The Professional Women's Hockey League has seen measurable turnout across the United States and Canada during its inaugural season, but New York's team hasn't been as lucky.
Empty seats rival fans as they cheer on the New York Professional Women's Hockey League team at UBS Arena on Sunday, March 3.Minnesota transplant Sam Haney and her friends were riding the Long Island Rail Road from Brooklyn to Belmont Park to cheer on New York's team on March 2. The team was going to play her home state at UBS.
PWHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford said the league knew it'd have its work cut out for it in New York. Still, Hefford said the PWHL believes it can grow in New York’s market and pointed to the success of other professional women’s teams in other sports — the Liberty in the WNBA and Gotham FC in soccer — as the league looks to season two and the draft in June.
The league and locations of the teams were only announced in August when billionaire Mark Walter — who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club — purchased a previous iteration of a women’s hockey league. So there wasn’t time to choose names, and in New York’s case, the team played where it could secure the space with short notice.
“When I was a kid, I would play on the nearest boys' club,” said Levy. “It's sad because little girls around here, a lot of their dreams died out because there was just nothing to go to for a girl.”