The PWHL is growing, and the success of women's hockey in the Olympics may be just what it needed

Laura Stacey #7 of the Montréal Victoire celebrates her goal with teammates during the third period against the Seattle Torrent at Place Bell on March 19, 2026 in Laval, Quebec, Canada. 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. But that landscape shifted in 2023 with the launch of the PWHL. The league is privately funded by Mark Walter, the billionaire Guggenheim Partners co-founder and CEO, who over the last few years has become one of the largest sports investors with controlling stakes in MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and motorsports organization Andretti Global. Walter, who acquired the rights of another women's hockey league as part of the PWHL's launch, also brought on tennis legend Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss as members of the PWHL's advisory board. Despite a short timeline (the league was announced in August 2023 and played its first game on Jan. 1, 2024), the PWHL has seen success over its first three seasons. The now-eight-team league has drawn fans across North America, set multiple attendance records, attracted major sponsors, and, perhaps most importantly, was a platform for the best women's hockey players in the world as they prepared for the 2026 Winter Olympics.