A hockey town: Inside the push to bring pro women's hockey back to Quebec City

When the Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge skate out to a packed Videotron Centre in Quebec City on Sunday, it will be the culmination of more than a year's worth of work to bring professional women's hockey to the city.

For the people who've worked to sell Quebec City to the PWHL, they hope it's the first game of many.

As the league considers whether to expand by as many as two teams as early as next season, Quebec City has made a pitch to be considered. 

The city would seem to check a few boxes on the league's checklist, including geography, a strong fan base, and an arena built with the idea that a professional team could someday be the anchor tenant.

"I can only say that we are in that process of exchanging information," Martin Tremblay, the president of Gestev, the company that manages and operates the city-owned Videotron Centre, said about expansion discussions with the PWHL. "They have their requirements. We have, I would say, a good relationship with them."

As of Tuesday, there were fewer than 1,000 tickets available for Sunday's game, according to Tremblay. Videotron Centre seats more than 18,000 for hockey.

Quebec City is one of nine stops on the PWHL's Takeover Tour, which is visiting cities across North America this season.

So far, the league has played games inside NHL arenas in Seattle, Vancouver and Denver, drawing more than 45,600 people combined. 

The push to bring a team to Quebec City began around Christmas 2023, before the PWHL had played even a single game.

Quebec City councillor Jackie Smith had heard about the new hockey league from her assistant. He's from Beauce, the small community between Quebec City and Maine where Marie-Philip Poulin grew up, and he's followed the Victoire captain's career "religiously."

"He might be her biggest fan," Smith said.

She was convinced quickly that Quebec City would be a perfect fit for the PWHL.

"We are a hockey town," said Smith, who represents the Limoilou district in Quebec City, which includes Videotron Centre.

"I know there's a lot of people who say that, but we had the Nordiques and people are still devastated by [the team relocating]. We have the arena. It's sitting here waiting for a professional hockey team."