Professional Women’s Hockey League Launches Takeover Tour

The Professional Women’s Hockey League has launched the PWHL Takeover Tour, a schedule of nine neutral-site regular-season games that will be played outside the league’s current host cities in 2025.

The games will take place in a variety of locations across the United States and Canada, from the Pacific Northwest with Seattle and Vancouver to as far east as Québec City and as far south as Raleigh, North Carolina. The announcement comes as the PWHL prepares to open its second season on November 30 with the league launching plans to expand by as many as two teams by 2025-26.

“Bringing PWHL games to fans across both countries is a natural next step as we continue building our audience,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL senior vice president of business operations. “When exploring potential locations for a PWHL game, the enthusiasm from cities eager to engage with our league was incredibly encouraging. The PWHL Takeover Tour lets us showcase our game and exceptional athletes across a wider North American footprint — an exciting moment for our players and an important move for our business as we consider expansion.”

The nine games will be played over a span of 84 days beginning January 5, 2025, predominantly at venues that are home to NHL teams. The league is also exploring the opportunity to hold neutral site games in Europe after this season, reported The Associated Press.

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, which was home to a PWHL contest March 16 and hosted a U.S. professional women’s hockey attendance record of 13,736, will serve as a return host of a neutral-site game. All six PWHL teams will participate at least twice, with the Montréal Victoire and Ottawa Charge playing in four games, the Boston Fleet and Minnesota Frost appearing in three and the New York Sirens and Toronto Sceptres appearing in two.

Buffalo also made the list and will play host to Boston facing New York on February 23. This marks the return of women’s pro hockey to Buffalo after losing the Beauts, who in 2015 were founding members of the four-team National Women’s Hockey League. The NWHL eventually became the Premier Hockey Federation, which folded after it was bought out in June 2023 in paving the way to establish the PWHL.

2025 PWHL Takeover Tour Schedule

January 5: Montreal at Boston — Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
January 8: Montreal at Toronto — Rogers Arena, Vancouver
January 12: Montreal at Minnesota — Ball Arena, Denver
January 19: Ottawa at Montreal — Videotron Centre, Québec City
February 16: Toronto at Ottawa — TBA
February 23: Boston at New York — KeyBank Center, Buffalo
March 7: Ottawa at Minnesota — Lenovo Center, Raleigh
March 16: Minnesota at New York — Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
March 29: Ottawa at Boston — Enterprise Center, St. Louis