PWHL Rumblings: Team Names, Camp Dates, New York Venue, and More Free Agent Invites

PWHL training camps are rapidly approaching, and the league has started to announced venues, including the Coca-Cola Coliseum for Toronto and Place Bell for Montreal. There's also been the excitement for promises of a new 50 player, physical trading card set from Upper Deck this Fall. Camp rosters continue to come together, and the biggest news from the PWHL this week are the new team names set to be announced September 9.

Here's what we're hearing and seeing from across the PWHL this week:

Training Camp Opens November 12

It might be a very brief training camp and preseason ahead of the 2024-2025 season as training camps are set to open on November 12, with no on ice activities until November 15. Last year, training camps started around the same time in November, and teams did not take to the ice until January 1. This year, many within the PWHL believe the regular season will begin around December 1, meaning the preseason and training camp period would be significantly reduced. Prior to the inaugural season, the PWHL held a centralized preseason in Utica, New York from December 3-7 with each of the league's six teams playing exhibition games and running practices. The event also served as a testing ground of rule adaptations, including the "jailbreak" goal, which was implemented by the league this season.

Training Camp Invites

In an article from La Presse looking at Quebec women in the PWHL, Simon-Olivier Lorange reported additional camp invites and player moves. That included Lauriane Rougeau earning an invite back to PWHL Toronto's camp this year after the 34-year-old played in all of Toronto's games last year making the team out of camp. Leaving Toronto is defender Maude Poulin-Labelle who played for PWHL Toronto last season, but has accepted an invite in the same city as her alma mater, Northeastern, with PWHL Boston. Kelly-Ann Nadeau, who was a Second Team All-Canadian last season on the Montreal Carabins blueline will look to stay local attending camp with PWHL Montreal. Nadeau was one of The Hockey News' top ranked U Sports athletes heading into the PWHL Draft.

New York New Jersey's

If word out of New York, or Connecticut, or New Jersey is true, it sounds as though PWHL New York won't have a Long Island Sound connection, as the team could be planted in New Jersey. PWHL New York remains the only team in the league with a precarious venue situation after bouncing around cities and states last year without building a fan base equal to the rest of the PWHL. PWHL New York's games in New Jersey at the Prudential Center were two of their best attended games of the season, drawing 5,132 for their first game in the state.

Team Names Are Finally Here

Fans have been waiting for more than a year for team names. That wait is about to end as each of the PWHL's six teams turned their social media logos to black, erasing former team colors, and then each posted a teaser image dated September 9, and teaser phrases assumed to be hints toward team names. Many believed the previous names traversing the trademark system filed by the league - Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montreal Echo, New York Sound, Ottawa Alert, Toronto Torch - are still the front runner names, but it looks like most if not all of the team names are likely to differ from those filings. Typically, this would be where we'd give you the scoop on those new names, but we know how important this is to fans and the league, so let's just have fun together and let the names come out as the league planned on Monday. After more than a year, it will be an amazing day for fan bases to get excited for the future of the league.

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