Photo: PWHL Reveal New Team Names, Logos for 'Inaugural Six' of Women's Hockey League
September 9, 2024
The PWHL rolled out the full branding for its "inaugural six" teams ahead of the 2024-25 season on Monday.
The teams have been rechristened as the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.
The PWHL announced its arrival last August, only months out from the start of its first season in January. Rather than having the nicknames for its first six franchises in place, the league adopted a generic template for each one.
In terms of branding, the teams were identified only by their home city and the jerseys followed the same approach.
Amy Scheer, the PWHL's senior vice president of business operations, told The Athletic's Hailey Salvian last November the league wanted to be patient and make sure each team name fit.
"There are decisions you can make that are fast and if you make an error in your judgment on that decision, it's easy to walk back, or you can learn from it and move on," she said. "From the team name perspective, it was just better off slowing the process down.
"When you come out with a team name, you want to have a full brand story, why the imagery and the logo, why the colors, why the name. And I just didn't feel that we should rush it because you can't walk back from it."
In that regard, it's telling how the PWHL pivoted away from what seemed to be their initial ideas. The league filed trademarks for the "Montreal Echo," "Boston Wicked," "Ottawa Alert," "New York Sound," "Toronto Torch" and "Minnesota Superior." None of those six wound up sticking.
"We feel very confident that we've got six great names that are bold, they're confident, they're strong, competitive and, I think, they resonate with the markets that they're in," Sheer said Monday, per the Associated Press' John Wawrow.
The newly christened Frost will enter 2024-25 as the reigning champions after beating the Fleet in last year's best-of-five Walter Cup.