Professional Women’s Hockey League to host all-star event for first time on March 7, Life in canada

The Professional Women’s Hockey League will return to a city it knows well for another league first later this season. 

After holding the first-ever PWHL draft and first-ever PWHL game in Toronto, the league plans to host its first PWHL All-Star event in the Ontario capital on March 7. 

The four-team three-on-three tournament will be played at Scotiabank Arena, the league announced Thursday. 

“We wanted to find a place that made a lot of sense for the league and for the history of the sport and obviously found that here,” PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said after a news conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame. 

Team names will include PWHL Canada, PWHL International, PWHL USA and PWHL Rookies. Each team will consist of a 10-player roster with six forwards, three defenders and one goaltender.

At the completion of round-robin play, the second- and third-ranked teams will play in a semifinal game. The winner will meet the first-ranked team in the final.

“Trying to find a way to make it really fun for our fans, to make something our players want to be a part of, make it competitive, but also be a great showcase for the women’s game is really important,” Hefford said. 

Toronto and New York played in the first PWHL game on Jan. 1, 2024 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, just over three months after the inaugural league draft.

PWHL players participated in a three-on-three showcase in February 2024 as part of the NHL’s all-star weekend at Scotiabank Arena. 

Full PWHL all-star event details, including voting, roster construction, ticketing, and full gameplay rules will be announced closer to the event, the league said.

“It’s a big moment for our league,” said Amy Scheer, the PWHL’s executive vice-president of business operations. “It’s an event that is just about the PWHL. While we love our big brothers in the NHL, it’s a weekend where we can showcase our players and our personalities and really have an event for our fans and for our league. 

“So a big moment for us and it’s an important one to be separate.”

Jayna Hefford, executive vice-president of hockey operations for the PWHL, announces plans for the first-ever PWHL All-Star event during a news conference in Toronto on Sept. 24, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The 12-team PWHL — which includes four expansion teams this season — is expected to kick off its 2026-27 campaign in late November or early December.

TSN will provide English-language coverage of the all-star event and Radio-Canada will provide French-language coverage, the league said.

The PWHL has yet to announce its Canadian broadcast coverage plans for the 2026-27 season. Scheer said the previous Canadian rights-holders would be returning and an announcement on specifics was expected next week. 

All-star starters will be selected through a combination of fan, player, and media voting. Reserve players will be selected by league hockey operations.

“I think it is an awesome way to incorporate such a great mix of the players and a good representation of everybody, and I think its very exciting,” said Montreal Victoire alternate captain Laura Stacey, who is also PWHL Players’ Association president. “It just instils some of that competitiveness that we all have in us.”

Last month, PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten confirmed the governance of the league would remain stable even as co-founder Mark Walter appears to be selling off pieces of his sports empire amid U.S. federal investigations into loans between his insurance companies and businesses with ties to Walter.

Hefford said “nothing has changed from our perspective.” 

“We are fortunate to have the ownership we have,” she said. “We continue to grow and have the support we need to help this league grow and the sport grow. So nothing but excitement as we look forward.” 

Training camps for the upcoming season will open Nov. 18 after the completion of the Nov. 6-16 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Herning and Esbjerg, Denmark.

“We’ve had a lot on our plate the first few years and each year we try to build out something else that’s new,” Hefford said. “Now that we’re at 12 teams and 180 games, it felt like this was a great time to introduce an all-star event for the first time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2026. 

By Gregory Strong | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.