By Canadian Press

First PWHL game on New Year’s Day reaches 2.9 million viewers

Jan 5, 2024 | 12:09 PM

The Professional Women’s Hockey League says its first game reached 2.9 million viewers.

The figure represents the combined number of viewers that saw a potion of the game’s coverage, including pre-game content, through the league’s three Canadian national broadcast partners.

New York’s 4-0 win over host Toronto on Jan. 1 was shown on CBC, Sportsnet, and TSN. The league said in a statement Friday that the game had a combined average audience of 879,000 viewers.

The PWHL says the average audience peaked at 1.113 million midway through the second period.

Ella Shelton scored the historic opening goal, Corinne Schroeder earned the first-ever shutout in front of a sellout crowd of 2,537 at Toronto’s  Mattamy Athletic Centre.

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Tennis legend and PWHL board member, Billie Jean King performed the ceremonial puck drop alongside PWHL senior vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.

The two teams were scheduled for a rematch Friday night in New York.

The ratings show there was enough buzz around a league came that together quickly, with a full season coming to form within five months of its inception. 

There are some missing elements, such as names and logos for the six teams.

The league says there’s no timeline on when those elements will come to fruition.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press