The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America in its third season currently featuring teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, each with rosters featuring the best women’s hockey players in the world.
Launched on Jan. 1, 2024, the PWHL has already surpassed one million fans all-time, broken multiple attendance records, and holds the worldwide attendance record for a women’s hockey game. In 2024, the PWHL was recognized by Sports Business Journal as the Sports Breakthrough of the Year and received the top position in the first-ever Canadian edition of the Harris Poll, which ranks companies’ reputations.
Unique to the PWHL are its scoring system and rule innovations, putting emphasis on an exciting product that rewards competitive play and engages audiences worldwide.
League Point System:
PWHL teams earn standings points with a 3-2-1-0 system, critically rewarding regulation-time wins to incentivize competitive play for a full 60 minutes every night:
At the end of the regular season, the four teams with the most total standings points compete in the PWHL Playoffs, which consist of two best-of-five semi-finals, and the winners advancing to the best-of-five PWHL Finals for the Walter Cup.
Safety & Gameplay Innovations
The PWHL emphasizes player safety and innovative gameplay through a number of initiatives:
Playoffs and Draft Innovations
League Make-Up
In the 2024-25 season, the PWHL players included 162 total players across six teams:
52 new players joined the league in 2024-25, including 34 directly turning pro from collegiate programs.
© 2026 PWHL
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