The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) released its expanded 90-game 2024/25 schedule on Tuesday, with the puck dropping on the league's second season on November 30th.

The PWHL's six teams — all featuring fresh branding including new names and logos — will play 30 games each, up from 24 last hockey season.

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"Our teams and players are so eager to bring their new identities to life, and the schedule announcement elevates that sense of anticipation," stated Senior VP of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford in an official league release.

"We have more games, new uniforms, a talented rookie class, and so much more for the PWHL community to look forward to. For our players and our fans, the season ahead will be intense, competitive, and fun."

PWHL teams to face each other six times

PWHL teams will play each other six times across the season, with three home and three road matchups on the schedule.

Opening day will see the Boston Fleet visit the Toronto Sceptres at 2 PM ET, with the Montréal Victoire hosting the Ottawa Charge at 5 PM ET. Last year's champions, the Minnesota Frost, will open their 2024/25 title defense at home against the New York Sirens at 6 PM ET on December 1st.

Speaking of the defending Walter Cup Champions, the Frost's second game will be a rematch of last season's deciding Game 5, as Minnesota visits 2023/24 runners-up Boston on December 4th.

PWHL regular season play will run through May 3rd, 2025, with three international breaks on the docket. They start with one-week gaps in December and February for the Women's Euro Hockey Tour and the Canada-USA Rivalry Series, followed by a 22-day pause in April for the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Record-breaking inaugural season shifts some PWHL venues

With the first-year league seemingly breaking attendance records every few days last season, some PWHL teams moved into larger venues during the offseason to accommodate demand.

The Sceptres home ice is now Toronto's Coca-Cola Coliseum, which seats 8,140 fans — more than double the 3,850 capacity of their previous home, the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Toronto already sold out their new arena during last season's playoffs, packing 8,500 into the Coliseum.

Similarly, Quebec's Place Bell will now permanently house the Victoire, increasing Montreal's fan capacity from Verdun Auditorium's 3,795-seats to more than 10,000.

After two successful games at New Jersey's Prudential Center last season, the New York Sirens will call the NHL venue home throughout their 2024/25 campaign.

The newly released schedule also includes 14 games without a listed venue, as the PWHL solidifies plans to stage those tilts at either neutral sites or larger arenas in home markets.

It's a tactic that paid off last season, which saw Toronto and Montreal draw the sport's largest crowd on record when 21,105 packed Montreal's Bell Centre. The league also saw success in drawing hockey fans from non-PWHL cities, including Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Camps and contract negotiations impact PWHL rosters

While all six teams released their training camps rosters on October 11th, final lists aren't due to the league until November 27th, after training camps and scrimmages.

Each franchise can roster a maximum of 23 players, plus an additional three reserves.

Contract negotiations can continue through the training camp period, with fans most anxiously awaiting news of Princeton University alum Sarah Fillier. The PWHL's 2024 overall No. 1 draft pick remains the league's only first-round selectee still without a signed contract.

While she features on the Sirens's training-camp list, Fillier is reportedly seeking a shorter two-year deal in order to enter negotiations in 2026 — one season earlier than the three-year contract on the table.

2024/25 PWHL season ticket packages now on sale

While the league is still finalizing broadcast details for the upcoming season, fans will be able to buy season ticket packages starting as early as Thursday, October 17th, depending on their local team's roll-out schedule.

Canadian teams are set to release single-game tickets on October 30th, with US franchises dropping theirs on November 1st.

In today's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins takes a deep dive into the end-of-season NWSL awards, comparing her ballot with the announced finalists to predict this year's winners. Watkins then gives her final picks from the pool of nominees, choosing the best of the best in a year flush with impressive performances.

Later, Watkins previews the blockbuster NWSL semifinal matchups between the league's top four teams, predicting the results and forecasting who will ultimately win a ticket to Kansas City to compete in the 2024 NWSL Championship.

The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.

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The NWSL announced more details around November 22nd's second annual Skills Challenge on Thursday, including competition rules and eight participating athletes.

Beginning at 6 PM ET the evening before November 23rd's 2024 NWSL Championship match, two teams of league stars will compete in a trio of skills contests. The winning squad will split a $30,000 check from sponsor CarMax — up from $25,000 last year.

Retired NWSL and USWNT icon Sam Mewis will host the event.

Three events await Skills Challenge contenders

The 2024 edition of the Skills Challenge returns two events — Player Shootouts and the Crossbar Challenge — while replacing last year's 2-on-2 TeqBall competition with a new contest called the Gauntlet.

Meant to highlight athletes' agility and dribbling skills, the Gauntlet places a player within a starting circle surrounded by five mini-goals of various sizes. The smaller the goal, the more points it is worth.

The athlete will have 60 seconds to score as many points as possible, but must exit the circle to take a shot. At the same time, the other team's defenders will attempt to thwart scoring attempts, but they cannot enter the circle.

Reminiscent of penalty kicks (PKs), the Shootout's nine rounds will feature one player against the opposing team's goalkeeper. Unlike PKs in a match, goalkeepers have freedom of movement and are not limited to staying on the goal line. Similarly, the attacker can dribble away from the starting spot to shoot from anywhere on the pitch, as long as they do so within eight seconds.

