PWHL game in Minnesota sets attendance record

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Professional Women’s Hockey League game between Minnesota and Montreal on Saturday set an attendance record for the most watched professional women’s ice hockey event with 13,316 people at Xcel Energy Center, the league said.

The record crowd, which came five days after the PWHL held its first game, easily outnumbered the 8,318 fans Tuesday who watched the clash between Montreal and host Ottawa in the inaugural game for both clubs.

“Living in the State of Hockey, I knew our fans would show up for us, but today they have taken it to a whole new level,” Minnesota general manager and former U.S. national team player Natalie Darwitz said. “I’ve enjoyed numerous amazing hockey experiences in Minnesota over my career, and experiencing today and the record crowd was emotional and ranks near the top of the list.”

Grace Zumwinkle scored the first hat trick in league history, and Maddie Rooney earned the shutout as Minnesota blanked Montreal 3-0 at the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

Zumwinkle, who scored a goal in the season opener in Boston, is from Excelsior, Minnesota and played her collegiate hockey at the University of Minnesota. Rooney, from Duluth, Minnesota, played collegiately at the University of Minnesota-Duluth before winning a gold medal in goal for the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games.

Montreal pushed and set the pace for the game early and had three power plays without committing a penalty through the first two periods, outshooting Minnesota 21-12, but trailed 1-0 to start the third period.

Zumwinkle backhanded a shot past Ann-Renée Desbiens with 2:39 left in the first period, beating the 2022 Gold medalist for Canada to her stick side. After a scoreless second period, Zumwinkle skated to the top of the slot, rocketed a shot past Desbien at the 1:47 mark of the third and added an empty net goal at 17:13 of the period.

Montreal did not get a shot on goal through the first 11 minutes of the third period. Desbiens finished with 19 saves on 21 shots. Rooney stopped all 24 Montreal shots on goal.

The PWHL, which features three teams in the United States and three in Canada, is the latest bid to create a sustainable business model around women’s hockey after previous leagues failed to deliver.

Prior to the PWHL season, the Swedish Women’s Hockey League’s championship game for the 2021-22 season held the professional women’s ice hockey record with a crowd of 7,765.

The previous North American record for a regular-season professional women’s hockey game was 5,938, set during a 2016 game in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

Up next, Montreal will play at New York and Minnesota plays host to Toronto on Wednesday.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.