The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) game between host Minnesota and Montreal on Saturday set an attendance record for the most-watched professional women’s ice hockey game with 13,316 people at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the league said.
Fans thronging Saturday’s game in Saint Paul saw Grace Zumwinkle claim another piece of PWHL history by scoring the league’s first hat-trick, as Minnesota blanked Montreal 3-0.
The record crowd, which came five days after the PWHL held its first game, easily outnumbered the 8,318 fans on Tuesday last week who watched the clash between Montreal and hosts Ottawa in the inaugural game for both clubs.
Photo: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY
“Living in the State of Hockey, I knew our fans would show up for us, but today they have taken it to a whole new level,” Minnesota General Manager and former US national team player Natalie Darwitz said. “I’ve enjoyed numerous amazing hockey experiences in Minnesota over my career, and experiencing today and the record crowd was emotional and ranks near the top of the list.”
The attendance figures capped a successful first week for the PWHL, which launched on Monday.
“What we proved this week is that women’s hockey works,” PWHL founding board member Stan Kasten said.
The six-franchise league featuring teams from Boston, Minnesota, Ottawa, Montreal, New York and Toronto is the latest attempt to launch professional women’s ice hockey in North America.
It is the successor to the National Women’s Hockey League, which was launched in 2015 and was the first professional women’s league to pay players.
The PWHL is the latest bid to create a sustainable business model around women’s hockey after previous leagues failed to deliver.
Prior to the PWHL season, the Swedish Women’s Hockey League’s championship game for the 2021-2022 season held the professional women’s ice hockey record with a crowd of 7,765.
The previous North American record for a regular-season professional women’s hockey game was 5,938, set during a 2016 game in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
Additional reporting by AFP
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS