PWHL’s Seattle Torrent break U.S. attendance record for pro women’s hockey game

The Seattle Torrent’s home opener against the Minnesota Frost on Friday broke the record for attendance at a professional women’s hockey game in the United States.

The PWHL previously set the U.S. attendance record with 14,288 fans at a neutral-site game in Detroit last season. The draw of 16,014 at Climate Pledge Arena — the home of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and now the Torrent — on Friday night took it up a notch.

The PWHL expanded for the first time ahead of the 2025-26 season, the league’s third after launching in January 2024, by adding two teams in Seattle and Vancouver. The league’s latest attendance record is the latest indication that the PWHL’s westward expansion was a wise decision.

In its first-ever game last week, the Vancouver Goldeneyes sold out the Pacific Coliseum (14,958) and drew the largest crowd of any game played at a regular PWHL home venue — until Friday. According to the league, Seattle had the most single-day jersey sales in PWHL history when the team’s inaugural jerseys went on sale Oct. 21. Vancouver was right on their heels, and has sold the most season tickets league-wide. Seattle, the league said, is third, behind Toronto.

The league could add between two and four teams by next season, according to executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer, who first went public with the plans when addressing Ottawa city council last month.

“We added Vancouver and Seattle this year. Two teams. We’re going to expand at least two to four teams next year,” she said. “We are in growth mode, and this league is exploding.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Seattle Torrent, NHL, Women's Hockey

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