On 9 September 2024, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) released the official names and logos for their “Inaugural Six” teams. The new team names are Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres.
The new names and logos come ahead of the league’s second season. The league played its entire first season with no team names or logos, following a leak of their trademark applications for team names before the first season began. Those names met with such backlash that the PWHL announced in 2023 that they would take a step back and spend more time developing their branding.
The new logos have been much better received on social media. For example, the Toronto Sceptres’ logo may have solidified them as the hockey team of choice for “Swifties.” X users pointed out soon after the reveal that the logo, an interlocked “T” and “S,” bears an extreme similarity to a logo that appeared on a cheerleading uniform in Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” video.
Despite Swifties’ support, the Sceptres did not carry the day. In an online CBC poll that asked respondents which name and logo they most preferred—a poll which was intended for children but shared in some online groups of adult fans—the Montreal Victoire received 32.92% of the vote, more than a ten-point lead over the second place Sceptres at 22.5%. Its intricate symbol includes a fleur de lis and a semi-hidden “M” for Montreal.
But not all Canadian team names were well-liked. The Ottawa Charge received immediate opposition online. Complaints ranged from the symbol significantly resembling the Calgary Flames’ logo to consternation about the quality of the design and its connection to Ottawa as a city. In the same CBC poll mentioned above, the Charge received only 8.56% of votes.
9 September also featured another surprising reveal for PWHL fans. The PWHL’s official jersey manufacturer, Bauer, accidentally published unfinished web pages with what appeared to be shortlists for proposed team names attached. For example, according to this apparent leak, the Toronto Sceptres could have easily been the Toronto Torch, Toronto Sentinels, or Toronto Tempests.
The Sceptres are not the first professional or semi-professional women’s hockey team to play in Toronto. They follow on the heels of the Toronto Red Wings (1998–1999), Toronto Aeros (2003–2007), Toronto Furies (2010–2019), and Toronto Six (2020–2023). The Toronto Aeros and Toronto Six both played home games at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena at York University’s Keele Campus.
The PWHL is—however—the first professional women’s hockey league to feature all of the sport’s top talent, following a union boycott of the previous league (the Professional Hockey Federation) over concerns surrounding professionalism and pay. Thanks to its owner and sole investor, the Mark Walter Group, the PWHL is also the first professional women’s hockey league with a stable funding source, a minimum salary for its players, consistent broadcast deals, and a mainstream advertising footprint.
In its first year as a league, the PWHL broke the record for highest attendance at a professional women’s hockey game four different times. The final record came from a game between the Sceptres and the Victoire at Bell Arena in Montreal this past April, with 21,105 attendees. While the home arena for the Toronto Six had a maximum capacity of 1,200, the Toronto Sceptres’ new home arena, the Coca-Cola Coliseum, will have a maximum capacity of 8,100.
The Toronto Sceptres also broke several records of their own in the first season. After a grim start, losing five out of their first eight games, the Sceptres went on to an eleven-game winning streak. This winning streak broke the record for the longest winning streak in professional hockey in Toronto, which the Toronto Maple Leafs had previously set with ten straight wins in 1993. Sceptres player Natalie Spooner also set the record for the highest scorer in the league last year, with twenty goals and twenty-seven points in twenty-four games.
The new season is expected to begin in early December, although no specific dates have been announced. All of the league’s games can be streamed for free on the official PWHL Youtube channel.