The PWHL Unveils Names And Logos For Its Inaugural Six Teams

Natalie Spooner of PWHL Toronto battles Abby Boreen of PWHL Minnesota for a loose puck. (Photo by ... [+] David Berding/Getty Images)

More than a year after the PWHL was launched, the names and logos for the league’s six teams were finally unveiled on Monday.

Those names are: the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.

The names and logos for the six PWHL teams were unveiled on Sept. 9, 2024.

With a tight timeline between the launch of the league in August of 2023 and the first games on Jan. 1, 2024, players went through their first season wearing generic jerseys in distinct colors, which bore the name of their home markets.

“It was very important for us to maintain the primary colors of the teams from Season 1 into Season 2 and beyond, so fans can continue to sport their Season 1 merch proudly” said PWHL VP of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah. “There’s a lot of equity built up in those colors and we were excited to retain them.”

With these new designs, additional colors have been incorporated into the team palettes. The names and logos also represent another step toward establishing team identities that are distinct from each other in the PWHL, and that stand out across the pro sports landscape.

“These team names and our logos and colors, they represent more than just our team,” said Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull. “They represent our cities and our fans and all the support that we had in Year 1. I hope everybody feels that, and everyone is super eager and excited to support the league moving forward.”

In addition to being unique and representative, the team names needed to lend themselves to visual interpretation.

“One of the criteria for considering the name was ‘How will this name come to life visually, in a really authentic way that captures the essence of the city and the communities?’” said Bhatt-Shah. “That visual piece wasn’t siloed from the name.”

Here’s the thought process behind each name:

• Boston Fleet pays homage to Boston’s rich maritime history, with the letter ‘B’ styled into the shape of an anchor.

• Minnesota Frost taps into the deep-rooted love for the ice in the State of Hockey, with the sharp edges of the stylized letter ‘F’ meant to evoke icicles.

• Montreal Victoire is a French-language name intended to capture the city’s competitive spirit and pursuit of achievement. The logo includes a hidden ‘M’ for Montreal as well as the fleur-de-lis, a symbol of the province of Quebec.

• New York Sirens taps into the energy of The City That Never Sleeps, as well as evoking the sweet sound of hockey’s goal horn. The reverberations in the logo are intended to symbolize sound waves.

• Ottawa Charge is meant to convey a sense of energy, with the logo resembling a spinning object brimming with electrical current.

• Toronto Sceptres leans into the nickname ‘Queen City,’ with the sceptre representing power and strength in courts and palaces. The logo intertwines a ‘T’ and an ‘S’ to form the sceptre design.

By taking their time, the PWHL and their creative agency, Flower Shop, were able to build off fan feedback from their six markets.

“These new names and logos capture the dynamic energy of our athletes and enhance our teams’ presence in their cities, building a stronger foundation for the future of our league,” said PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.

There will be one more unveiling before Season 2 begins: the teams’ jersey designs.

“The jersey launch will be either at the end of October or beginning of November,” said Amy Scheer, the PWHL’s senior vice president of business operations. “Our jerseys are still in production so we thought the time to reveal them would be a little bit later, when we actually have our jerseys in hand.”

Replica jerseys, including jerseys with player names, will be available for sale as soon as the jerseys are unveiled, Scheer said, while cautioning that authentic jerseys likely won’t be available for fan purchase in Season 2.

The schedule for the league’s second year, including the date for opening night, is also yet to be announced. The PWHL is increasing its schedule from 24 to 30 regular-season games, so the kickoff will likely be earlier than the Jan. 1 launch we saw for Season 1.

Three games of the 2024-25 Rivalry Series between Canada and the United States are scheduled between Nov. 6-10, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see PWHL training camps open shortly afterward.

As a sign of the league’s out-of-the-box success in its first year, two teams announced last week that they’re moving their primary home bases to larger venues. The Toronto Sceptres are shifting from the 3,850 Mattamy Athletic Centre to the Coca-Cola Coliseum, where they hosted 8,500 fans for sold-out playoff games last spring. Similarly, the Montreal Victoire will set up shop at Place Bell. They played six games at the venue last season, and sold out their playoff matches with more than 10,000 fans in attendance.