PWHL Montreal Sets New Women's Hockey Attendance At Bell Centre

PWHL Montreal welcomed more than 21,000 fans to the Bell Centre for their Duel At The Top against Toronto setting a new women's hockey attendance record.

As has happened several times already this season, a new record for attendance at a women's hockey game was set Saturday afternoon at Bell Centre in Montreal.

The game, dubbed the Duel at the Top between PWHL Toronto and PWHL Montreal drew a capacity crowd of more than 21,105 fans.

Earlier this season, Montreal and Toronto took part in the "Battle on Bay Street," which set the previous attendance record of 19,285 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The PWHL crowds surpassed previous records for women's hockey including the 18,013 who attended the 2013 IIHF Women’s World Championship for a preliminary round game between Canada and Finland in Ottawa, and the Olympic Games record of 16,805 set in Vancouver in 2010.

The professional women's hockey record has fallen several times this season as well. On the second day of the regular season, Ottawa drew 8,318, which broke the previous record of 8,122 who attended the 2017 CWHL All-Star game. That record lasted only days when on January 6, 2024, Minnesota drew 13,316 for their home opener at the Xcel Energy Center, which stood as the new American record for professional women's hockey for only two months, as it was broken March 16 when PWHL Ottawa and PWHL Boston played a neutral site game at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena drawing 13,736 fans.

Overall, the league continues to average over 5000 fans per game, this despite the fact Toronto's home venue, Mattamy Athletic Centre, and Montreal's Verdun Auditorium both hold less than 5000 fans at capacity. Ottawa has the top average for attendance in the league at more than 7,300 fans per game.