They don't have a nickname yet, or a logo. Their uniforms — purple, black and white, with MINNESOTA stitched on the jersey — are basic placeholders, made just for the first season of the new Professional Women's Hockey League.
Natalie Darwitz works to shape Minnesota's still-unnamed PWHL team
With games set to start around Jan. 1, PWHL officials acknowledge they could have waited another year to start. But board member Stan Kasten said they wanted to start quickly for the players' sake.
November 18, 2023 at 11:04PM
The six-team league still has loads of details to announce, including a schedule, game venues and start date. This week, Minnesota's team was concentrating on the things it did have. It began training camp Wednesday at Tria Rink, the training facility for its inaugural season, with 28 players eager to launch the most well-funded pro league in women's hockey history.
General Manager Natalie Darwitz has signed seven players to a roster that will top out at 23, plus two reserves. She and head coach Charlie Burggraf are approaching things with open minds, allowing players to earn their way onto the team during the 3 ½ weeks before rosters must be finalized.
The PWHL expects to begin play around Jan. 1, with teams in Minnesota, Boston, New York, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa playing 24-game schedules. Wednesday, Darwitz was still unpacking boxes at Tria in the midst of the league's four-month rush from its unveiling to its first games.
"Our staff has just been in a whirlwind the last month, but we wouldn't have it any other way," she said. "I don't know if I've slept a full night in a month, with so many things going on.
"Was it an elaborate timeline for us to get this league together? Maybe. But we welcome the sprint."
The PWHL launched June 30. In a news conference earlier this week, league officials said it would have been prudent to wait a year before beginning play, to give themselves time to get everything nailed down.
Board member Stan Kasten said they wanted to forge ahead quickly for the players' sake. While there are no dates set for announcements, he said the schedule is "98% done." Each team probably will play two games per week, with one on a weekend.
Kasten added that some games will be played in NHL arenas, and most will be televised via over-the-air, cable or satellite TV. All games will be available for streaming.
It's possible the nicknames and logos won't be unveiled before the season starts, but Kasten isn't sweating it.
"We weren't going to put [the inaugural season] off another year," he said. "We made that commitment to the players, who have been fighting for this for so long. But to speed things up, that obviously cost us having everything being perfect on day one.
"The stuff that's important — getting the best players, getting them on teams, getting them in places where fans are really going to enjoy them — that, we got right. I'm very proud of what we've done."
Minnesota received the first pick in the September draft, and Darwitz selected former Gophers star Taylor Heise of Lake City. The forward is among four Minnesota natives and former Gophers to sign three-year contracts, joining forwards Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle and defender Lee Stecklein.
Forward Kendall Coyne Schofield and goaltender Nicole Hensley also are on three-year deals, and forward Susanna Tapani signed for two years.
After 2 ½ weeks on the ice at Tria, the Minnesota team will join the five others in Utica, N.Y., for a preseason evaluation camp Dec. 3-7. The camp includes eight scrimmages to help coaches and GMs make final roster decisions. Minnesota will face the teams from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.
Before that next step, Darwitz was getting settled into a locker room on loan from the Wild, and laying the groundwork for something bigger.
"It's probably not normal for the GM to be sweeping the floor," she said. "We're going to look back on the last few weeks and say, 'Remember when?' This is an amazing, historic day."
Sam Rinzel had two of the Gophers’ three power play goals against the Irish.
