Minnesota may be the self-proclaimed State of Hockey, but even the most ardent puckheads know when it’s time to put the sticks and skates away. Once it’s warm enough to open the windows and hear the jingle of an ice cream truck, hockey season’s over. Forget about it, as they say in a certain city much farther east than Stillwater.
Unless, of course, you’re PWHL Minnesota, the clunky name of the local entry in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Long after the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, who gave us that provincial slogan, missed the playoffs and wrapped up a disappointing season, the nickname-less Minnesota women play on — an upset in itself after trailing 0-2 in its first playoff series (more on that later). While Timberwolves fans celebrate their team’s first Western Conference championship series in 20 years and debate where TNT broadcaster Charles Barkley should go to dinner (as if he’d actually listen), a PWHL championship series continues at the Xcel Energy Center, with Minnesota meeting Boston on Friday and Sunday in Games 3 and 4 of their best-of-five series.
Those games bookend a massive weekend for women’s pro sports in the Twin Cities. In between, at noon Saturday, the 2-1 Lynx host the 4-1 New York Liberty at the Target Center, the first of eight national broadcasts by CBS (WCCO-TV locally). The matchup with last year’s WNBA runners-up offers the first coast-to-coast exposure for the improved and reconstituted Lynx, who swept a home-and-home series with Seattle to open the season before losing Thursday night in overtime at Connecticut (4-0).
PWHL Minnesota club officials concede going head-to-head Friday night against the Wolves isn’t ideal, even with the hockey game starting 90 minutes ahead of basketball. (Plus, the Twins play Texas at Target Field at roughly the same time.) But based on advance ticket sales, PWHL Minnesota Director of Business Operations Glen Andresen expects a crowd of 6,000-plus, more than the two semifinal home games combined.
“We’re getting into summer months, and Memorial Day weekend is always a challenge,” Andresen said Thursday in an ice-level hallway at Xcel. “But we’re pretty excited about the way ticket sales have gone for Friday night. We’re definitely trending towards getting that entire lower bowl filled.”
By any measure, the club’s attendance in the PWHL’s inaugural regular season represented a smashing success. Minnesota sold 1,300 season tickets and averaged 7,138 per game playing primarily at Xcel, second in the six-team league to Ottawa (7,496). By comparison, the Minnesota Whitecaps — the previous local pro women’s team — averaged 1,200 at TRIA Rink in St. Paul in 2018-19, selling out all 10 games in its first season in the National Women’s Hockey League.
It only took one night for PWHL Minnesota to vault past the Whitecaps’ season attendance total. The crowd of 13,316 for the Jan. 6 home opener set a record, since broken, for a women’s pro hockey game. Weekend games drew significantly better than weeknights.
But attendance momentum dissipated in April after the league’s three-week break for the world championships. Minnesota played only one of its final five games at home, lost them all, yet squeaked into the playoffs on the final day when Ottawa lost to Toronto. It took another 24 hours for the league to announce its playoff schedule, with Minnesota landing two home games on — ugh — weeknights.
The arrival of warm weather offered another challenge. Who wants to pull on a sweater to go watch hockey when you can walk around the lake or fire up the grill? Playoff ticket sales lagged, and losing the first two games of the semifinals to top-seeded Toronto hardly inspired confidence. Xcel crowds were so small — 3,344 and 2,766 — the club only sold tickets on one side of the ice and behind the goals.
But then something crazy happened. Minnesota won both home games to tie the series, the second in double overtime, behind shutouts by goalie Maddie Rooney of Andover. Then it completed the comeback by going to Toronto and winning, 4-1. Advancing to the best-of-five Walter Cup finals, Minnesota split the first two games at Boston.
Funny thing: Players said the playoff crowds at Xcel were still plenty loud, twirling white towels and chanting Rooney’s last name after big saves. “That was cool,” said Rooney, a 2018 Olympic gold medalist. They expect more of the same this weekend.
“Every single game we’ve had in this building has been incredible, whether it’s the first game of 13,000-plus or one of the lower attended games,” said forward Kelly Pannek of Plymouth, another 2018 gold medalist. “It’s always very loud. I can never tell how many people are really in it. Sometimes you see people sitting across from the bench, sometimes you don’t. But they’ve been great to play in front of. They’ve provided a great atmosphere.”
Late Thursday, Minnesota announced one more wrinkle — a pregame party on the plaza behind the X by the Herb Brooks statue, coinciding with the Wolves block party in downtown Minneapolis. Hockey season lives on. And if you listen closely, you might even hear an ice cream truck go by.
