(The start of the PWHL Ottawa team’s last game of the season, May 2024. Photos: The Hockey News)
This past Sunday, PWHL Ottawa finished off their first-ever season. Unfortunately, the team came just shy of a playoff birth hitting a losing skid at the worst time dropping their last three games of the season. Even though the team could not pull it off in the end, writing this season off as a failure would be the furthest thing from the truth. Ottawa played great all year with breakout stars such as Kateřina Mrázová and team captain Brianne Jenner.
The team set out this year to prove that women’s hockey was sustainable and could garner support from not just the die-hards but the causal fan as well. The team played all 12 home games at TD Place located in Lansdowne. They set a league record for average attendance bringing in close to 7,500 fans a night. Ottawa being known as a town that hasn’t had the best luck with fan turnout for other pro and semi-pro sports showed that they wanted to get behind this team and support them night in and night out.
Team general manager Mike Hirshfeld said in an interview, “I want to obviously thank the fans here in Ottawa, they’ve been absolutely incredible.” Team captain Brianne Jenner also gave remarks saying, “Thank you Ottawa for making our inaugural season unforgettable”. Star forward Emily Clark also posted to Instagram, “Thank you to our fans for your unwavering support. Thank you to our staff for going above and beyond for us. And thank you to my teammates who became sisters for making coming to the rink every day a dream.”
Looking to the future, Ottawa is setting up for the league entry draft where they will hold the second overall pick. Ottawa, along with the other five teams, will also be gaining team branding this summer moving away from the city-name/league-name model.
The league has announced a partnership with Bauer Hockey to be the official licensing partner for all PWHL jerseys next year. With new team names and branding, the jerseys will surely be flying off the shelves come next season. Don’t be surprised when you see Jenner and Clark jerseys beside Tkachuck and Stützle jerseys everywhere next year.
To get more info on the team and to stay up to date visit thepwhl.com.