Third PWHL Season Nears With the Arrival of Training Camp & Preseason Games

While this offseason was somewhat less chaotic for the Professional Women’s Hockey League than the last two, as usual the league managed to stay on our radar throughout the summer and into the fall.

During the 2024-25 season it was announced that two new West Coast franchises were being added in Vancouver and Seattle for 2025-26 with whispers about potential further expansion sooner rather than later. Those additions led to a news cycle that included the free-agent window during which the new teams were allowed to sign veteran unprotected players, the expansion draft, expansion-team head-coaching announcements, a flurry of free-agent signings and re-signings and the league’s annual entry draft in June. 

The PWHL’s 2024-25 award-winners were announced in conjunction with the draft as the league officially entered summer mode. During previous summers, the league worked hard to stay in the news throughout the offseason, but as an established product with two successful seasons under its belt, standard league business kept the PWHL in the news this time around.

The day-to-day business of announcing new player signings, staff additions, partnerships and contract extensions essentially kept the league visible on a weekly basis throughout July and August, while the PWHL continued to mix in interesting web and social-media promotional content highlighting top fan outfits, the best player themed pregame arrivals, the best overall player arrival outfits and the top plays from the 2024-25 campaign.

Reports from national team summer camps held in preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina Italy also kept the PWHL’s highest-profile players on center stage during summer’s dog days. 

The league followed that up with a series of features highlighting many of its players’ offseason adventures to bridge the gap from summer to fall and set the stage for an October ramp-up of news and promotional activity regarding the PWHL’s upcoming third season.

Once October arrived, the league wasted no time in getting fans excited for the 2025-26 campaign, unveiling the regular-season schedule Oct. 1. Then, on Oct. 6 the International Ice Hockey Federation announced that the Women’s World Championship would be moved from April to November, before the start of PWHL season, ensuring that the annual best-on-best tournament would no longer conflict with the conclusion of the PWHL’s regular season while also allowing for a full Women’s World Championship program during Olympic years.

“This collaboration marks an important step forward for our sport,” said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. “Working together with the IIHF and our partners globally, we’re doing what’s best to grow women’s hockey, building a calendar that allows each major event to reach its full potential.”

The new dates will take effect for the top division of the WWC in Denmark Nov. 6-16, 2026.

With that announcement, the momentum for the season ahead continued to build with the release of updates to the 2025-26 schedule and the announcement of each team’s training-camp roster:

·      Minnesota Frost training camp roster

·      Montreal Victoire training camp roster

·      Toronto Sceptres training camp roster

·      PWHL Vancouver training camp roster

·      PWHL Seattle training camp roster

·      New York Sirens training camp roster

·      Boston Fleet training camp roster

·      Ottawa Charge training camp roster

Then, finally, thoughts of the upcoming season came into total focus just one month prior to the opening puck drop as the PWHL unveiled the names, logos and jerseys for its seventh and eighth teams, the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent, as October came to a close. 

The month of November brought the first two games of the annual Rivalry Series between the United States and Canada as Olympic preparations continued. Meanwhile, the league’s remaining players convened for the start of PWHL training camps. National-team players joined the camps after a pair of USA victories, and training camps officially were in full swing.

With camps underway, on Nov. 10 the league announced the dates and sites for its second16-game neutral site Takeover Tour, as the PWHL continues to seek ways to expose its players and teams to new markets and professional facilities. The 2025-26 Takeover Tour begins Dec. 17 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with Montreal facing Toronto and concludes with Boston meeting Vancouver in Edmonton, Alberta, April 7.

In addition to Halifax, new cities for this season’s tour include Chicago; Dallas; Hamilton, Ontario; Quebec City; Washington, D.C.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Calgary Alberta. The league will be returning to Edmonton, Denver and Detroit after holding games previously in those cities. New PWHL cities Vancouver and Seattle hosted games during the 2024-25 tour, which produced five of the league’s top 10 regular-season crowds and welcomed fans from all 50 U.S. states and all 13 Canadian provinces.

Now, finally, Thursday, Oct. 13, brings the first exhibition games, meaning the Nov. 21 season opener between Toronto and Minnesota is just over a week away.  

 

PWHL Preseason Exhibition Schedule

Thursday, November 13

Minnesota Frost at New York Sirens, 3 p.m. ET

 

Friday, November 14

Minnesota Frost at New York Sirens, 12 p.m. ET

 

Saturday, November 15

Boston Fleet at Montréal Victoire, 7:30 p.m. ET

Seattle Torrent at Vancouver Goldeneyes, 10 p.m. ET

 

Sunday, November 16

Toronto Sceptres at Ottawa Charge, 1 p.m. ET

Seattle Goldeneyes at Vancouver Torrent, 8 p.m. ET

 

Monday, November 17

Toronto Sceptres at Ottawa Charge, 1 p.m. ET

Boston Fleet at Montréal Victoire, 2 p.m. ET

 

The preseason scrimmages will be held at the home team's primary venue, except for the two games in New York. Those will be played Essex County Codey Arena in West Orange, New Jersey. PWHL preseason game are closed to the public but can be followed via social-media and live web updates.

Once the exhibitions conclude, teams will be required to confirm their final rosters by Oct. 19. The 2025-25 season’s opening weekend is slated for Oct. 21-23:

  

PWHL Opening Weekend

Home teams in Bold

Minnesota Frost – Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 7 p.m. ET, vs. Toronto Sceptres at Grand Casino Arena 

Vancouver Goldeneyes – Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 10 pm. ET, vs. Seattle Torrent at Pacific Coliseum 

Ottawa Charge – Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 7 p.m. ET, vs. New York Sirens at TD Place 

Boston Fleet – Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, 1 p.m. ET, vs. Montréal Victoire at the Tsongas Center

  

The 2025-26 PWHL regular season will include a break for the Winter Olympics from Jan. 29 until Feb. 25, but there are plenty of intriguing dates prior to that.

In addition to the Minnesota’s second championship banner-raising ceremony Nov. 21, Seattle hosts its first game Nov. 28, Dec. 2 features a Walter Cup Finals rematch between the Frost and Ottawa, Captain America Hilary Knight returns to Boston Jan. 2 and all three of the PWHL’s top draft picks to date – Taylor Heise, Sara Fillier and Kristýna Kaltounková – will be in action Jan. 16 when Minnesota travels to New York to face the Sirens.