Earlier this week, it was announced that the Montreal Victoire will begin their defence of the Walter Cup on December 5 when they open up their season at Place Bell against the expansion Hamilton team.
The game has since sold out, and will be broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada as well as being on French Radio-Canada. It will be the first championship banner unveiled at Place Bell. The Rocket have two celebrating their division titles.
On Friday, the league announced the rest of the schedule. With four new teams, the schedule will remain at 30 games. Twelve Montreal games will be held at Place Bell, with three to be announced. One of those games will likely be at the Bell Centre, and two likely Takeover Tour games. It would not be surprising to see one of those two in Quebec City.
For the first time, PWHL teams will be divided into two conferences, each consisting of six teams.
Eastern Conference: Boston Fleet, PWHL Hamilton, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres
Western Conference: PWHL Detroit, PWHL Las Vegas, Minnesota Frost, PWHL San Jose, Seattle Torrent, Vancouver Goldeneyes
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, 18 within its conference and 12 interconference games. Every team will visit the primary or secondary home venue in all 12 PWHL markets at least once, providing fans with the opportunity to see all teams.
The PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs will expand at the conclusion of the 2026-27 regular season to feature eight teams competing in three rounds, up from the four-team and two-round format in each of the league’s first three postseasons.
The eight teams that qualify for the playoffs will be the top four teams in each conference. The first round will feature four best-of-three series, followed by best-of-five conference finals and a best-of-five PWHL Walter Cup Finals presented by Scotiabank.
A PWHL playoff tradition will also expand this season, awarding the first-place team in each conference the opportunity to select its first-round opponent, choosing between the third or fourth-place team within their respective conference.
Montreal’s season will start with a second game at home, December 12 against San Jose before heading on the road for two games in Boston and Minnesota.
Six of the 15 home games are on Saturdays, with three more on Friday nights. The full schedule is here.
Despite losing captain Marie-Philip Poulin for the regular season (in all likelihood, as she faces a nine month recovery from knee surgery that happened in July), and losing several key players in the expansion process, the Victoire are poised to challenge for the Walter Cup again.
They brought back Abby Roque and added Emma Maltais and Jessie Eldridge in free agency, who were three of the top available players in the off-season. They also signed Finnish legend Michelle Karvinen and drafted Petra Nieminen to shore up their forward group. On defence, they re-signed Nadia Mattivi and Maggie Flaherty, plus added Zoe Uens and Erica Rieder in the draft.
Training camp will open on November 18, with the Victoire playing two pre-season games in Boston November 24 and 25 against the Fleet and New York Sirens. Full camp rosters will be unveiled next week.
