The most important number coming out of Sunday’s women’s pro hockey game at Climate Pledge Area wasn’t the final score. The key figure was 12,608 – the attendance – with puck drop at the same starting time as a Seattle Seahawks NFL kickoff, no less.
Credit the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for kicking off its nine-city slate of neutral site games in Seattle, what the league has dubbed the “Takeover Tour.” And take over they did, as scores of families toting young girls and boys filled CPA, despite the lack of a rooting interest. This followed autograph signings, clinics, and open team practices at Kraken Community Iceplex a day earlier.
A warm welcome from the Emerald City 💚 pic.twitter.com/pogfRYXNwZ
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) January 5, 2025
Let that sink in.
It wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of men’s major league hockey in Seattle was a far-fetched notion. But four years in, the NHL Kraken have established a beachhead on the Puget Sound sports landscape.
Of course, differences beyond gender exist between the Kraken and the teams playing Sunday afternoon on their ice. Neither team wore “Seattle” on its uniforms. For the record, the Boston Fleet rallied from down 2-0 for a 3-2 shootout triumph over the Montreal Victoire. Hanna Brandt, Hanna Bilka, and Susanna Tapani netted shootout scores, while Fleet goalie Aerin Frankel denied three of the four attempts by the Victoire.
The five minute overtime was as thrilling as the NHL variety, with great saves, 2-on-1’s (almost wrote “odd-man rushes”), a breakaway, a puck lying inches from the goal line, but no goals. In particular, Laura Stacey’s shorthanded end-to-end rush for Montreal was electrifying, with Frankel only partially stopping her shot, and teammate Tapani sweeping the puck out of the crease behind her.
@Jennthulhu_Photos
The crowd reaction throughout was brilliant. They roared when Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Before the game, Campbell addressed the Fleet players. “I just want to say ‘congrats.’ Everything that you guys have put out there, the momentum and the energy you guys have built, is something that for me as a former player, I’m just so inspired what you guys are doing each and every day.”
Campbell then repped her new home city. “This place is so energetic. You felt it at the Iceplex as well. This is a stage that you guys deserve. The second I got to step behind the bench in Seattle, I remember feeling what a privilege it was.
“It didn’t matter if it was a young girl or a young boy, they would see themselves in pro hockey. Inspire the next generation to believe in what they can see.”
PWHL Social Media
The Kraken were equally well represented in the Victoire dressing room before the game. Kraken co-owner and Montreal native Mitch Garber, with a nod to the century-old Canadiens vs. Bruins rivalry, laughingly shared his lifelong dislike for all things Boston.
Then the Victoire starters were read out by veteran forward Yanni Gourde and his less-veteran daughter Emma. Gourde hails from Saint-Narcisse-de-Beaurivage, Quebec, three hours northeast of Montreal.
Once the game started, fans ooohed at rushes and aaahed at saves and cheered more when Stacey scored the game’s first goal. They even cheered a referee – surely a first in Seattle sports – when Seattle native Katie Glover was introduced.
The teams noticed. “It was certainly loud,” Montreal coach Kori Cheverie said afterward. “This building is amazing. Being able to bring our product to a city like Seattle, we take that on with pride.” Victoire forward Stacey didn’t take that for granted. “We’ve gone through plenty of years (as women pros) with not many fans in the building. So it’s a big honor to come to rinks like this, cities like this, and have 12 thousand fans cheering for teams that don’t even belong to their city.”
Fans roared again when Kraken players Matty Beniers, Joey Daccord, Philipp Grubauer and Shane Wright and announcer J.T. Brown were shown on the big screens.
As mentioned, Yanni Gourde joined them in taking a busman’s holiday at the game, as did coach Campbell.
(Unfortunately, we found out later that both Gourde and Daccord had been placed retroactively on injured reserve.)
One alteration due to gender: a Victoire penalty was announced as “too many players,” because “too many men” really wouldn’t make any sense.
Guess what wasn’t altered from the men’s game: physicality, both during and after whistles. It’s a question that no longer needs to be asked. For instance, even though the Victoire’s Alexandra Labelle made every effort to avoid Fleet goalie Frankel after a 1st period save, a pair of Boston skaters made sure to protect their netminder by plowing her under.
PWHL Photo
TSN reporter and former pro player Tessa Bonhomme, half of the Jocks in Jills podcast, said she expected the 3rd period to include “a lot of physicality.” Indeed there was; Montreal forward – and women’s hockey legend – Marie-Philip Poulin was called for boarding in the final minute of regulation. Poulin later redeemed herself with a shootout goal.
Podcast co-host Julia Tocheri, who obviously knows how to work a room, got an enormous roar in response when she asked the crowd if Seattle should get a PWHL team.
Boston Fleet Social Media
PWHL Screengrab
With upper bowl tickets available for less than $30, moms and dads could expose youngsters to two realities.
One, females are capable of playing as competitive, feisty, and entertaining a brand of hockey as their male counterparts. Two, there’s a path for both girls and boys to achieve their own pro hockey ambitions.
This extends the region’s admirable – and well-deserved – reputation for supporting women’s pro sports. A December, 2022 “Rivalry Series” game at CPA matching Team USA and Team Canada women’s hockey squads drew more than 14,000 spectators. The Storm in 2024 averaged more than 11,000 fans per game, 4th in the 12-team WNBA and well above the league average of 9,800. In 2023, the NWSL Reign averaged a club-record more than 13,600 fans per game, also 4th in what was a 12-team league before expansion.
It’s also telling that the region has accorded two female pro athletes icon status. When now-retired superstars Sue Bird (Storm) and Megan Rapinoe (Reign) were shown in attendance Sunday, wow, did the crowd roar.
The engaged power couple are frequent visitors at Kraken games. Kraken social media posted the multi-tentacled photo of Bird and Rapinoe to their X account just a few months ago. (If the team ever comes out with a tentacle phone, you’ll know where they got the idea.)
All of the above makes a strong argument for Seattle one day having a PWHL team to call its own. Certainly, deep-pocketed and visionary Kraken ownership would be interested in kicking the tires on such a franchise. (The WNBA Storm already play home games at CPA.) So will it happen? And if so, when?
The guesses here are probably yes, but not for a while. One reason is geography. In its second season, PWHL teams fly commercial in coach, which makes travel taxing. Other trips, like Boston to Montreal for last year’s playoffs, are done by bus. Right now, the westernmost outpost of the six-team league is Minnesota, and that’s still 1,600 miles east of Seattle.
To make western expansion financially viable, the PWHL would likely have to go the same route as the AHL. The NHL’s top minor league had to create and populate a Pacific Division with teams to play largely against each other. That’s part of the reason the “Takeover Tour” is also making stops in Vancouver – already a sellout – Denver and Edmonton.
Other checklist items for expansion city hopefuls can be categorized under one banner: infrastructure. Specifically, how robust is youth hockey, what level of support the business community will extend, and whether a market is likely to embrace the product.
Jayna Hefford, PWHL senior VP of hockey operations, told CBC, “We may do up to two (expansion) teams as early as next season, but we certainly aren’t committed to doing that, either. We need a bit more time to evaluate where we’re at and what any potential proposals look like, and is it possible to do that for season three.”
Game highlights below.