The Professional Women’s Hockey League bypassed a number of more traditional hockey markets to award Seattle one of its two expansion teams in 2025.
Julia Tocheri can take a least a little part of the credit for that.
Tocheri is half of the popular women’s hockey podcast, Jocks in Jills.
Her co-host is Tessa Bonhomme, a Team Canada hockey gold medalist before both she and Tocheri turned their attention to broadcasting.
When the PWHL “Takeover Tour” visited Seattle on Jan. 5, 2025, the Jocks in Jills hosts joined more than 12,000 fans at Climate Pledge Arena to watch Boston take on Montreal.
During a break, Tocheri appeared on the video screens asking those in attendance if they’d like a PWHL team of their own. The response was so thunderous, it was heard all the way back at league headquarters.
In a wide-ranging video interview, we discuss the birth of the Torrent with Tocheri, along with why her preferred choice of nickname wasn’t selected, why Seattle got a team and Oahu (Oahu?) didn’t, and much more.