The Hockey News' Cee Benwell chats with three-time Olympic gold medalist Becky Keller about the PWHL's best rookie pairs. The PWHL is back in action after a week long break for international competition that included the Women's Euro Hockey Tour in Finland, Olympic qualifying games, a 4-Nations Tournament in Denmark, and a series between Norway and Germany. Now it's back to business for the best women's hockey league on the planet, With nine games done and 81 to go, the best is yet to come in the PWHL. Here's three storylines for fans to follow in the first week back. NEW YORK, NEW HOME, NEW JERSEY After bouncing between Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey last season, the PWHL's New York Sirens are finally laying down roots they (and the league) hope will be permanent. The Sirens will join the New Jersey Devils playing out of Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center. Speaking with players and staff, there seems to be genuine excitement about their new home. New York is the last team to host their home opener, which they'll finally do December 18 against the Toronto Sceptres. Ticket sales haven't been spectacular as the league only opened 2/3 of the lower bowl, and there are more than 700 tickets still available in that area. Still, it should be a good crowd compared to many outings for PWHL New York last year, and there's still a few days for last minute sales. If there were ever a time to jump behind a team, it's when they've jumped out of the gate strong with the top four scorers in the league, including the league leader and first overall pick Sarah Fillier in tow. RESTED AND READY? It was no secret more players than the PWHL likely hoped entered the season banged up, or were hurt in the initial games of the season. That list included Daniela Pejsova, Brianne Jenner, Ella Shelton, Natalie Spooner, Alexa Vasko, Cayla Barnes, Megan Carter, Maureen Murphy, Hadley Hartmetz, Alina Muller, Taylor Heise, and Jill Saulnier, among others. Some have already returned including Barnes and Heise. Pejsova also came back, but hasn't played much. Jenner made her return, but with another week under her belt, we can expect the Ottawa captain will have more fuel in the tank when the league reboots this week. As for the others, there's hope on the horizon for a few. It's believed Saulnier's injury won't be long term, and after pumping the brakes on talks of her early season return, Natalie Spooner was on the ice this week, albeit in a non-contact jersey in Toronto. Speaking of non-contact jerseys, Jincy Roese was wearing one this week in Ottawa. Who is rested and ready? We'll soon find out. WHERE CAN I WATCH THE GAME? There were a lot of questions last week and very few answers regarding the league's plans to stream games, and the numbers on Twitch, after the PWHL jumped from YouTube without warning or communication to fans, were abysmal. The funny part is, the condensed games the league posts days after they happen on YouTube garnered nearly double the total views the games got live on Twitch. If you monitored social media, you'll see the league lost viewership and some fans who had come to find the league through YouTube. The question is, what's the plan moving forward? It hasn't been communicated by the league to fans, and such a drastic move by a professional league should certainly come with an explanation. Leaving millions of potential fans in the United States and Europe in the lurch can't be in the business plan. Games in the United States are being televised regionally on NESN and MSG, and there's always Tuesday night games on Amazon Prime, but it's closing off a lot of doors. In particular as the league looks to sell tickets in places like Raleigh, St. Louis, Denver, and Seattle, how will these potential paying customers get their chance to see the product before the shell out money to see a game in person? It's a talking point that won't go away among fans until a resolution is provided.
