Although she was met with a lot of criticism from Detroit basketball fans, Sophie Cunningham had a point in criticizing the WNBA’s decision to put an expansion franchise in Detroit.
But there is a women’s sports league on the rise that would be a perfect fit in Hockeytown: the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
Earlier this year, Little Caesars Arena packed in over 14,000 fans on a Sunday night in March to watch the New York and Minnesota PWHL teams face off in a game in which New York won 4-1.
That set an attendance record for a women’s professional hockey game, though neither game included a team from Detroit.
Imagine the turnout if Detroit had a team of its own. Picture a similar concept to the winged wheel—maybe the “Detroit Drive” as a tribute to the Motor City—playing alongside the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.
The only two games to have higher attendance in regular season games both took place in Canada, with half of the current PWHL teams currently residing in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.
Over 120,000 people attended the PWHL’s “Takeover Tour” this season, which consisted of nine games in nine different cities, according to the league.
“Sometimes, I don’t believe it’s real,” PWHL executive vice president Amy Scheer told CBS News Detroit.
Scheer added that it was surreal to see the record for a professional women’s hockey game to be broken and Canadian arenas selling out within a year-and-a-half of starting the league.
For those that would argue women’s hockey doesn’t have the stardom of the WNBA with Caitlin Clark, I turn your attention to Hilary Knight, who was the queen of professional women’s hockey when Clark was only 6 years old.
Knight has won three silver medals and one gold medal representing the U.S in the Olympic Games, and was the youngest player ever to be a part of the Team USA women’s team in 2006, joining at age 17.
In addition, it’s important to point out the obvious: Detroit is “Hockeytown.”
Even before the Red Wings famous campaign slogan was invented in 1996, hockey has been a major part of this city’s culture.
The best American amateur players all train and compete for the National Development Team Program in Plymouth. And many other AAA and junior professional teams reside in our state.
Vancouver and Seattle got their due this past off-season. Next year, it’s time for the PWHL to bring its growing energy to Detroit and scrape up the ice in Hockeytown.
Alex Deimel is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
