One Year Ago: The Hockey News Women's Officially Launch, Thank You!

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One year ago I was inside Brampton’s CAA Centre. Working the 2023 IIHF World Championships sitting between Erin Brown, a fellow writer for The Hockey News, and former The Hockey News web editor and writer Steven Ellis, who then was working for Daily Faceoff. The discussion became “there really needs to be more dedicated women’s hockey coverage.” We didn’t mean more sites covering it here and there, we meant daily articles about every game, every issue, every signing, every step in the growth of the game internationally, in college, youth, and the pros.

At the time, outlets would cover the major events – medal round games, PHF or PWHPA championship games, Rivalry Series games, and the odd scandal.

But there was no game to game coverage out there. There was no information like the NHL when it came to injuries, rumours, prospects, predictions, and the rest of the fun items fans on the NHL side enjoyed reading without hesitation, or needing to worry about where they’d find a story, because stories were everywhere, free, and accessible. In women’s hockey, there was always hesitation, you needed to search for the info, much of it existed behind paywalls, and even then, it was almost impossible to find aside from boxscores online.

From my seat in Brampton, I sent an email to The Hockey News’ owner Graeme Roustan, and within minutes, I received an emphatic reply of “I’m all for a women’s hockey site.”

Roustan of course had been a key figure in keeping the CWHL alive, providing funding for the league and serving as a governor. He’d fought for the CWHL’s survival even after it was announced the league would be dissolved. In short, he was a longtime supporter of women’s hockey, and this idea was met with enthusiasm.

Within days of that email, The Hockey News Women’s was live, one year ago today, on April 13, 2023.

Since then, millions of readers have read The Hockey News Women’s content. It quickly became obvious the desire for robust women’s hockey coverage existed. Last month that involved more than 300,000 readers visiting The Hockey News Women’s site.

When we launched this site, there was no PWHL. We were quite literally betting that 2023-2024 would be the season where women’s hockey exploded into the consciousness of all hockey fans. From the early days of breaking countless PHF signings, to finally breaking news of a PWHPA collective bargaining agreement and many aspects of the Mark Walter Group’s acquisition of the PHF and formation of the PWHL, it was incredible.

When attendance records continued to fall in the PWHL, when fan groups formed on social media, when the debate and discussion of the draft, trades, prospects, and top performers took new life and grew daily, it was clear, women’s hockey was booming. This was the year.

There’s never been a more exciting time for women’s hockey, and I know that every single contributor to The Hockey News’ women’s site is thrilled to be part of this historic season, of documenting this portion of women’s hockey history daily, and more importantly, doing the daily work and coverage this league, the fans, and the athletes deserve.

Hopefully next year during the World Championships, we’ll be able to look back on another year of incredible growth, and of storytelling. We are so thankful for all of your support. For every reader who debates and discusses, thank you. Here’s to another incredible season of covering women’s hockey.