“We Want a Team”: Denver Packs In Ball Arena with Record Breaking PWHL Takeover

Ball Arena in downtown Denver, Colorado set a new record for attendance in a United States professional women’s ice hockey game as 14,018 fans attended a regular season PWHL (Professional Women’s Hocky League) game between the Montréal Victoire and the Minnesota Frost.

The neutral-site game was part of the PWHL’s 2024-25 “Takeover Tour,” showcasing the up-and-coming league to new fans in different markets. With only six teams so far, three in the United States and three in Canada, the PWHL Takeover Tour aims to both bring the women’s game to these markets for an exciting one-time event as well as gauge potential interest as the league continues to expand.

Denver hockey fans minced no words on Sunday afternoon. When the announcement was made on the big screen that the record had been broken for attendance in a U.S. pro women’s ice hockey game, the crowd erupted in to deafening chants: “We want a team.”

After breaking the PWHL's US attendance record (14,018), fans in Denver chanted "we want a team" 🗣️

(via @BauerHockey) pic.twitter.com/x7HxZf2T9o
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 12, 2025

Mind you, the Denver Broncos were concurrently playing their first playoff game since their Super Bowl 50 win over the Carolina Panthers in 2016: and yet, fans still came out in droves to get a glimpse of PWHL action.

Indeed, the six-team league intends to expand, hypothetically to eight teams by 2026. Currently, the young league is based largely in the Northeast, with the New York Sirens, Boston Fleet, Montréal Victoire, Toronto Sceptres, and Ottawa Charge. with the Minnesota Frost flanked out furthest West. Travel and proximity are important in the PWHL’s early days, so whether Denver gets a team in the next round of expansion or remains a neutral site until the league expands further West is anyone’s guess.

But Denver made their voices heard on Sunday in regards to their hopes for the PWHL’s future.

The previous record was held by Detroit’s Little Ceasar’s Arena, which hosted 13,736 fans in a game between the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge last season.

Keeping in mind that this was just a United States record, the PWHL has attracted as many as 21,105 fans for a Montréal Victoire home game.

The Minnesota Frost won Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the Montréal Victoire 4-2 to claim the top spot in the league’s standings with a 7-1-2 record, good for 19 points. In a wrinkle of difference from the NHL to PWHL, overtime wins are only worth two out of a possible three points, incentivizing the need to win the game in regulation. Overtime losses are still worth one point, just like in the NHL.

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was among those in attendance, along with Avalanche in-arena announcer Rachel Tos and Denver Nuggets DJ “Paws the Music,” who provided a female-empowered playlist throughout the afternoon.

As women’s sports continues to expand and gain the attention of audiences across North America, it seems to be a matter if when, not if, Denver will ever get to call a professional women’s hockey team their own.

Until then, the PWHL has a starving hockey fan base at their disposal whenever they wish to go on tour.