The Professional Women’s Hockey League will expand to 12 teams for its 2026-27 season, introducing Eastern and Western Conferences and doubling the playoff field to eight teams. The league’s regular season will run from December 5 through April 18, featuring a record 180 games.
The new Eastern Conference will include the Boston Fleet, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres, and the Hamilton expansion team. The Western Conference will feature the Minnesota Frost, Seattle Torrent, Vancouver Goldeneyes, and new franchises in Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Jose, California.
Each team is scheduled for 30 regular-season games, with 18 played within their conference and 12 against teams from the opposite conference. The PWHL’s “Takeover Tour” returns with 24 neutral-site games, allowing every club to play four games at venues outside their home cities.
Jayna Hefford, the league’s executive vice president of hockey operations, said the schedule “reflects the PWHL’s monumental growth” and that the introduction of conferences and an expanded playoff format “will deepen rivalries and fuel the competitiveness” throughout the season.
The revamped playoff format will expand from four to eight teams, with the top four teams from each conference qualifying. The postseason will now have three rounds: best-of-three first-round series, best-of-five conference finals, and best-of-five Walter Cup Finals. The top seed in each conference will choose its first-round opponent from the third- or fourth-place finisher.
The season opens on December 5 with three games, including Caroline Harvey’s debut for the Vancouver Goldeneyes against the Seattle Torrent. The Montreal Victoire, defending Walter Cup champions, will host Hamilton in the first women’s hockey game broadcast on CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada.” San Jose will host the Minnesota Frost at SAP Center, while the remaining six teams play on December 6.
The regular season will not include a lengthy international break, as the IIHF Women’s World Championship has moved to November. Instead, teams will have a one-week break around the league’s inaugural All-Star event, scheduled for March 7 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.
Several matchups stand out on the schedule. On December 20, the Minnesota Frost will face Montreal Victoire in a playoff rematch, marking their first meeting since the Frost lost in the Walter Cup semifinals. Both teams have undergone roster changes, with Montreal losing captain Marie-Philip Poulin but adding forwards Jessie Eldridge and Emma Maltais, while Minnesota retained top forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Fox, and Kelly Pannek.
The Takeover Tour begins on January 2 with a neutral-site game between Ottawa and Boston. On January 6, former Montreal defender Erin Ambrose will return to Place Bell with her new team, Las Vegas, alongside forwards Maureen Murphy and Hayley Scamurra.
Another notable game is scheduled for February 13, when Caroline Harvey of Vancouver will meet Laila Edwards of San Jose during a neutral-site Takeover Tour matchup. The two longtime teammates and Olympic gold medalists were the first and fourth picks in the 2026 draft.
April will bring storylines involving former Ottawa Charge players Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark, who signed with Hamilton after being left unprotected in the expansion draft. They will face their former team in Hamilton on December 13 and return to Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre later in the season.
The regular season concludes on April 18 with two conference matchups: Ottawa hosting Montreal and New York visiting Hamilton. The playoff race is expected to remain competitive until the final day, as it has in previous seasons.
According to Yahoo Sports.
