Fielding strong teams and filling seats are goals that are “front of mind” for Professional Women's Hockey League GMs as “pucks begin to drop in less than two weeks” for the league's inaugural season, according to Michael Silverman of the BOSTON GLOBE. Getting fans to order tickets for the Boston team’s season opener at Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. on Jan. 3 is more of a concern for Boston PWHL team GM Danielle Marmer. The arena holds 6,500 and unlike other teams, “not every seat is sold for the opener, as well as the other dates through early May.” Marmer: “The focus right now is on our home opener.” Translating excitement for the new league into tickets “may not happen instantaneously in Boston or the other five markets,” but the GMs agreed the pros of professional women’s hockey re-starting in North America “far outweigh the loose ends that accompany any start-up entity,” never mind one with the short runway the PWHL had from its late August inception. Toronto’s GM Gina Kingsbury said Toronto has “sold out its 12 games at the downtown 3,000-capacity Mattamy Athletic Center.” The Minnesota PWHL franchise will be playing in the 20,000-plus capacity Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul -- the arena where the NHL’s Wild play and the largest PWHL arena. Minnesota’s GM Natalie Darwitz said, “Our projected ticket sales look pretty good for the home opener and season ticket sales and stuff like that, so we’re just really excited about being in a first-rate NHL rink” (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/20).
