Gone are PWHL Boston, PWHL Montreal, PWHL Toronto. The PWHL enters its second season with a completely new look.
The league’s top six teams have new names: Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.
The women’s hockey league went with relatively low-key branding for its first season, sticking to basic jerseys with just the team name on the front. Now, the new names come with a raft of rebranding across logos, colours, fonts and merchandise.
(Re)introducing the first six, like you’ve never seen them before:
Boston Fleet
Minnesota Frost
Montreal’s Victory
New York Sirens
Ottawa Indictment
Toronto Scepters photo.twitter.com/oMTyeTbecL— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) September 9, 2024
It’s been a busy first year for the PWHL, which launched last summer and began play in January. PWHL Minnesota — now known as the Minnesota Frost — won the inaugural Walter Cup in May, defeating Boston for a historic victory.
As a result of the quick turnaround, the PWHL opted for a basic branding, which received a lukewarm reception from fans despite assurances that it was temporary. All six teams retained their primary colors from the inaugural season with the new branding, while also adding new secondary colors.
There was also a backlash after a series of trademark names the PWHL filed with the U.S. Trade and Patent Office were leaked last fall. None of those names — including such clunky possibilities as the Toronto Torch, the Ottawa Alert and the Boston Wicked — were selected for the new branding.
Notably, the league also stayed away from former names from the now-defunct Premier Hockey League, which included such popular teams as the Toronto Six, the Metropolitan Riveters and the Boston Pride. The PWHL, which was formed after the dissolution of the PHF and the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League), has actively sought to distance itself from previous iterations, with PWHL VP Amy Sheer saying the league wanted to “create our own history.”
The PWHL did not consider any of the old PHF names (Six, Riveters, etc.) for their teams.
“By launching a new league, we wanted to create parity in what we were building as the PWHL. To create our own history.” – Amy Sheer, PWHL VP photo.twitter.com/mgjhI6cqFG
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 9, 2024
Even with neutral branding, the league enjoyed great success in its first year, drawing on a talented pool of players and unique competition structures, including a creative draft order format.
During that time, the PWHL surveyed fans and teams before settling on the new branding. New team jerseys will be released later this fall, with the 2025 season set to begin in January, with all six teams showing off their new looks.
