The Premier Hockey Federation is back.

While the Boston Pride kicked off their title defense in style with a 4-0 win over Connecticut, expansion team Montreal got their first win in their first-ever game.

THE CHAMPS HAVE RETURNED 🦁@TheBostonPride watched their championship banner rise to the rafters ahead of their debut win!

(via @PHF)pic.twitter.com/9dksezTRuQ

— espnW (@espnW) November 6, 2022

With a lot of movement, and some significant roster turnover, in the offseason, teams look different than they did last year. The front office does, too. PHF commissioner Reagan Carey was appointed in April and has since brought on familiar faces like U.S. Olympians Kacey Bellamy and Brianna Decker as well as long-time Team Canada manager Melody Davidson.

This as the league implemented its new $750,000 salary cap, which was announced in January. As a result, Mikyla Grant-Mentis signed the largest professional contract for a women’s hockey player at a record $80,000 for the upcoming season. A multitude of other stars will earn at least $50,000 this season.

“I think it’s a very exciting time with the PHF as salaries continue to increase,” said Toronto Six captain Shiann Darkangelo. “We’ve seen different dollar amounts with girls playing overseas, in China, things like that. But to see it here in North America is huge.”

A new, two-year broadcasting deal with ESPN was also announced in the offseason. In all, Carey told The Athletic that it’s a “new era” for the league.

“Everybody’s excited about the increase in the salary cap,” she said. “We’re all on the same page knowing that’s a huge step forward, but it’s nothing that we’re resting on.”

“Having a broadcast partner like ESPN certainly helps us in a lot of areas, whether it’s just fan involvement, and fan retention, as well as sponsorship and just being able to share the great stories that are within the PHF.”

On Saturday, the Toronto Six and Boston Pride both sold out their home openers, a sign of growth for the league beyond expansion.

New expansion team Montreal kicked off their inaugural season in style, with a shootout win over the Boston Pride.

FIRST GAME. FIRST WIN 🫡

Samantha Isbell secures the game winner in the shootout for the @LaForceMontreal‼️

(via @PHF) pic.twitter.com/CM95YjVU1L

— espnW (@espnW) November 6, 2022

While Montreal is the lone expansion team this season – after it was announced previously that there would be two teams being added to the league – they certainly won’t be the last. Carey said that the league is exploring expansion. They join other major women’s leagues, like the WNBA and the NWSL, as women’s sports continues to experience unprecedented growth.

“The exciting part of being in women’s sports right now is that (it) used to be a phone call out to people to see who might be interested,” Carey said. “Now, we’re seeing the calls come in, and the interest comes to us in a lot of markets that weren’t on our radar even in April.”

The No. 1 Kansas City Current officially clinched the 2025 NWSL Shield on Saturday, taking down the No. 6 Seattle Reign 2-0 to lift the 2021 expansion club's first-ever piece of league hardware.

"I thought that we won with a statement," said Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski after the match. "We showed that throughout the season we were the best team in the league."

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Kansas City is now the fastest Shield winner in NWSL history, claiming the hardware — and the postseason's top seeding — with five regular-season matches still remaining.

Needing a 16-point advantage atop the NWSL standings to secure the Shield over the weekend, Kansas City's Saturday win combined with Washington's Thursday draw with Angel City to put the second-place Spirit out of reach of the 2025 regular-season title.

The Current's dominance this year has the club riding a 17-2-2 overall record, racking up 14 straight results as Kansas City haven't lost a match since May 2nd and haven't conceded an NWSL goal since June 14th.

"It's just justification of all the work that we've done this year, and last year, too," added Andonovski. "We talked last year that we had a great season, and we said we were going to come out stronger.... We proved that we are a better team than last year and we are going to keep growing as we go forward."

Las Vegas star A'ja Wilson is the 2025 WNBA MVP, with the league announcing Sunday that the Aces forward earned her fourth career MVP award to set a new WNBA record.

Wilson received 51 of the media panel's 72 first-place votes, beating out fellow 2025 MVP finalists Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Alyssa Thomas (Phoenix Mercury), Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream), and Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana Fever).

"These are the moments that I'm like, 'No, this is why you wake up every morning and do what you do,'" Wilson said upon receiving the award.

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Previously named MVP in 2020, 2022, and 2024, Wilson's new 2025 trophy officially puts her ahead of retired WNBA legends and three-time winners Sheryl Swoopes, Lauren Jackson, and Lisa Leslie on the career MVP list.

Meanwhile, this year's win has Wilson joining former WNBA icon Cynthia Cooper as the league's second-ever back-to-back MVP.

En route to making history, the 29-year-old led the league in average points (23.4) and blocks per game (2.3) on the year, finishing second in rebounds per game (10.2) while playing much of the season's second half out of position as the the Aces' starting center.

"There's no Mt. Rushmore," Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon told Wilson. "You are the only one — you're Everest."

The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx took care of business on Sunday, overcoming a halftime deficit to top the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury 82-69 and open the 2025 WNBA semifinals with a 1-0 series lead.

Lynx stars Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, and Napheesa Collier combined for 62 of Minnesota's 82 points in the win, as the home side outscored the Mercury 42-22 in the second half.

"We've been through a lot of adverse situations in the last two years together — we always know it's a team effort," McBride said. "We know in those moments when we need to brainstorm."

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After ousting 2024 champs New York on Friday, Phoenix failed to execute as confidently against the No. 1 team in the league in Minneapolis.

"They made adjustments, and I still think we had a lot of open shots," Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said. "I felt like it was similar to the last series, where we just didn't hit open ones."

Phoenix dominated the paint in the first half, but struggled from behind the arc throughout the game, hitting just three of their 23 attempted three-pointers.

How to watch the Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx in Game 2

The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx will host the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury again in Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA semifinals at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday.

The clash will air live on ESPN.

The underdog run of the No. 6 Indiana Fever continued on Sunday, as the unlikely 2025 WNBA Playoffs contender took down the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces 89-73 to grab an early 1-0 lead in the pair's best-of-five semifinals.

Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell scored a game-high 34 points — the second-highest in franchise postseason history and the most by any WNBA player in their career semifinals debut — as the Aces suffered their worst home playoff loss since 2021.

"They played with a greater sense of urgency," Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon said afterwards. "We couldn't catch up with their pace."

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Indiana is now on a three-game winning streak, barreling through the postseason despite losing five stars to season-ending injuries — including guard Caitlin Clark.

The Fever's defense proved key in Sunday's win, holding newly minted 2025 WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson to just 16 points off six made shots.

"We wanted to come in and be the aggressor right away, to make sure that we were dictating on the defensive end, and we were dictating from a pace standpoint," said Indiana head coach Stephanie White.

How to watch the Indiana Fever vs. Las Vegas Aces in Game 2

The No. 2 Las Vegas Aces will host the No. 6 Indiana Fever again in Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA semifinals on Tuesday.

The action will tip off at 9:30 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN.