Women’s hockey comes back to Calgary with the PWHL Takeover Tour
By Elliotte Buracas, March 2 2026—
Women’s hockey is on the rise in North America, with the expansion of the relatively new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). This expansion saw two teams added on the West Coast, namely the Seattle Torrent and the Vancouver Goldeneyes, and presented a team to root for not only for people of those cities, but also fans of the league in Western Canada and the United States. The PWHL, with plans to continue expanding quickly if successful, is testing those same markets with the Takeover Tour, a series of games in non-PWHL cities. This year, several cities are making a second appearance on the list, while others, including Calgary, are getting a game for the first time.
The Takeover Tour presents an opportunity both for fans of the game to see their favourite players and teams in person, and for the league to gauge interest in a team from new cities. Fan-favourite team, the Montreal Victoire, have a lion’s share of Takeover Tour games with five. The newly founded Goldeneyes also play five games on the Tour, including two in Edmonton – one already played in December, a 3-4 overtime loss to the two-time reigning champions Minnesota Frost, and a second in early April against the Boston Fleet. The other two Canadian teams, the Toronto Sceptres and the Ottawa Charge, play four games each on the Tour, one of which will come as a “Battle of Ontario” in Calgary on April 1st.
Growing the game is important at all levels of hockey, but the PWHL plays an important and special role in that. Bringing the women’s game to new markets benefits the league, but it also promotes the game to young women and makes it more accessible to a wider range of people. Calgary is no stranger to the professional women’s game either. From 2011 to 2019, the city was home to the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), and boasted stars like Jessica Campbell, who now serves as assistant coach to the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, notably as the first female coach in the league. The CWHL also featured well-known PWHL names like Sceptres’ captain Blayre Turnbull and Ottawa Charge captain Brianne Jenner. In a way, this stop on the takeover tour will be a reunion for the two PWHL stars and former Olympic Gold Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics with Team Canada.
The PWHL continues to make waves in the hockey world in ways its predecessors (namely the CWHL and the Premier Hockey Federation which followed the former’s folding) weren’t able to. Its original six teams were evenly split between Canada and the United States, and the Takeover Tour is already pushing into non-traditional markets like Texas and Nova Scotia. Another issue the league could solve is arena tenancy – that is, where a team plays. The Goldeneyes are the first professional women’s hockey team in North American history of the game to have primary tenancy in a full-capacity arena: the Pacific Coliseum, an arena originally occupied by the Vancouver Canucks before their move to Rogers Arena.
Arena tenancy is an issue the league has to keep in mind when planning expansion, as well as general facility conditions. With a new, state-of-the-art facility coming in 2027, Calgary certainly looks like a prime landing spot for future expansion. However, the Saddledome (and in the future, Scotia Place), is already shared by two professional men’s teams, a major junior hockey team, and a lacrosse team. This is a double-edged sword: on one hand, the city has proven it can sustain sports teams with varying levels of popularity, but on the other, space and ice time are already in high demand.
The Takeover Tour gives Calgary a chance to tip the balance in its favour, if interest and attendance are high. It’s a good matchup coming to the ‘Dome in April, too. Gwyneth Phillips and the Charge were the runners-up in last year’s Walter Cup Final, after beating the regular season winners, the Montreal Victoire, in the first round. On the other side of the ice, the Sceptres are looking to bounce back after being knocked out in the first round by the champion Minnesota Frost last spring, and then losing star forward Sarah Nurse to Vancouver in the expansion process. The “Battle of Ontario” is sure to be an entertaining and heated game – and it might even mirror future match-ups between Calgary- and Edmonton-based teams.
Tickets for the Takeover Tour are already on sale through the PWHL website. The future of women’s hockey is coming and your chance to see it in person is just a train ride downtown away. And with the cheers for “we want a team” guaranteed to rain down from the rafters, you might as well join in and hope for the growth of women’s professional hockey.