PWHL arrives in Northern California with the addition of San Jose

A PWHL logo is seen on a player's jersey during Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) training camp at TD Place in Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. The Professional Women's Hockey League is adding more outside-the-box rules for its inaugural season. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

SAN JOSE — The Professional Women’s Hockey League will expand to California with the addition of San Jose next season.

The PWHL will be a 12-team league in its fourth season after capping a round of four expansion announcements in recent days.

PWHL management had stated an intention to increase by two to four clubs for 2026-27. The league added San Jose, Las Vegas, Detroit and Hamilton.

Vancouver and Seattle joined the original six of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, New York and Minnesota last year

With five teams in Canada and seven in the U.S., the league will no longer be an even split in each country as it was in its first three seasons.

Hamilton is the lone new Canadian team. It will play out of the recently renovated 18,000-seat TD Coliseum.

Of the 27 neutral-site Takeover Tour games the PWHL held in its first three seasons to build audience and test possible expansion markets, none were held in San Jose or Las Vegas.

San Jose did host a Rivalry Series game between Canada and the United States on Nov. 6, 2024, at Tech CU Arena, home of the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

“Between a deeply rooted hockey culture, rapidly booming women’s sports scene, and a community known for growth and innovation, San Jose offers a dynamic stage for the PWHL to expand its reach and build lasting momentum,” said PWHL executive vice-president of business operations Amy Scheer in a statement Tuesday.

California ranks sixth in the United States in girls’ hockey participation, according to the PWHL.

Half of this season’s 16 Takeover Tour games were played in Canada, including a pair of games in both Edmonton and Halifax. Hamilton, Calgary, Quebec City and Winnipeg also hosted games.

Three neutral-site games in Edmonton over the past two seasons were the most in a Canadian market.

San Jose puts four PWHL teams in the Pacific time zone. It’s also the third professional women’s sports team to enter the Bay Area in as many years, following the National Women’s Soccer League’s Bay FC in 2024 and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries in 2025.

San Jose’s PWHL team — the names and logos of all four expansion clubs will be announced at a later date — will play out of the SAP Center, which is the home of the NHL’s Sharks, and train at Sharks Ice.

Sharks Sport and Entertainment and the City of San Jose led the expansion bid, the league said in a statement Tuesday.

The PWHL operates under the single-entity ownership of TWG Global, whose founder, Mark Walter, financially backed the league’s creation and for whom the league’s championship trophy is named.

A Canadian club will win the Walter Cup this season. The Montreal Victoire lead the best-of-five final series against the Ottawa Charge two games to one. Game 4 is Wednesday at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre.

Since private or NHL team ownership of a PWHL team isn’t yet an option, the PWHL’s relationship with whoever controls the arena is a key piece of the expansion puzzle.

“From its humble beginnings with an NHL expansion team in 1991, San Jose is now truly a ‘hockey city,’” said Sharks Sports and Entertainment president Jonathan Becher.

“Boasting three professional hockey teams and Sharks Ice, a six-sheet public recreational ice facility, San Jose hosts one of the largest collection of boys, girls, and adult hockey players in the U.S.”

Details on how expansion rosters will be built, and how those teams will be incorporated into the June 17 draft in Detroit, will be announced later, the league said Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2026.

By Donna Spencer