Finally, in the Crossbar Challenge, the two Skills Challenge teams will take turns trying to hit the crossbar from the 18-yard line, with each hit adding one point to the team total.

After reaching five points, a team will double the distance from goal to 36 yards. The first team to hit the crossbar from there, while still alternating shots, wins the event.

Stars gear up to showcase their skills

Though full 2024 Skills Challenge rosters will be revealed in the coming days, the NWSL dropped eight contenders in Thursday's announcement.

The lone veteran from the 2023 competition is Houston forward Michelle Alozie, who will join Skills Challenge rookies Angelina (Orlando), Kate Del Fava (Utah), Savannah DeMelo (Louisville), Jaelin Howell (Seattle), Savy King (Bay), Kailen Sheridan (San Diego), and Morgan Weaver (Portland).

Should Orlando advance from this weekend's NWSL semifinals to November 23rd's NWSL Championship, Angelina will withdraw from the skills competition.

How to watch the 2024 NWSL Skills Challenge

The Friday event at the University of Kansas Health System Training Center is free and open to the public.

Those unable to attend in person can watch a full replay of the event on the afternoon of Sunday, November 24th, when the Skills Challenge will air nationwide on CBS.

Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie!

In today's episode, our hosts kick things off by chatting through last weekend's NWSL quarterfinals, with the top four teams proving their dominance in four heated battles. O'Hara then shouts out the two center backs who notched their first goals of the year this postseason: Washington's Tara McKeown and Gotham's Tierna Davidson.

Later turning to the NWSL semifinals, Leslie zeroes in on this weekend's bout between No. 1 Orlando and No. 4 Kansas City — a game that pits leading goalscorers Temwa Chawinga and Barbra Banda against one another. "Is the matchup that we've been waiting for?" she asks.

O'Hara agrees with her co-host. While she dubs the semifinal between No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Gotham more of a "chess match," O'Hara predicts the Current and Pride's clash to be "end line to end line soccer."

"Orlando was able to stay top of the table [while] Kansas City is fourth, so in reality you would think Orlando should walk into this game feeling very confident and know what you need to do to be successful," says O'Hara. "But it's playoffs, so anything can happen."

"I'm just gonna be sat on the couch, locked in," she adds. "Get the popcorn out, get ready."

Fast Friends discusses NWSL awards

Before moving on from the pitch, Leslie and O'Hara discuss the NWSL's end-of-season awards frontrunners. The hosts gamble that Chawinga will take MVP honors while Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune will walk away as the 2024 Rookie of the Year — despite only playing 17 matches before a post-Olympics knee injury limited her to the sidelines.

Then, the legendary athletes turn to the tennis courts to celebrate Coco Gauff's recent WTA Finals win before chatting through the top teams and players headlining NCAA basketball's early season action.

And last but not least, O'Hara and Leslie reveal a few of the special guests joining them onstage at their upcoming NWSL Championship Weekend Live Show.

About Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie

Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.

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The NWSL announced the finalists for the 2024 end-of-year awards on Tuesday, with lists showcasing heavy-hitters around the league.

The 2024 MVP award is an all-attacker affair, as the league's top scorers all earned nominations. The Orlando Pride's Barbra Banda and Marta both snagged nods, with Kansas City's Golden Boot-winner Temwa Chawinga, Washington's Trinity Rodman, and Portland's Sophia Smith rounding out the shortlist.

The Rookie of the Year category is similarly stacked, as injured Washington rookie Croix Bethune and her record-tying 10 assists goes up against Utah standout Ally Sentnor and KC Current star Claire Hutton for top honors.

Position players snag share of NWSL awards spotlight

The NWSL's top position players are also vying for solo hardware this season.

In the league's first-ever Midfielder of the Year category, Kansas City's Vanessa DiBernardo and celly queen Lo LaBonta earned nominations, as did Orlando's Marta and North Carolina's Ashley Sanchez. Washington rookie Croix Bethune's short but impressive season also scored her a nod.

Battling in the backline for Defender of the Year are North Carolina's Kaleigh Kurtz and Washington's forward-turned-center back Tara McKeown. Both Iron Women are in the running alongside San Diego’s Naomi Girma and Orlando’s Emily Sams and Kylie Strom.

As the new NWSL single-season shutout leader, Orlando's Anna Moorhouse headlines the Goalkeeper of the Year race, with Gotham's Ann-Katrin Berger and Utah's Mandy Haught in hot pursuit.

Top sideline leaders earn NWSL Coach of the Year nominations

After flipping Orlando from a non-playoff team into 2024’s Shield-winners with a record-setting 23-match undefeated streak, Pride boss Seb Hines is the frontrunner for Coach of the Year (COTY).

However, Hines faces tough competition from Gotham's Juan Carlos Amorós and Kansas City's Vlatko Andonovski.

Andonovski took the Current from a second-to-last 2023 finish to fourth-place on this season's table, while 2023 COTY winner Amorós is one of just two coaches to defeat Orlando this year.

How to vote for the 2024 NWSL individual awards

Fan ballots account for 10% of the final tally, so weigh in by voting online for this season's individual awards, as well as the Best XI First Team and Best XI Second Team. Ballots are due by 3 PM ET on Friday.