PWHL Playoffs Set to Start on May 8

Well we may only currently have two of the four playoff teams, but now we have dates and the official locations for the first two games of both semifinal rounds. 

The PWHL announced today that on May 8th, Toronto will host Game 1 of the first semifinal series between one of Minnesota, Ottawa, or Boston. On May 9th, Montréal will host Game 1 of their semifinal series which will also be between one of Minnesota, Ottawa, or Boston. Each series in the PWHL Playoffs is a best-of-five. 

Toronto will host Games 1 and 2 on May 8th and 10th, while Montréal will take the stage for their first two games on May 9th and 11th. All four games will start at 7 p.m. ET. 

In addition to the league announcing the dates and times for the start of the postseason, they also announced the official arenas for both Montréal and Toronto. 

Montréal will play their games at Place Bell, which is a rink the team has already played at four times this season and have a winning record of 3-1 there. Montréal has sold out two of those four games where 10,172 fans were in attendance. Earlier last week, Montréal had already announced that they will play all their home games at Place Bell, so this announcement from the league didn’t come as much as a shock as the news of where Toronto will play. 

If you’re a hockey fan in the Greater Toronto Area, you know first hand how difficult it’s been to get your hands on PWHL Toronto tickets. During their inaugural season, Toronto has played every game in the city at Mattamy Athletic Centre, except for their sold out game at Scotiabank Arena back in February where a record breaking crowd of 19,285 tickets watched the home team win 3-0 over Montréal. Mattamy Athletic Centre has a deep and rich history in the city of Toronto. It’s the former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and was once known as Maple Leaf Gardens. It saw a handful of big games and events last season in the PHF with the All-Star game and the Toronto Six semifinal series of the Isobel Cup Final. 

The iconic Toronto arena has charm and an abundance of character, but the amount of fans who can attend games there is extremely limited. With only a capacity of 2,600, PWHL Toronto home games have quickly become one of the hottest tickets in town. When tickets went on sale, it was like a Taylor Swift concert trying to get through the queue. And by the time you did, everything was sold out.

On Thursday morning the PWHL announced that Toronto will play at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, the home of the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The arena has a capacity of over 8,000 and I can promise you right now that it will be sold out in no time. Coca-Cola Coliseum was the home for the CWHL Final a handful of times. Laura Stacey and the Markham Thunder won a Clarkson Cup there in 2018 while Brianna Decker and the Calgary Inferno did the same the following season, which would go on to be the final CWHL Final ever. It’s undetermined who will join Toronto and Montreal in the PWHL Playoffs just yet as the final week of the regular season is upon us.

Toronto and Montréal are currently tied for first in the league with 41 points. Toronto has the upper edge between the two as they have a game in hand and look to clinch first place. As a reminder, whoever is first in the league gets to choose their opponent between either the third or fourth place teams.