Every four years, women’s hockey captures the world’s attention at the Winter Games.
The Olympic tournament would be followed by a celebratory homecoming, featuring a media tour with stops through the late-night talk show circuit and perhaps even a visit to 30 Rockefeller Plaza for an appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”
Every four years, it seemed Hilary Knight, Marie-Philip Poulin and Kendall Coyne Schofield would again become household names.
Team USA versus Canada became a must-watch TV event.
But the glow of the Olympics would gradually fade as time went on. March Madness would come.
The NBA playoffs would start.
The NFL draft overtook headlines.
With no stable, full-time professional league in the states, women’s hockey would drift into the abyss of the saturated American sports landscape that’s been dominated by men for decades.
Every four years, the cycle would repeat.
But the PWHL has an opportunity to break that cycle this time around.
The PWHL welcomed back its 61 Olympians this week and officially returned to action Thursday night, one week after the 2026 Winter Olympic gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada delivered drama and shattered TV viewership records.
Ten Olympic gold medalists took the ice at Prudential Center on Thursday for the New York Sirens’ 4-1 loss to the Montreal Victoire.
Sirens forward Sarah Fillier, a member of Canada’s national team, is hoping the PWHL can capitalize on the sport’s Olympic spotlight.
“We already have got a boost from the Olympics,” she said. “If you watch the gold medal game, I think it’s one of the best hockey games that, you know, we’ve played against the U.S., might have been the best hockey game in the tournament. … So just trying to draw new fans, draw international fans, grow in our markets. It’s always nice to come back to our New York fans but we’re always trying to draw a bigger crowd.”
The PWHL has already benefited from the sport’s exposure at the Milan Cortina Games.
Tuesday and Wednesday were the two biggest home-venue ticket sale days of the season since Nov. 22, when the season started, according to the league.
Website traffic was six times higher during the Olympic break than a typical non-PWHL game period and merchandise sales jumped 101 percent during February.
The PWHL e-commerce site, specifically, saw its third-highest month of website traffic since the league’s launch.
Player social media accounts have also grown, with the PHWL’s 61 Olympians combining for 760,000 new followers since the puck dropped in Italy. Knight, the Team USA and Seattle Torrent captain, had the largest gain, with her accounts garnering more than 112,000 new followers across platforms.
This is all a great sign of progress, but now it’s on the PWHL to continue to ride the Olympic tidal wave and translate it into sustainable growth.
“Having the PWHL is huge right now because of all that momentum,” Victoire forward and New York native Hayley Scamurra said. “In years past and Olympics past, [fans] had nothing to see for another four years or a world championship or things like that. So I just think we’re really excited to come back to our markets and play our game. And I know we had a lot of new viewers probably, and so I mean the key is just kind of keep doing what we’ve been doing and keep putting a good product on the ice.”
Michele Otero was one of those new fans in the stands Thursday night.
The 25-year-old from Long Island has been a diehard Rangers fan since 2019 and even had tickets to Thursday’s overtime loss to the Flyers.
But given the U.S. men’s team’s actions in the locker room after winning Olympic gold, she and her two friends decided to sell those tickets and make the trek to Newark, N.J., for their first PWHL game instead.
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
“You don’t even have to come for the hockey, but the hockey is fantastic,” Otero said after buying a Sirens sweatshirt to commemorate her first game. “Just come for the vibes, come to see women doing great things, come to see people having a good time, seeing women doing great things.”
Melissa Rucci made the trip from Philadelphia on Thursday night to take in the return of the PWHL after the Olympic break.
“Knowing that this was the first game back after the Olympics, it was like I had to be here,” said Rucci. “What the Olympics really does is, everybody is watching those athletes for a short amount of time … you’re following them on socials, you’re following their daily lives, that shouldn’t stop after the Olympics ends. I feel like you kind of need to fall in love with individual people. I think the PWHL could probably do a better job and just the teams individually of just promoting.”
The PWHL is only in its third season.
It typically takes professional sports leagues decades to turn a profit.
But in the wake of Team USA’s glorious run through the Olympics, the sport has never been in a better position to thrive.
The question is whether the PWHL can meet the moment.
