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The Skilled Girls’s Hockey League on Monday revealed the names and logos for its six franchises after taking part in its inaugural season with out them.
The Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Cost and Toronto Sceptres are the primary official monikers for the PWHL, which made its debut in January 2024.
The groups have been beforehand recognized by geographic designations — resembling PWHL Toronto, for instance — and one main coloration final season. These colours have carried over to the brand new logos so as to add continuity for the followers.
“Clearly, in Yr 1, it’s important to construct a tradition and considerably of an id. Now, to have logos and names, I am tremendous excited for the followers to have that robust id,” Hilary Knight, Boston captain and U.S. hockey legend, mentioned Monday.
Some have been vital of the PWHL for launching in January with out having any staff names. The PWHL mentioned the expedited time-frame between the founding of the league and its first video games made that too difficult however mentioned that names could be in place for Yr 2. The league mentioned it developed six model identities within the span of 9 months.
“We did a really thorough, considerate, and buttoned-up course of. I do not assume any of us are sitting right here involved about backlash, understanding that we all know that we did issues the appropriate approach,” mentioned Amy Sheer, senior VP of enterprise operations. “The following section for us is to see our followers carry these logos to life within the area and the way they begin to tackle our model and actually carry it to life.”
(Re)introducing the inaugural six, as you’ve got by no means seen them earlier than:
Boston Fleet
Minnesota Frost
Victoire de Montreal
New York Sirens
Ottawa Cost
Toronto Sceptres pic.twitter.com/oMTyeTbecL— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) September 9, 2024
The brand new groups names are:
Boston Fleet: A nod to town’s “wealthy maritime historical past,” the emblem additionally subtly evokes that of the Hartford Whalers, who performed within the NHL from 1979 to 1997. “It actually simply embodies that relentless, passionate angle of what it means to be part of that metropolis and signify that metropolis on the skilled degree,” Knight mentioned.
Minnesota Frost: The identify is a reference to “the State of Hockey’s deep-rooted love for the ice.” PWHL VP of Model & Advertising Kanan Bhatt-Shah mentioned Frost was a reputation they stored coming again to throughout discussions of “many, many, many names” that “weren’t essentially all climate associated.”
Montréal Victoire: The brand features a “hidden M” inside the design in addition to a fleur-de-lis, a nationwide image of Québec. Sheer mentioned there’s not meant to be a translation of the identify when the staff performs exterior of Montreal. “We purposely wished their identify to be in French no matter the place they play,” she mentioned. “It was an intentional choice. We wished to signify Montreal and Quebec as greatest we are able to, and that’s by means of the French language.”
New York Sirens: Quite than Greek mythology, the identify “Sirens” is evocative of each the sounds of New York Metropolis and the sound one hears when a purpose is scored. Whereas the colour scheme is just like different New York groups, Sheer mentioned that is not intentional. “It is sort of attention-grabbing each the Liberty (WNBA) and Gotham (NWSL) have that coloration of their palette. I do not assume the entire greens are the identical, however all of us have one thing in that inexperienced palette,” she mentioned. “And I do not assume it was intentional, nevertheless it’s actually good to have that tie into the 2 different ladies’s groups that we share town with.”
Ottawa Cost: Impressed by town’s motto — “Advance — Ottawa — En Avant” — however staff captain Brianne Jenner mentioned it is greater than that. “It isn’t only a nod to town and being the middle of presidency, nevertheless it’s a nod to our followers as nicely,” she mentioned. “I hope our followers notice that and embrace that. The electrical vitality that they introduced in our first season is a giant a part of our id”
Toronto Sceptres: For Toronto, the PWHL wished to discover a connection to royalty, because it’s referred to as the Queen Metropolis. The ornamented Sceptre itself is “a logo of energy and power.”
The gamers didn’t have sign-off on the brand new staff names, however they and staff executives have been consulted through the course of. There have been some interviews with followers to get a greater sense of every market. The PWHL additionally monitored social media and YouTube feedback for identify solutions.
The league partnered with artistic company Flower Store to develop the brand new staff identities. Sheer mentioned the PWHL did seek the advice of the NHL about ant potential “coexistence agreements” concerning their names and current NHL groups, however that was extent of their enter.
In 2023, PWHL house owners bought the belongings of the Premier Hockey Federation, one other skilled ladies’s hockey league. That included the names related to a few of the similar places which have PWHL franchises, such because the Toronto Six and the Minnesota Whitecaps. However Sheer mentioned there was by no means any consideration to reviving these names.
“Launching a brand new league, we wished to construct fairness in what we have been constructing because the PWHL. The willpower was made to set out with six new names that might create our personal historical past,” Sheer mentioned.
The league mentioned new staff jerseys are nonetheless in manufacturing and will probably be out there on the finish of October or early November. The 2024-25 PWHL regular-season schedule will include 30 video games per staff, together with neutral-site video games.
