PWHL announces season schedule, playoff dates for inaugural season

The Professional Women’s Hockey League has announced its official season schedule, starting with Toronto hosting Minnesota on New Year’s Day.

The game will serve as a lead-in to the NHL Winter Classic, which features the Seattle Kraken hosting the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners.

The 72 regular-season games land on 51 different dates, including 32 stand-alone matchups, 17 days with two games, and two days where all six teams are in action.

The six-team league, which also features yet-to-be-named teams in Montreal, Ottawa, Boston and New York, says the schedule is designed with games played on all seven days of the week.

American and Canadian teams will compete five times against the other teams in their country.

The schedule will pause in February for an IIHF national team break, and in April for the IIHF women’s world championship in Utica, N.Y. Playoffs are scheduled to begin the week of May 6.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2023.