Women’s Pro Hockey Coming to PNW 

Back in early January on one of those temperate Seattle winter Sundays, the neighborhood surrounding Climate Pledge Arena was buzzing with families, dads holding hands with daughters, couples, groups of girls wearing hockey jerseys and Kraken season ticket members, all cheerfully and excitedly heading to the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s “Takeover Tour” game between Boston and Montreal. It all added up to a high-decibel crowd of 12,608 watching Boston win a back-and-forth game, 3-2, in a shootout.

There’s now a resounding exclamation point on that outing. The PWHL announced Tuesday that Seattle will be the next expansion team, joining the original six franchises in Boston, Montreal, New York, Minnesota, Toronto, and Ottawa, plus the Vancouver expansion team named last week. The Seattle squad will begin play this coming 2025-26 season, and, before you ask, the team will operate as PWHL Seattle until a permanent brand identity is released, and the primary uniform color will be Emerald Green with a secondary hue of Cream.

The PWHL held an 11 a.m. private media event Wednesday, emceed by Kraken Hockey Network analyst Alison Lukan at Climate Pledge Arena, the franchise’s future home venue, with the team to be practicing at Kraken Community Iceplex. Lukan opened the packed event by asking, “Those in the back to move up because, like the support for women’s hockey, I can’t see the end of the crowd.”There is a recording available of the event on thepwhl.com and the PWHL’s YouTube channel.

PWHL Seattle joins the league’s single-entity ownership structure under The Walter Group in a financial model that is significantly upgrading the women’s professional hockey footprint. The Seattle franchise’s business and hockey operations will be entirely separate from the Kraken organization, which is thrilled to welcome the club to town.

“On behalf of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena, I am proud to welcome the PWHL to Seattle,” said Samantha Holloway, Kraken owner, who spoke at the media conference. “Seattle is an incredible sports city, and we’ve seen firsthand the passion for the women’s game – at both the USA vs. Canada “Rivalry Series” game [in 2002, drawing a national-team, on-American-soil record attendance of 14,551] and the PWHL “Takeover Tour.” We’re proud to grow the game of hockey at Kraken Community Iceplex. Together we’ll continue to inspire the next generation of hockey players and fans alike.”

At the event, Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke welcomed PWHL Seattle, referring to the WNBA Storm, to the home of the most successful women’s sport team of all time.” He also thanked the Seattle fans “who believed in us when they still thought the arena was a renovation and we didn’t have name and that’s why we are standing here today.”

Rivalry in the Making

The PWHL schedule is likely to run from November to May. Details about an expansion draft and how Seattle will be integrated into the 2025 PWHL Draft on June 24 will be revealed in the coming weeks. The guess here and among the PWHL brain trust is that the Seattle-Vancouver rivalry won’t take long to percolate as the third season rolls out this fall.

“There’s so much passion from women’s and girls’ hockey organizations in Seattle, and our players thrived on that energy during their ‘Takeover Tour’ visit,” said Jayna Hafford, a four-time Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada and PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations. “Seattle fans bring heart, pride, and volume."

“Women’s teams from Seattle and Vancouver played against each other as early as 1921 in an international women’s tournament staged by the [Seattle Metropolitan]. Given the proximity of our two newest cities, I cannot wait for the first game in what I’m sure will be one of our fiercest rivalries... today [Wednesday] is the end of a journey but really just the beginning.”

Scoping Schedule, Tickets, and Fitting in All Sports Events

Each team in the league will play 30 games next season, home and away. For fans looking to obtain season tickets, you can get in the digital line here for PWHL Seattle tickets starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Kraken Season Ticket Members will have the first opportunity to select their season ticket plans for the PWHL via a link sent by email Wednesday morning.

One more fan question to answer: Whether the PWHL team affects the potential need for an NBA expansion team to play 41 home dates, plus any preseason or playoff games in seasons ahead. The emphatic answer is no, and that Climate Pledge Arena executives and the PWHL have worked through all possible scenarios (adding in a plentiful concert schedule) to the positive. One fun possibility would be a doubleheader date with both PWHL and NHL games.

Growing the Women’s and Girls’ Game Here in the PNW

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest region’s avid interest and action in growing women’s and girls' hockey at the grassroots level is a major reason why Seattle was on the expansion short list for the burgeoning professional league. PWHL attendance this season is up by 34 percent with more than a million fans, 58 Olympians on rosters, 57 players competed in this year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship and, not to be underestimated, PWHL players and teams became an official feature in EA Sports’ highly popular NHL 25 video game.

“The opportunity to start a new chapter of women’s hockey in the Pacific Northwest, combined with calling the world-class Climate Pledge Arena home, has so much meaning for our league,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations who has deep experience in NBA, WNBA, MLS and NFL. “The fans were really, really, really loud at the ‘Takeover Tour game.' The Kraken have already been unbelievably supportive, creating such momentum in youth hockey in the Pacific Northwest, and we love that the Kraken sees us as additive."

"Seattle is the capital of women's sports. It’s a joy to have PWHL Seattle join the WNBA’s Storm and NWSL’s Reign, both skyscrapers in the city’s towering sports landscape.”

From the earliest days of the Kraken franchise, the team has made a full-on commitment to expanding opportunities for girls and women to play hockey and have ample and regular access to ice time, the latter being more of a challenge before the three rinks at Kraken Community Iceplex were completed. According to USA Hockey statistics, female members in Washington state grew 34 percent since the Kraken’s inaugural and it’s worth noting the latest stats are from the 2023-24 season. Equally promising is that the Kraken Youth Hockey Association now operates seven all-girls teams in a competitive league and has a robust all-girls Learn-to-Play program. No doubt some of those hockey players were heading to Climate Pledge Arena for that January “Takeover Tour” game.