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Edmonton

PWHL game to be played at Rogers Place next year

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Toronto's Sarah Nurse shoots just wide of Minnesota goaltender Maddie Rooney's net during second period PWHL playoff hockey action in Toronto, on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Chris Young / The Canadian Press)

Edmonton will host a Professional Women's Hockey League game in February.

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The Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge will face off at Rogers Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers, on Feb. 16.

The game is one of nine PWHL games that will be played across Canada and the U.S. as part of the PWHL Takeover Tour, meant to increase fans' access to women's hockey, and was the last of the tour to be announced.

"Edmonton's the market that we're all aware is a very strong hockey market," Jayna Hefford, the league's senior vice-president of hockey operations, said during a news conference.

"When we looked at markets for neutral-site games, there was a process where people would reach out to us and share their interest and willingness and want to host a game, so as we evaluated what Edmonton had to offer, and the partners we have there, it became an obvious choice for us. I think it's an area we wanted to bring the PWHL to and we expect it to be really successful in Edmonton this season."

Tickets went on presale on Nov. 21 and general sale on Nov. 22.

The league consists of six teams: Toronto Sceptres, Ottawa Charge, Montréal Victoire, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens.

However, the PWHL is looking to grow by potentially two teams before 2025 and has confirmed 25 proposals for future teams in other markets. It has not revealed which cities are interested.

Attendance at the neutral-site games during the PWHL Takeover Tour is one of several factors the league will consider for expansion, senior vice-president of business operations Amy Scheer said.

"We're looking at the market and overall media size. We're looking at what is the economic opportunity there? That's just not attendance in an arena, that's also partnerships. We're looking at what is the community involvement there. What does the youth hockey look like there?

"We've got this wonderful matrix that we've put together with a weighting scale that puts about seven to 10 factors into consideration and when we get the (requests for proposals) back and we'll start to do some of this weighting and scaling and determine where we think would be best. But certainly attendance is one of them."