PWHL Expands to 12 Teams With New Conferences and Playoff Format

A Massive Expansion

The Professional Women's Hockey League is growing rapidly. Entering its fourth season, the league is expanding to 12 teams. New franchises in Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose, and Hamilton are joining the mix.

With this growth, the league is splitting into two six team conferences. The Eastern Conference will feature Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton. The Western Conference will consist of Detroit, Minnesota, Las Vegas, San Jose, Seattle, and Vancouver.

Each team will play 30 games, bringing the total regular season schedule to 180 games. That is a big jump from the 120 games played last season. Teams will play 18 games against opponents in their own conference and will visit every market at least once.

New Playoff Structure

The expansion also means a new look for the postseason. The top four teams from each conference will make the playoffs. For the first time, a best of five quarterfinal round will start the postseason.

The league is keeping one of its unique rules. The first place team in each conference will get to choose whether they want to play the third place or fourth place finisher in the opening round. The semifinals and the Walter Cup Finals will continue to be best of five series.

Jayna Hefford, the executive VP of hockey operations, said the new format will make things more intense. "The introduction of conferences and an expanded playoff format will deepen rivalries and fuel the competitiveness," Hefford said.

Key Dates and Schedule Details

The regular season begins on Dec. 5 with six teams in action, followed by the other six teams playing the next day. The season will run until April 18.

Fans can expect plenty of weekend hockey. The schedule features 49 games on Saturdays and 39 on Sundays. For weekday games, Wednesdays will be the busiest with 31 matchups scheduled.

There will be no three week pause this year. The International Ice Hockey Federation permanently moved the women's world championship to November. This means the PWHL only needs one major break, which is an eight day pause in March.

During that break, the league will hold its first All Star event on March 7 in Toronto, featuring a four team, 3 on 3 competition. The popular Takeover Tour is also expanding from 16 to 24 games at neutral sites, though the locations are not yet announced.