Earlier today, this nugget appeared on Twitter courtesy of Dan Rice (who covers women’s hockey and is a contributor with our friends over at The Ice Garden):
DC, you say? Interesting…
The Background
The PWHL, or Professional Women’s Hockey League, is the new league being proposed by the PWHPA – the group that was formed back in 2019 following the closure of the CWHL. Many of the leaders who have been and/or continue to be on the board of the PWHPA are among the most well-known in women’s hockey, including Sarah Nurse, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and the GOAT herself, Hilary Knight.
There were initial reports last spring of the PWHPA working with some LA-based sports groups last year to begin planning the new league, after deciding not to continue talks with the current pro women’s league, the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF, formerly the NWHL).
Earlier this year, additional details started to come out about this proposed new league (with more info here):
Women’s Hockey in the District?
The Caps, of course, have become increasingly involved with the efforts of the PWHPA and with women’s hockey in general – most recently by hosting a couple of very successful legs of the PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour at Medstar Capitals Iceplex in 2022 and 2023. They also launched the ALL CAPS ALL HER platform in 2021 to encourage and increase women’s participation in all areas of hockey.
The next logical and thrilling step, then, would be to bring a team to the area, and it sounds like that could be in the works.
There are questions yet to be answered, though:
- Where would they practice and play? One of the key things the PWHPA is reportedly looking for is good facilities, and it’s unlikely they’d be able to share Medstar with the Caps, but there are plenty of rinks and colleges in the area. Is there one that would be the best suited for both players and fans?
- How involved would the Capitals organization be with this new team? Obviously a relationship already exists, and there’s no doubt there would be support from the organization and from the players (many of whom have shown up to watch those showcases) – but would Ted Leonsis and the Monumental Sports family be directly involved, or merely supportive neighbors?
- How would women’s hockey do in Washington? Based on the support and turnout for the two Dream Gap weekends, there’s definitely a passion for women’s hockey – will it be enough to support a team for a full season?
UPDATE: This doesn’t mean it’s not happening, but just a reminder that nothing is official yet. Here’s hoping!
Stay tuned, we’ll definitely have more on this as information becomes available!
Good idea – best answer really is Medstar and the CAPS Arena. Yes there would be scheduling issues but.. come on Ted. Secondly, thanks Becca for some real content and not just reliving the past. How bout some discussions of potential CAPS coaches and looks at existing and potential relatively fresh faces for this year (LaPierre, Mirosischenko(sp?), McMichael, Frank…..
Where ever the rink is, it has to have both capacity and have easy public transportation access (Metro and bus lines). I don’t know of any rinks with that mix.
In terms of seating, the one area facility that I can think of that would be best that isn’t COA or Medstar, is ION in Leesburg. It has a 5000-ish seat arena side. I’m not sure how much more it can handle, though, as most of what it is used for is Little Caps and figure skating. After that, there are plenty of facilities with stands, but not near that capacity.
Having spent the better part of two season watching my kid play at Ion, I’d say the Arena sheet is very nice, but the locker room facilities and the location of the rink would be big problems out there.
This is super exciting news. I really hope it happens.