Jayna Hefford discusses the interest the PWHL has received in regards to expansion, and says the league will continue to discuss timing and locations. On the Montreal Victoire’s schedule, there were two dates where the venues were still to be determined: January 19 and March 1. We now know where the January game will take place. According to Le Soleil in Quebec City [https://www.lesoleil.com/actualites/2024/10/28/un-premier-match-de-hockey-professionnel-feminin-au-centre-videotron-TZCU4XM4NZDPRFTBXKQWITRNKI/], who first released the news earlier this afternoon, later confirmed by the Journal de Montreal, the game between the Ottawa Charge and the Montreal Victoire on January 19 will be held at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. Home of the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, this would mark the first time that a women’s professional hockey game would be held at the Videotron Centre. According to the Journal de Montreal, the official announcement should be made on Wednesday. Last season, the PWHL had two neutral site games. Pittsburgh and Detroit each held a game and drew 8,850 and 13,736 fans respectively. The Videotron Centre can hold 18,740 people. If the game between Ottawa and Montreal sells out, this could be one of the largest crowds in the history of the PWHL. That leaves March 1st as the only other date in Montreal’s home schedule without an official venue. With the Laval Rocket playing at Bell Place and the Montreal Canadiens playing in Buffalo, it would not be surprising to see that game being played at the Bell Centre. A NATURAL RIVALRY WITH MONTREAL Today’s news also sparked interest about a potential PWHL franchise in Quebec City [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/quebec-city-wants-a-pwhl-neutral-site-game-and-eventually-a-team]. Montreal and Quebec City would be a natural rivalry. The Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques battled each other from 1979 to 1995 in the NHL and it is one of hockey’s greatest rivalries. Hockey fans in the province still remember the brawl at the Montreal Forum on Good Friday, April 20, 1984, when 252 minutes of penalties and 10 expulsions were given. Or when the Montreal Canadiens came back from an 0-2 series against the Nordiques to win in six games in 1993, before going on to win their 24th Stanley Cup. Logistically speaking for the league, Quebec City is 250km from Montreal, and is actually closer to Boston than Toronto. FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS BEFORE EXPANSION If an expansion team were granted to Quebec City, it would be the first pro hockey team to play at Videotron Centre. The 9-year-old venue owned by the city, but managed by Quebecor Media, was built in anticipation of bringing the Nordiques back, which hasn’t happened yet. At the beginning of 2024, Jackie Smith, Transition Quebec’s leader, invited all the political parties to take a good look at a potential women’s hockey team instead of a less realistic NHL team. Last week, Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand said that “the league is in consolidation mode of what they have put in place. We'll see if their model changes, but we understand that they had given themselves five, six or seven years before opening for expansion. If they opened faster, we would definitely raise our hands,” he said.
