Who To Cheer For If You Don't Live In The PWHL's Six Markets

Fans from across North America and the globe are looking at lineups heading into the inaugural PWHL season. Here's the geographic connections to tie yourself to if you don't live in one of the PWHL's six markets.

Fans across North America and Europe are likely looking for a team to latch onto for the upcoming PWHL season. If you are in or new Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, or Toronto, the decision may be simple. If not, here's a look at some of the players from each roster who could help you make your decision regarding what PWHL team to tie your allegiances to in this inaugural season

There's a history of Canadian fans attaching to Canadian based teams, but that isn't always the case. Looking across Canada however, there are some geographic connections that make sense.  In the province of Nova Scotia, it would be hard not to see fans tied to Toronto, With Blayre Turnbull, Allie Munroe, Carly Jackson, and head coach Troy Ryan all tied to the Maritime province. Toronto may also get love from Newfoundland, as the province's only player in the league, Maggie Connors is a pro rookie with the team. The final Maritime province represented is New Brunswick, where two players compete with Montreal in Sarah Bujold and Marlene Boissonnault.

Heading West, Toronto features Manitoba products Kristen Campbell and Jocelyne Larocque, two high profile players that should draw plenty of interest in the province, but notable players like Kati Tabin (Montreal), Ashton Bell (Ottawa), and Corinne Schroeder (New York) are also from the province. Continuing West, Saskatchewan has players spread across several teams including Emily Clark (Ottawa), Sophie Shirley (Boston), Kaitlin Willoughby (Toronto), and Brooke Hobson (New York). Clark is the star in the crew as her image represents Saskatchewan's new women's junior league. Alberta is similarly split with Jess Healey in Boston and Emerance Maschmeyer in Ottawa as the primary players, while British Columbia has a pair of players in Hannah Miller and Olivia Knowles in Toronto, Kaleigh Fratkin (Boston), Leah Lum (Montreal), Abby Cook (Minnesota), and PWHL New York's captain Micah Zandee-Hart.

Hockey fans in Michigan will someday hope for an expansion team in their borders, perhaps in the NHL original six location of Detroit. Not only would it bring in the Michigan support, but draw much of Southwestern Ontario into Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent as the Red Wings do. Until then, PWHL Boston features a trio of Michigan products in Megan Keller, Shiann Darkangelo, and Taylor Girard, while New York has two with Madison Packer and Abby Roque. Wisconsin has ties in Minnesota with Brittyn Fleming and Abigail Boreen, Mariah Keopple in Montreal, as well as three players who competed for the University of Wisconsin, and while Toronto doesn't have any Wisconsin born products, they do lead the league with five Wisconsin Badgers alumni. The remainder of American states represented are sprinkled across the league in Jesse Compher (Toronto), Kendall Coyne Schofield (Minnesota), and Savannah Harmon (Ottawa) from Illinois, and Jincy Roese (Ottawa / Montana), Dominique Kremer (Minnesota / North Dakota), Nicole Hensley (Minnesota / Colorado), Alexa Gruschow (New York / Pennsylvania), Clair DeGeorge (Minnesota / Alaska), Amanda Pelkey (Boston / Vermont), Emma Keenan (Toronto / California), Hilary Knight (Boston / Idaho), and Taylor Wenczkowski (Boston / New Hampshire). Ohio does not have a player born in the state playing in the league, but Emma Maltais and Natalie Spooner in Toronto are alumni, as are DeGeorge and Liz Schepers in Minnesota.

Czechia's ties to Ottawa are obvious in national team captain Aneta Tejralova, assistant captain Katerina Mrazova, and head coach Carla MacLeod. Montreal also has a pair of Czech stars in Dominika Laskova and Tereza Vanisova, while Denisa Krizova is alone in Minnesota. Boston gets Switzerland with Alina Muller, Austria with Schafzahl, and Sweden with Emma Soderberg...although Johanna Fallman in New York may have something to say about that. Susanna Tapani is currently the only player from Finland in the league in Minnesota, a similar situation to France's Chloe Aurard in New York, and Ottawa players Sandra Abstreiter (Germany), Fanni Garat-Gasparics (Hungary), and Akane Shiga (Japan).