PWHL opens 2nd season looking to build on 1st-year success

Nothing will replace the special moments and many firsts — first game, first road trip, first win — Hilary Knight enjoyed during the PWHL’s inaugural season.

Nothing will replace the special moments and many firsts — first game, first road trip, first win — Hilary Knight enjoyed during the PWHL’s inaugural season.

At 35, one of USA Hockey’s most accomplished female players remains awed by the leap the league made in being established in late June 2023, launching six months later and catching the wave of women’s sports growth in North America.

“I think it’s just the perfect timing to be able to be a woman in pro sports and be a part of the piece that continues to move the sport forward,” Knight said. “We’re part of the conversation now.”

Even being on the ice with her Boston teammates following a decisive Game 5 loss in the finals in May and watching Minnesota players raise the Walter Cup didn’t blemish Knight’s experience.

“Celebrating the first year for every team is critical because it was the inaugural season,” she said. “And now it really does feel like, ‘OK, let’s go.’”

Welcome to PWHL Season 2, which opens Saturday and features all six teams in action this weekend. There will be more games — 30 per team, up from 24 last year. There will be more talent, with an influx of both college graduates and European veterans.

Each team has a logo and nickname after going without last year. And there’s already talk of expansion, with the privately financed and centrally controlled PWHL looking to add up to two franchises by next year.

“It’s hard to put into words, to be honest. Obviously, the first season exceeded all of our expectations,” vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said. “We always believed. We had a vision for it. But to see it happen as quickly as it did was something that was pretty special.”