The Professional Women’s Hockey League is taking Denver’s temperature again.
A year after the league set a since-broken American attendance record for a women’s professional hockey game with 14,018 fans at its Denver stop, the PWHL returns to Ball Arena for two games in this season’s Takeover Tour.
The tour, which is designed to gauge interest for potential expansion franchises in markets that don’t already have one of the PWHL’s eight teams, will play in Denver this Sunday (Vancouver Goldeneyes vs. Seattle Torrent at 4 p.m.) and on March 15 (New York Sirens vs. Minnesota Frost).
“As players, we don’t really know what to expect going into new market, but (Denver fans) definitely showed up and showed out last year, and it was a great game and a great experience,” said Seattle defender Cayla Barnes, who played last season in Denver. “I remember from that game, the fans were chanting, ‘We want a team,’ which was a really cool moment.
Barnes is on Team USA again for the upcoming Olympics, while Goldeneyes defender Sophie Jaques will play for Team Canada in Italy. Those two will be headliners on Sunday, which is the 10th of 16 neutral-site matchups on this season’s Takeover Tour. In total, Sunday’s game will feature 14 players who will represent their countries at the upcoming Olympics.
The current attendance record is now 17,228, set last Sunday in Washington, D.C., during the ninth stop of the tour at Capital One Arena. The PWHL also broke the 16,000 mark in Seattle’s inaugural home opener in November. Goldeneyes forward forward Abby Boreen said those attendance figures are evidence that the PWHL, now in its third season, is “just getting started.”
“It’s crazy from a player’s perspective, I wouldn’t even think (of attendance numbers seen in Denver and D.C.) since we don’t have a physical team in that location,” Boreen said. “I couldn’t even imagine having thousands of people show up, so it’s just a testament to where this league is going.”
Prior to Sunday’s game, the Torrent and Goldeneyes will each have open practices on Saturday at the Family Sports Center in Centennial, accompanied by autograph sessions with select players. The Torrent practice begins at 10:30 a.m., and the Goldeneyes practice begins at 1 p.m.
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