The 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, which culminated in a U.S.-Canada gold medal game that set viewership records across the U.S., thrust women’s hockey into the spotlight like it hasn’t been before. The Professional Women’s Hockey League has spent much of the last three years positioning itself to capitalize on the momentum to build a sustainable women’s hockey league.
“Every Olympic year, there would be some boost in excitement and interest around the women’s game,” said Jayna Hefford, executive vice president of hockey operations for the PWHL, who won five Olympic medals playing for Team Canada. “When I think about where we are now, it’s sort of exponential from that.”
Despite the recent success of women’s sports and leagues like the WNBA and NWSL, women’s hockey leagues have struggled to find a similar footing, and that is even with the Olympic success of the U.S. and Canadian teams. Since women’s ice hockey was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1998, Canada has won five of the eight gold medals, with the U.S. winning the other three, including a 2-1 overtime win at the 2026 Games.
Several previous attempts to launch women’s hockey leagues in North America have failed, often due to financial difficulties. While the WNBA is partially owned and subsidized by the NBA, the NHL has not historically provided financial support for a women’s league, and many of those organizations have struggled to pay players sustainable wages. In 2019, many of the top women’s players boycotted the existing professional leagues in a fight for better resources.
