Calgary could soon be home to three professional hockey teams as the city may be in the running to snag a Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) expansion franchise.
The league announced on Tuesday morning that it is officially opening the expansion process with the intention of adding two more teams. Amy Scheer, the PWHL’s senior vice president of business operations, made this announcement at the espnW summit earlier today.
“As of today, we are officially starting the expansion process of the PWHL,” Scheer announced.
While the cities involved in the expansion process have not been officially revealed, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta listed Calgary as a potential option. If this happens, the Calgary PWHL team will join the NHL’s Calgary Flames and the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers as the other professional hockey teams to call the city home.
“With the expansion process officially underway for the PWHL, some markets that could enter the mix include Detroit, Calgary, Pittsburgh,” Pagnotta sent out on social media.
Those expansion teams could begin playing in the 2025-26 season.
With the expansion process officially underway for the PWHL, some markets that could enter the mix include Detroit, Calgary, Pittsburgh.
The league’s also working on playing some games in Europe as early as next season. https://t.co/kpJHj6sLge
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) October 29, 2024
The PWHL launched with six founding teams last year, all located in the eastern parts of Canada and the United States. The three Canadian teams are located in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Adding Calgary to the mix would signal a westward expansion of the league and give Western Canadian fans a default team to root for.
It would be a little ironic to see Calgary get a PWHL franchise, as many hockey fans mocked the Ottawa Surge’s new logo for closely resembling the iconic logo used by the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
Calgary is not alone as a potential city in the expansion process and could even be considered an underdog at this point. Other cities rumoured to be in consideration are Pittsburgh and Detroit, which are two locations that hosted PWHL-neutral site games last season. It was also recently announced that Quebec City will be hosting a neutral site game this season, making them another potential expansion target.
With most of the league situated in the northeastern part of the continent, it would make sense to flesh out the league in that area a bit more before expanding west. This would help keep travelling costs down for a league still in its infancy.
Even so, it’s hard to say that a PWHL in Calgary wouldn’t be successful. Alberta is a great hockey province and would likely embrace another team. The only thing better would be a team in Edmonton as well, giving hockey fans another Battle of Alberta to get excited about.