3 seasons in, PWHL set to enjoy
international coming-out party during Milan Cortina Games
[February 02, 2026]
By JOHN WAWROW
The Professional Women’s Hockey League was but a pipe dream in
February 2022 when Kendall Coyne Schofield emphatically declared the
urgency needed to address a fractured sport with unrealized
potential.
“We need to push for visibility,” Coyne Schofield said then, choking
back tears after the United States’ 3-2 gold-medal loss to Canada at
the Beijing Winter Games. “We need to continue to fight for women’s
hockey because (the status quo) is not good enough. It can’t end
after the Olympic Games.”
Four years later, the women’s pro hockey landscape has undergone a
seismic shift following the PWHL’s launch in 2023. The league’s
presence and expanding success validates Coyne Schofield’s vision as
the PWHL prepares for its international coming-out party at the
Milan Cortina Games.
“I look at the growth of the women’s game, even from my first
Olympics in 2014, and it’s been exponential,” said the 33-year-old
captain of the two-time Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost.
“To be a small part of that growth and just to live through that
growth has been one of the greatest things I’ve been able to be a
part of,” she added, in having played a key behind-the-scenes role
in the league’s formation. “And I’m excited to see what happens
after these Games.”
The PWHL is banking on it. The eight-team league, financially backed
by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is placing a major
emphasis on marketing the PWHL through advertising spots during the
two-week women’s tournament opening on Thursday.
The PWHL is well represented with 61 players among the 10 competing
nations' rosters, and most notably filling out a majority of the
U.S. and Canadian teams.
Attracting viewers
The objective is twofold: Introducing PWHL fans to the elite level
of Olympic play and luring casual viewers tuning in once every four
years to the PWHL.
“Previous years, everybody falls in love with the Olympics. They
hear stories about players, we have huge viewership numbers, and
then it’s sort of like ‘What now?’” Hockey Hall of Famer and PWHL
executive vice president Jayna Hefford said. “It’s a big opportunity
to educate, direct back and make sure they know where they can find
the players.”
Though much is being made of NHL players competing at the Olympics
for the first time since 2014, these Games mark the debut of true
professional women’s hockey players.
Their sport has gone through many iterations of so-called pro
leagues, many in name only. Canadian Women’s Hockey League players
weren’t paid a salary. A majority of the game’s elite eventually
balked at competing in the National Women’s Hockey League, which
later became the Premier Hockey Federation before being bought out
to pave way for the PWHL.
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Vancouver Goldeneyes' Sarah Nurse (20) celebrates her goal against
the Toronto Sceptres during the third period of a PWHL hockey game
in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Ethan
Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Three seasons of growth
The Olympics serve as the next launching point of growth for a
league that began with six franchises and now has eight spanning the
continent from Boston to the Pacific Northwest. More expansion is on
the horizon, with the PWHL set to add up to four more teams next
season.
Attendance is up. After soaring past the 1 million mark in just
under two seasons in March, the PWHL has already surpassed 500,000
fans alone nearing the halfway point of its third season.
Challenges remain. Though every game is available on TV in each U.S.
team's market, and across America and much of the globe via YouTube,
the PWHL lacks a national broadcaster in the U.S.
International growth
The PWHL also lags in international talent in its attempt to market
itself as the world’s top league. Only 25 of the league's 200-plus
players this season come from outside North America. They include
New York Sirens forward Krystyna Kaltounkova, who is from the Czech
Republic and in June became the first European player to be chosen
No. 1 in the draft.
Hefford is confident expansion, coupled with an Olympic tournament
featuring PWHL stars, will be a vehicle to attract more
international players. League executive Stan Kasten previously said
the PWHL is eying playing exhibition games in Europe and one day
establishing teams there.
“Europe is a big part of our future,” Kasten told The AP in May.
Boston Fleet forward and veteran Swiss national team player Alina
Muller said she believes the PWHL’s growth and stability will
gradually lure more international players. Europeans who came to
North America to play collegiately before returning home now they
have a league to further their careers.
“Now being able to watch our games and think, ‘Yeah, I want to end
up playing professionally,’ will change the attitude toward the
sport completely,” said Muller, who played college hockey at
Northeastern. “Hopefully in Europe people see that it’s worth the
investment, and it’s not just a side gig or charity."
___
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed.
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