With the fourth stop on the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour, the New York Sirens will host the Seatle Torrent in Dallas on December 28. This is the first time the tour is stopping in Texas, but two players are excited to feel right at home- because they will be.

Allyson Simpson, defender from the New York Sirens, is originally from Frisco, TX, but moved to Dallas at the age of eight. Simpson’s dad was a professional golfer where he would often run into players from the Dallas Stars. As he got to know those players, he started attended Stars games with Simpson’s older brother. Her family became very involved in hockey through those connections, but Simpson was a figure skater first and wanted nothing to do with hockey.

After her family’s move to Dallas, Simpson woke up one day and decided she wanted to play hockey just like her brother. At that time, she played boys hockey because there just weren’t a lot of opportunities to play with the girls in her area. In eighth grade, Simpson went to Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota which is how she has a tie to another PWHL player from Texas.

Hannah Bilka, forward for the Seattle Torrent, is originally from Coppell TX and grew up in the Farmers Branch area. She had two older sisters who figure skated, and an older brother who played hockey. Her parents gave her a choice between the two and she fell in love with hockey. Like Simpson’s experience, there weren’t a lot of girls teams that she could play for at the time, so she also began with boys hockey. In Bilka’s sophomore year, she attended Shattuck St. Mary’s as well, even citing that she followed in Simpson’s footsteps.

More Than Just a Hockey Game

This homecoming is extremely meaningful to both Texas natives. “I think it will bring just that much more awareness to women's hockey in Texas, specifically so that girls don't necessarily have to move away at 13, 14, 15 years old to go play in other states,” said Simpson. “That's what I'm reflecting on going into this game- just being in a position to further the sport in this area.”

“That's what I'm most excited for- all the girls that now can see that there's a professional team and have goals to one day play,” said Bilka. “Right now, there's only two girls from Texas, but I really hope in five, ten years that you can say there's several girls from Texas. There's a great path. Hopefully we can get more girls in the pro league and playing for high level hockey teams.”

Both Simpson and Bilka regularly help with development camps in Texas as part of their passion to continue growing the girls game. Simpson has been back to speak about her experience growing up in Texas as a way to connect with the girls coming up in the area. The camp attendees get to hear about her experience growing up in youth hockey, going to prep school, college recruiting, and then being drafted into the PWHL.

Bilka likes to hop on the ice during the summer camps since she knows a lot of the coaches from Dallas as they also coached her. She also speaks with the youth girls teams to help educate them on what the best path would be for their hockey development. Bilka’s also takes the opportunity to share her story with camp attendees, answer questions, and help them to get to the highest level possible.

New Fans and a Great Cause

Takeover Tours are an opportunity to introduce new markets to the professional women’s game of hockey. If the pervious games are any indication, this game is also bound to draw a large crowd. For those in the area that haven’t experienced a PWHL game before, they are in for such a treat.

“It's just a really exciting game. The women's game is a little bit different than the men's game, but I think there's still that fast, competitive vibe to it that’s really fun to watch,” said Bilka. “I hope people can appreciate women's hockey, and, especially, in the PWHL, all the teams are so good. Really any team can win on any night, so you're going to expect a competitive, close game.”

For Simpson, she’s also hoping to raise awareness for a cause close to her heart. Her dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015 and this a chance for him to be a part of her professional career back where she first started.

“I also started an initiative, a fundraising initiative called ‘Shake On’ in honor of my dad,” Simpson said. “This season, I'm going to donate $20 for every point, every blocked shot, and every Sirens win to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research and awareness. I'm really excited about this game to be able to bring that to the forefront and share what I'm doing with Parkinson's research and amplify the awareness of it.”

The Takeover Tour in Dallas takes place on Sunday, December 28 at 5:00 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center.