Record attendance at Toronto PWHL game shows interest, support in women's hockey is growing, advocates say

The record crowd at Friday's Toronto-Montreal Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) game at Scotiabank Arena demonstrates that women are "finally" getting the support they deserve, with more young girls showing interest in joining the sport, according to the director of girl's hockey at the Ontario Hockey Academy.

Kayla Lascelle said administrators "have definitely seen a complete increase in applicants" at the Cornwall, Ont., academy, which consists of five boys teams and three girls teams. The academy has been in existence since 2008.

"We are getting applicants from not only Canada and the U.S., but we have a lot of top athletes from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Israel, Mexico, Australia to name a few," Lascelle told CBC Toronto.

"They're coming to us to get more of a well-rounded foundation of hockey, where in some countries they don't have access to a rink or to personal training, physical training, stuff like that, and they're looking to play in Canada and in Ontario specifically."

The PWHL was formed in June, when a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and Billie Jean King bought the Premier Hockey Federation with plans to fold it and begin a new league with members of the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association, which included most of the top players.

It has six franchise locations — Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston and Minnesota — with its inaugural season starting last month.

Lascelle said girls looking to move forward in the game usually get into "playing university hockey." She said now, they also have "the PWHL option." 

"They're looking to kind of come be exposed to this type of environment, the speed, the type of hockey it is and then further their games in the future,"