PWHL expands neutral site game schedule to 16, with Denver, Detroit, Chicago getting 2 stops

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The Professional Women’s Hockey League is growing its schedule of Takeover Tour neutral site games to 16 for its third season.

With the eight-team league already planning further expansion in Year 4, several major Canadian and U.S. markets — including Chicago, Denver and Detroit — will be hosting two stops, the PWHL announced on Monday. The league will also play two games in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Edmonton, Alberta, over its 120-game schedule, opening on Nov. 21.

The league will be showcasing its talent in 11 cities across the continent, including first-time stops in Halifax; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Calgary, Alberta; Hamilton, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Chicago is also a newcomer, with two games being played at Allstate Arena, home to the American Hockey League Chicago Wolves.

The scheduling is up from nine Takeover Tour games last year. Detroit is hosting a neutral-site game for the third year and the league returns for a second year to Denver, Quebec City and Edmonton.

“The passion and support of fans, and the enthusiasm from cities eager to engage with our league, have fueled our ambition to grow the tour,” PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said.

Last year’s tour proved highly popular in drawing a combined attendance of 123,601 fans, including the league setting a U.S. attendance record of 14,288 in Detroit. The game in Vancouver drew a sold-out crowd of 19,038, which ranks fourth on the league’s attendance list.

The PWHL uses the Takeover Tour to gauge potential expansion markets, which led to the league adding Seattle and Vancouver for this season. More expansion is already on the horizon, with plans already in the works to add between two and four franchises for next year.

The league is also considering the possibility of having to relocate the Ottawa Charge due to a planned reduction in seating capacity at their home rink. The city last week approved a plan to renovate TD Place in a move that would cut capacity from 8,500 to 6,600.

In an opinion piece published in the Ottawa Citizen last week, Scheer and senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford pushed back on the plan by noting how the reduction will cut into the team’s revenue.

“It’s not a matter of optimism or ambition. It’s math,” the two wrote. “Shrinking our future home by thousands of seats would make it harder for families to get in, harder for the team to grow, and harder for Ottawa to remain a flagship market for women’s hockey.”

A majority of this year’s Takeover Tour games will be played at NHL teams’ home venues, with the exception of Chicago, and markets without NHL franchises in Halifax, Hamilton and Quebec City.

Each of the PWHL’s teams will participate in at least three neutral site games. Montreal plays Toronto to open the Takeover Tour series in Halifax on Dec. 17. And the tour closes with Boston playing Vancouver in Edmonton on April 7.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey