The PWHL officially announced expansion to Hamilton. While the city is less than an hour from Toronto, they are two distinct markets drawing from separate fan bases, with the expectation of a heated rivalry between the Sceptres and PWHL Hamilton.
When Hamilton was announced as the PWHL's 11th franchise, there were questions about the market's proximity to Toronto, and the need for a third team in Ontario.
At Thursday's PWHL Hamilton announcement ceremony, the topic was addressed several times, perhaps no more fittingly than when a quartet of teenage hockey players from the Hamilton Hawks, Ancaster Avalanche, Flamborough Falcons, and Stoney Creek Sabres girls hockey organizations stepped to the microphone saying "we knew rivalries are part of what makes hockey fun and Hamilton is ready to bring that energy to the PWHL. And to Toronto, game on."
The message was clear, Hamilton is not Toronto, and from this moment on when it comes to professional women's hockey, while the cities are neighbours, they are also now rival.
Hamilton is commonly lumped with Toronto, but the city is not part of the Greater Toronto Area. Rather, Hamilton is part of the Golden Horseshoe region, and is the league's gateway to now only the Golden Horseshoe and Buffalo, but also to a massive potential fan base in Southwestern Ontario.
"We're excited about this market in the Golden Horseshoe," said PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford. "The data that we've seen suggests that there's a huge fan base in this area that doesn't necessarily cut into Toronto, but we know our fans are passionate, they're loyal, they're all over the place, and so we're excited to and believe this is going to be a really successful team in our league."
There are geographic rivalries already in the PWHL. Ottawa and Montreal are one, with the teams facing off for the 2026 Walter Cup, and the newly formed Seattle and Vancouver rivalry took hold this year in the Pacific Northwest. Hamilton and Toronto will build on that.
"We love rivalries in this league, and this is going to be a great one for us," Hefford said.
More Accessible Option For Fans
Hamilton not only has a population of roughly 800,000 in their metropolitan area, but it also connects to nearly a million people in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls regions, as well as more than 2.5 million people in Southwestern Ontario in cities like Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Brantford, and London.
For that population, getting a PWHL game in Hamilton is significantly easier than getting into Toronto.
"It's a lot easier to get in and out of Hamilton, at least right now," said Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath referencing what sets Hamilton apart from Toronto.
"We have a different catchment area, this was a lesson learned when they had the Takeover Tour game here," continued Horwath. "The fan base came from far and wide, they didn't just come from the GTHA, some, but a very small proportion, the rest were the Kitchener-Waterloo region, Niagara region, as far away as Buffalo and the United States, so the catchment is not the same as the catchment area for Toronto and I think that's what the league sees as beneficial."
A Rivalry Reimagined
As Hefford stated, the PWHL is a league that values rivalries. USA and Canada formed the Rivalry Series to keep national team players sharp before the PWHL was born. But there has always been a rivalry between Hamilton and Toronto in sport.
The CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts rivalry has been well documented. Since 1950, it's included a match up between Hamilton and Toronto at the Labour Day Classic.
In the PWHL, Hamilton and Toronto now usurp Ottawa and Montreal as the closest markets. The home venues of the teams, Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, and TD Coliseum in Hamilton, sit roughly 45 minutes apart.
When Hamilton takes to the ice, they could do so with a new batch of former Toronto Sceptres via expansion, as the market will be enticing to players from the region. As Hefford said in her opening address at the expansion announcement, 15% of the PWHL's player pool comes from the Golden Horseshoe.
It includes Stoney Creek Sabres alumni like Brianne Jenner, Sarah Nurse, Kristin O'Neill, Kendall Cooper, Jill Saulnier, Megan Carer, Elaine Chuli, Lauren Messier, Vanessa Upson, Megan Warrener, Alexa Vasko, Brooke Becker, and Olivia Wallin. Adding in the Burlington Barracudas, as the cities are connected directly by the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway, Barracudas alumnae include Renata Fast, Hayley Scamurra, Mellissa Channell-Watkins, and reigning NCAA Goaltender of the Year Tia Chan who will join the PWHL in the 2026 Draft. The Oakville Hornets, another program west of Toronto has alumni including Emma Maltais, Sarah Fillier, Jaime Bourbonnais, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Loren Gabel, Lexie Adzija, Jessica DiGirolamo, and Tamara Giaquinto.
When the puck drops on the 2026-27 season, fans will be watching the newly reimagined Toronto-Hamilton rivalry on the ice, and will be drawing comparisons when it comes to attendance and fan support of the ice.