Takeover Tour stops fuel Professional Women's Hockey League expansion buzz

The Professional Women's Hockey League will continue building audiences and testing potential new markets with neutral-site games even as the league expands by more teams again next season.

As the PWHL's 16-game Takeover Tour ends in Alberta, executive vice-president of business operations Amy Scheer was working on the next edition of the Tour for the league's fourth season.

"We'll definitely look to bring the Takeover Tour back next year," Scheer said.

"I would say that we'll do no less than what we've done this year. Still determining what the final number would be, but I don't think we'll be less than we did this year."

There are no plans yet to take the Takeover Tour outside North America.

"I don't think we're quite ready to leave North America yet," Scheer said. "It's certainly on our mood board for an aspirational kind of thing, but maybe a little bit further out than next season."

Thursday's first-ever PWHL game in Calgary featured a 2-1 win for the Toronto Sceptres over the Ottawa Charge in front of an announced crowd of 16,150 at the Saddledome.

Edmonton, host of a second Takeover game this season, closes the Tour out Tuesday when the Boston Fleet face the Vancouver Goldeneyes.

The Minnesota Frost doubled the Goldeneyes 2-1 at Rogers Place on Dec. 27.

Half of this season's Takeover Tour games will have been played in Canada, including a pair of games in both Edmonton and Halifax. Quebec City, Hamilton and Winnipeg also each hosted a game.

"The main purpose is building an audience," Scheer said.

"It's the ability for our fans outside of our markets to be able to experience it live, but also to bring new fans into our ecosystem, which are all the things that surround the live property, like social,