional level,” added Keller, who grew up outside of Detroit. “To have that access for young hockey players in those different markets, I think it would be super successful. And it’s something fans, Detroit hockey fans, deserve.”

Though league executives have tapped the brakes on expansion talk, with nothing on the horizon until the 2025-26 season at the earliest, it hasn’t prevented them from testing potential markets as reflected in the PWHL’s dubbed “Takeover Weekend.” And the PWHL is already promising even more neutral-site games next season.

Toronto, on a nine-game winning streak, and Montreal will face off in Pittsburgh at the Penguins PPG Paints Arena on Sunday. And Boston faces Ottawa in Detroit at the Red Wings’ Little Caesars Arena today, marking a homecoming for Keller and fellow Michigan-born teammates Taylor Girard and Shiann Darkangelo.

“Growing up, my dad would always take me to Red Wings games and so it’s going to be cool,” Girard said.

The 30-year-old Darkangelo developed her skills in Detroit’s Little Caesars’ youth hockey program, and is looking forward to holding a pre-game camp with program youngsters.

While Detroit might be dubbed “HockeyTown,” what’s not lost on all three players is how the state’s two major colleges — Michigan and Michigan State — lack women’s varsity hockey programs.

Darkangelo and Keller wondered if the game in Detroit and the prospect of the PWHL one day expanding into the Motor City might spur both schools, who both have club teams.

It’s a sticking point for others, including Minnesota GM Natalie Darwitz. When the University of Delaware announced launching a women’s varsity program in December, Darwitz called it “amazing,” before quickly adding: “We still don’t have Michigan.”