Purple Reign

Regardless who won the Walter Cup there was only one candidate for the PWHL Playoff MVP Award and so it was no surprise when the Charge's Gwyneth Phillips was named the recipent

But what caught Lady's attention was how Phillips went to accept the trophy unlike NHL superstar Connor McDavid when he was in this exact same position 12 months ago

During the Walter Cup Finals a very interesting article was released and it was full of promise for a very bright future highlight more expansion to come along with the promise of growing its footprint in Europe as the league continues to tease us those potential exhibition games

It is absolutely well worth the read and it's good to see that someone shares my passion and the belief that the PWHL is going to have a long and lasting future for generations to come

Read it for yourselves here - https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/nhl/pwhl-plans-further-expansion-eyes-2026-olympics-to-broaden-reach-in-europe/ar-AA1Fm7Ro

The first pieces for any expansion team is general managers and for both Seattle & Vancouver they have got some of the very best and well respected candidates in women's hockey which bodes very well for both franchises as the expansion process gets underway

The calendar year of 2025 saw a massive moment for the PWHL with their first ever Takeover Tour which saw the Inaugural Six play across nine markets that did not have a PWHL team

The tour was an almighty success as not only did fans show out they also engaged with the league proving my point that everyone watches women's hockey as a combined 123,000 attended one stop on the tour

Not only that but two major milestones were achieved during the tour as the league welcomed the one millionth fan in attendance and the first two stops Seattle & Vancover were awarded expansion franchises arriving in the 2025/26 season

Thank you to everyone who atteneded one of the nine stops of the PWHL Takeover Tour 2025!!!

With the nominees being revealed while I was in Philly and then during this year's Walter Cup Finals this edition of Purple Reign is my first oppertunity to see who has been nominated for each award with the ceremony taking place on June 25 at Hard Rock, Ottawa

The first step of the roster building process for Seattle and Vancover are underway as the Inaugural Six teams submitted their protection lists which caused quite the shocks and surprises

As for the Purple Trio we did extrenely well as most of our choices that we made were the eventual picks with only one or two from our list that didn't make the cut and most likely could be taken

Check out thee official article to see who each team protected and who is still up for grabs - https://www.thepwhl.com/en/news/2025/june/03/pwhl-announces-player-protection-lists-for-2025-expansion-roster-building-process

With just 24 hours to go before the process begins for the PWHL Expansion Draft 2025 the Purple Trio come together to draw up their protection lists for each of the Inaugural Six

This was not easy and as you'll see it caused quite the comotion amongst our trio, if you would like to see our lists then you can find them on my official instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/georgehandmusic/

The first thing I saw when I got back from my mentally compromising trip in Philly was the details on how the first ever PWHL Expansion Draft but given how I was heading to Kylie I only got to read it at my seat in the AO Arena and it sounded confusing even without the jetlag

Check out the official article to see the details for yourselves and find out which players from your team are up for grabs - https://www.thepwhl.com/en/news/2025/may/19/pwhl-releases-key-dates-rules-and-procedures-for-2025-expansion-rosters

In the final episode the Purple Trio look back on the first ever Walter Cup Finals which saw PWHL Minnesota go head to head with PWHL Boston and both sides put on quite the show across all five games but in the end there was only one place the Walter Cup would call home

In the fourth episode the Purple Trio look back on the Walter Cup Semifinals matchup that saw PWHL Minnesota get picked by the league champions PWHL Toronto and it turned into quite the rollercoaster ride as an upset was well and truely on the cards