The Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League鈥檚 team names and logos have finally arrived.
After a season of canvassing fans, players and general managers, the PWHL unveiled long-awaited branding for all six franchises on Monday.
The Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montr茅al Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres will take the ice when the league enters its second season.
"It's a super exciting day, not only for the players to finally be able to say that we play on the Sceptres 鈥� it's a lot easier to say than PWHL Toronto, so that's a plus for us,鈥� Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull said on a conference call after the announcement.
鈥淏ut I think in terms of where the league's at and how successful it was last year without any names or logos, thinking to what the future holds now for all the teams and the franchises to have names and have logos and potentially mascots and so many different things for the fans to rally behind.鈥�
The PWHL shattered women's hockey attendance records in a short-notice first year after the league was founded in June 2023.
Teams filled arenas without nicknames during the inaugural season from last January to late May, with only city names stitched across each team鈥檚 jerseys.
Now they鈥檒l enter Year 2 with a whole new look.
The Boston Fleet鈥檚 name is intended to reflect the city鈥檚 maritime history, with a logo featuring a green 鈥淏鈥� shaped like an anchor.
The Minnesota Frost logo showcases a sharp-edged 鈥淔鈥� resembling icicles, highlighting the state鈥檚 famously cold winters.
The Montr茅al Victoire鈥檚 crest features 鈥淰ictoire鈥� in capital letters above a winged figure the league says alludes to the Goddess of Victory. The logo also has a hidden 鈥淢鈥� and the Fleur-de-lis, Quebec鈥檚 national symbol, at its centre.
League executives said they purposely decided to keep the name in French, without an English translation.
鈥淩eally love the logo, really love the name,鈥� Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin said, adding she found out about the name Sunday night. 鈥淲hen you come to the rink, it's going to be on the jumbotron. It's going to be everywhere. It's going to be on T-shirts, sweaters.
鈥淪uch an exciting day here today to have six new names, six new logos.鈥�
In New York, 鈥淪irens鈥� represents the sounds of the city and a hockey goal horn. The logo has the word 鈥淪irens鈥� in teal running through the big white 鈥淣Y鈥� letters meant to symbolize the city鈥檚 skyscrapers.
The Ottawa Charge name references the city鈥檚 motto 鈥� 鈥淎dvance 鈥� Ottawa 鈥� En Avant.鈥� The emblem is a red 鈥淥鈥� with spikes trailing along its side to suggest momentum. A slight gap in the 鈥淥鈥� also allows it to be interpreted as a 鈥淐.鈥�
鈥淚t's really exciting for our fan bases,鈥� Charge captain Brianne Jenner said. 鈥淭o see our jerseys in the stands like we're going to see this year, I think it's just the next step forward for our league.鈥�
鈥淪ceptres鈥� is a nod to Toronto鈥檚 nickname as the Queen City and 鈥淭oronto鈥檚 regal history.鈥� The logo combines the initials 鈥淭鈥� and 鈥淪鈥� in golden letters to form a sceptre 鈥� a symbolic staff often held by monarchs.
Jerseys will be released in late October or early November. All teams will retain their primary colours from last season while introducing additional secondary colours.
PWHL vice president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah led the naming process alongside PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer. They partnered with creative agency Flower Shop to develop the names and logos.
The months-long search for team identities started the day the league was founded, but the turnaround had to be quick.
"Most teams take 18 months to do one logo, one team name," Scheer said. "We decided that we were going to do six in nine months."
League marketers set up criteria to ensure that the names represented each city, resonated with fans and were marketable.
From there, they gathered opinions from around the league 鈥� including players 鈥� and sought input from fans.
Bhatt-Shah said she followed PWHL games while they streamed on YouTube and saw 鈥渁 lot of awesome stuff there to mine from.鈥�
And with the league already underway, they had the benefit of visiting arenas across the league to chat with fans face-to-face.
鈥漌e had such a tremendous amount of input and insights and that we were also constantly mining, like at games, right?鈥� Bhatt-Shah said. 鈥淲e had the luxury and the privilege of actually being in market as this process was happening on a parallel path.鈥�
Fans eagerly awaited the names. Last October, the PWHL filed applications to trademark six of them: Toronto Torch, Montreal Echo, Ottawa Alert, Minnesota Superior, Boston Wicked and New York Sound.
Some fans on social media speculated as recently as last week that those would be the names revealed on Monday. But Scheer said they were one of many.
鈥淭here's been hundreds upon hundreds of names that have been under consideration and have been trademarked for various purposes along our path,鈥� Scheer said. 鈥淭hose were just six that happened to have gotten out.鈥�
Scheer said a small PWHL committee met daily to review names they secured the rights to, a challenge considering the hurdles of passing through intellectual property regulations in both sa国际传媒 and the U.S.
They submitted names to the PWHL Advisory Board for approval ahead of a jersey artwork deadline in May.
Since then, they鈥檝e been designing merchandise, websites and branding for all six markets with Monday's announcement in sight.
A schedule for the upcoming season has yet to be released, though play will begin earlier than last season鈥檚 Jan. 1 start date. The regular season will increase to 30 games from 24.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
