PWHL unveils new team names, logos in rebranding after inaugural season

Gone are PWHL Boston, PWHL Montreal, PWHL Toronto. The PWHL will be heading into its second season with a whole new look.

The six inaugural teams of the league have new names: Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.

The women's hockey league went with relatively nondescript branding for its inaugural season, sticking with basic jerseys with just the team name across the front. Now, new names comes with a whole slate of rebranding with logos, colors, fonts and merchandise.

It was a busy first year for the PWHL, which launched last summer and began play in January. PWHL Minnesota — now known as the Minnesota Frost — won the inaugural Walter Cup in May, defeating Boston to take the historic victory.

As a result of the fast turnaround, the PWHL opted for basic branding, which received a lukewarm reception from fans despite assurances that it was temporary. All six teams retained their primary colors from the inaugural season with the new branding, while also adding new secondary colors.

There was also backlash after a series of name trademarks filed by the PWHL with the U.S. Trade and Patent Office were leaked last fall. None of those names — which included clunky possibilities like the Toronto Torch, the Ottawa Alert and the Boston Wicked — were selected for the new branding.

Notably, the league also stayed away from former names from the now-defunct Premier Hockey League, which included popular teams like the Toronto Six, the Metropolitan Riveters and the Boston Pride. The PWHL, which formed after the dissolution of the PHF and the CWHL (Canadian Women's Hockey League), has actively tried to distance itself from the previous iterations of women's hockey in North America.

Even with neutral branding, the league had solid success in its first year, pulling from a talented pool of players and unique league structures, including a creative draft order format.

All through that time, the PWHL was canvassing fans and teams before landing on the new branding. New team jerseys will be released later this fall, and the 2025 season will begin in January with all six teams showing off their new looks.