Why Time Is Now For PWHL, Women’s Hockey In Boston

Women’s hockey is having a moment. NESN proudly celebrates a giant week for women’s hockey in the Boston area all week long, with special features on the PWHL, Women’s Beanpot and more on NESN.com! 

It’s become pretty apparent in recent weeks that women’s hockey is in for quite the year.

In fact, this might be the most important year for the sport yet. The PWHL, whose goal has been to provide stability to players, is off to a roaring start, while the 45th Dunkin’ Women’s Beanpot championship, which is a premier event at the amateur level, will be played at TD Garden for the very first time.

It’s a new era in women’s hockey, and Boston is leading the charge.

We’ll start with the PWHL, which decided to make Boston an Original Six franchise. In doing so, it collected talent from across the world and provided something new to players who have found it hard to continue playing at the highest level with other organizations.

“I talked to two players and they’re like, ‘This is amazing, right?'” PWHL senior vice president Jayna Hefford told NESN.com in November. “… Our goal was to have a setting for them that is professional, that they had everything they needed as athletes. We’re really happy and it’s really great when you hear that the players are happy, and they feel different about this and how they’re being supported.”

It’s something new, but has brought out feelings of thanks and excitement for the players.

“It’s great,” PWHL Boston defender Jessica Digirolamo told NESN. “The development has been huge over the past few years, and obviously I want to thank the older girls who paved the way for us to make this happen, but now young girls get to look forward to something. It’s definitely special and I’m excited to be a part of it.

“I don’t even think I’ve been able to fully understand it,” Digirolamo joked. “That was the first ever draft that happened in women’s hockey, which is amazing. I’m gonna try to appreciate it all at once and make sure that I’m living in the moment.”

In the Beanpot’s case, Hockey East is now giving women an equal opportunity to showcase their talent to the region, which is something the players continue to show excitement over.

“I think we talk about it in a broad sense of how cool it is, but no one wants to say, ‘We can’t wait to play that game,’ because you just can’t say that kind of stuff,” Northeastern goaltender Gwyneth Phillips told NESN prior to the start of the tournament. “I think we’re all really excited. It’s really cool for us to be part of and just see that the woman’s game is growing and we’re getting like the same opportunities as the guys.”

There’s a lot of change happening for women in hockey, and in entering the unknown there’s space for some pushback. That’s the incorrect way to look at it, though, as we’ve already seen what these athletes can do when given opportunities to shine.