Branding, venues, rule changes: 5 things to follow ahead of the PWHL's new campaign

A year ago, when the Professional Women's Hockey League was preparing to launch its inaugural season, few knew what to expect.

Women's hockey leagues have come and gone over the years, and Jayna Hefford knows that better than most. She played in a few of those leagues over a Hall of Fame career, and served as commissioner of the Canadian Women's Hockey League when it folded more than five years ago.

But when the six-team PWHL launched in January, the public reception of the new league exceeded expectations.

It showed through merchandise sales, which the league significantly underestimated, to attendance, including a record-breaking crowd of more than 21,000 that sold out the Bell Centre in Montreal in just minutes.

"We always believed it to be true," said Hefford, who is the PWHL's senior vice president of hockey operations. "We had a vision for it. But to see it happen as quickly as it did was something that was pretty special."

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The challenge going into season two isn't just to sustain that momentum, but to keep growing. The league will be playing in bigger venues over an expanded season that will see each team play 30 games.

All of that means more tickets to sell, as the league balances meeting demand with not doing too much too fast.

While attendance was strong in Canadian markets last season, the league still needs to work on building a steady fan base in American markets like New York. The Sirens will call New Jersey's Prudential Center its primary home this season, after splitting time between three arenas in three states last season.

The PWHL regular-season will kick off on Saturday with the Toronto