It Professional Women’s Hockey League is expanding.
The league announced on Wednesday that Vancouver was selected as the first expansion city. It will be the seventh team of the PWHL and the third in Canada.
“This is a historic day for our league, our fans, our athletes and our sport,” said Executive Vice President of PWHL business operations, Amy Scheer, in a statement published by the League. “Vancouver is a vibrating city with a deep love for the game, as we saw first hand during the PWHL Tour Tour earlier this season. Vancouver’s expansion reflects the growing momentum of the league and the incredible passion of our fanbase from the launch in January 2024. We are proud to bring the PWHL to the West Coast and to provide more fans with the best fans of experiencing of the world. ”
The team will initially go by PWHL Vancouver, and its colors will be the blue and the burning of the Pacific. The PWHL plans to announce the date of an expansion draft and how Vancouver will be integrated Their draft entry on June 24 At a later time.
The new Vancouver team, which has not yet been named, will play the Pacific Coliseum, the old Vancouver Canucks house.
And the addition of a second team of expansion, with Seattle to the candidate, is on the horizon, the Vice President of Business Operations told Associated Press.
“While some might say that Seattle is the obvious shoe that will fall, that does not mean that this is what we will do,” Scheer said to combine the two northern markets -west of the Pacific.
Although the League is addressed to Seattle, no agreement has been completed, a person with knowledge of discussions told the AP and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations are private. In the event that an agreement was not reached, the PWHL would consider other markets, said the person, with Denver and Detroit, who served as probable candidates.
Associated Press contributed to this article