For most people in Seattle, mid-fall is unremarkable. It’s a boring, rainy time of year—not much goes on during the dark, damp days that plague the city for multiple months to come. But the fall of 2025 is bringing an exciting new development for Seattle: the city’s first-ever professional women’s hockey team. 

Seattle has long been a hockey hotspot: the Seattle Metropolitans played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (a regional precursor to the NHL) from 1915 to 1924, even winning the Stanley Cup in 1917. For decades after, many professional hockey teams and leagues resided in Seattle. Then, after a multi-year-long battle to bring an NHL expansion to Seattle, the Kraken began playing in 2021, amassing a sizeable fanbase despite consistently mediocre rankings in the NHL.

Despite hockey’s long history in Seattle, the city has never had a professional women’s team—that is, until now. The Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, is about to begin its sophomore season with Seattle as host of one of eight teams throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

To answer rising calls from women’s hockey players and fans alike, the PWHL was founded in Aug. 2023 and announced the creation of six teams that began playing in the winter of 2024. In April 2025, two expansion teams—one in Vancouver and the other in Seattle—were added to the PWHL’s roster. The Seattle team’s name was announced soon after: the Torrent. 

With the addition of the Torrent, Seattle has become the only city in the United States to host all three major professional women’s sports: the Reign for soccer, the Storm for basketball and now the Torrent for hockey. Fans in the city, which has been a hub for professional women’s sports, are ecstatic. 

“I was so happy when I heard we were going to get a women’s team,” Nichole Tran, a high schooler who occasionally plays hockey at the Kraken Community Iceplex, said. “I kind of didn’t think it would ever happen.” 

That excitement isn’t without justification. The Torrent may have had last pick in the expansion draft, but their roster is loaded with a number of fantastic players offering a solid mix of fresh-out-of-college energy and years of on-ice experience. 

“[The roster] has a pretty good mix of experience and upcoming talent,” Andrew Truong, a master’s in human-centered design and engineering student at the University of Washington and announcer for both UW hockey and the Seattle Thunderbirds, said. “The obvious standout from the roster is Hilary Knight–she’s got a lot of experience and international appearances–but I like a lot of our rookies as well.”

Knight, the team’s captain, began her hockey career in 2006 and has won a number of awards both locally and internationally. Still, she’s not the only player to watch. There’s forward Hannah Bilka, a Texan who made headlines in June as the Torrent’s first expansion draft pick; goaltender Carly Jackson, a fan-favorite for their advocacy for the LGBTQ community; and defender Lily Yovetich, a training camp invite who has yet to sign a contract with the team.

But the Torrent is not without its controversies: many fans have criticized the team’s branding. Fans are especially disappointed with the team’s name and logo, which some argue doesn’t represent Seattle well. 

“I think it’s just a little bit underwhelming,” Daniel Murphy, a Kraken and NHL fan, said. “It doesn’t seem as cool as the Kraken.” 

However, the response to the Torrent’s first-ever season has been mostly positive. Women’s hockey is a beloved sport for many, and fans hope that the introduction of the Torrent will help bring new audience members to the rink. 

“I’m looking forward to meeting new hockey fans,” Truong said. “I’m at Climate Pledge pretty often for Kraken games, and I’m excited to see some new faces there,” 

The team plays its first home game Nov. 28 at Climate Pledge Arena. Tickets for that game are long sold out, but seats for future games are still available for as low as $35—and if you still can’t snag tickets, all PWHL games will be available online and via cable television.