Purple Reign

While the WNBA have found ways to make their offsason bearable that doesn't mean the PWHL should follow suit especially as the two sports are nothing like one anotherI personally believe that 3 on 3 only belongs in regular season games as a way to settle games in overtime nothing more nothing less end of discussion

Given the horrible summer that we're having in the UK the last thing we would want to focus about is hockey but the first leg of the Women's Euro Hockey Tour is about to beginThe first leg kicks off in Kloten, Switzerland between the 19-22 August 2026

Team Italy proved to be quite the success story of the Milano-Cortina Winter Games and that was largely thanks to their new coach Eric Bouchard as I find his story to be very inspirational

This is a bit of a fun one despite what Lady thinks as Me and Pluto look into the story of KK working as an employee for Dunkin Donuts, brace yourselves for a corker as Lady walks off and Me and Pluto create our very own Dunkin Menu

With the World Championships about to implement a brand new format which will see the two groups more balanced we wonder if that same model could also be implemented to the Winter Olympics and make them even more competitive than what we saw in Milano

I share my thoughts on a recent documentary about two of the league's biggest netminders right now Aerin Frankel from the Boston Fleet and Gwyneth Philips from the Ottawa ChargeWatch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znd5bTq2XRw

A recent article from The Hockey News got me thinking about how far the league has come in where they house their teams especially the New York Sirens and the Ottawa Charge who have both gone on the biggest journeys compared to their primary venues

Following on from the Sharks plans to have a theme night to celebrate their PWHL team low and behold my archnemesis the Vegas Golden Knights are doing one for theirs on December 5The timing is interesting as it could lead into PWHL Las Vegas' home opner as by that point we hopefully should be two weeks into the season

Hockey Canada has now found its new general manager who will take them into Alpes 2030 but it comes at a massive cost to the Montreal Victoire as they lose their general managerThis is a huge moment for Daniele who is moving onto bigger and exciting things but she sure will be missed in this league and I imagine the Victoire will push harder for one more cup before she goes

This season saw the Montreal Victoire finally conquer their playoff demons and became our successors to the Walter Cup but apart from stellar netminding what helped them get over the line was they finally found some much needed depth scoring

Despite their arena drama and dealing with a personnel tragedy the Ottawa Charge once again made another deep run for the Walter Cup alas once again their efforts were in vain despite both Rebecca Leslie and Gwyneth Philips proving to be rising stars in the organisation

Once again our Minnesota Frost entered the season as defending Walter Cup champions and put up a valiant defence led mainly by the standout stars Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise who continued to make histroy in this league

Let's face it the Boston Fleet owe all of their success to Kris Sparre who helped turned this team around and make them Walter Cup contenders but also Aerin Frankel played a key role in the on ice magic in Boston this season

For the Toronto Sceptres they had a new netminding tandem even if they didn't call it that as Raygan Kirk stepped up to the plate and kept the Sceptres firmly in games but their offense and especially their powerplay went stone cold

Despite another strong showing in the Entry Draft the New York Sirens ended up going backwards rather than forwards as the cracks in their organisation were shown as they relied heavily on Kaylee Osborne and Sarah Fillier went silent

Despite having Hillary Knight it was never going to be easy for the Seattle Torrent as they struggled to get off the ground despite having the best and largest crowds at Climate Pledge Arena night in night out

The Vancouver Goldeneyes had high expectations going into the 2025/26 season but alas their struggles were evident from the very beginning but they did win the next big thing the right to make the first overall pick

We finally now know who Vancouver has hired as their new head coach and surprise not surprise that its their now former general manager Cara who returns to bead coachingThere is a double standards to this announcement as the league seem fine having a man take a dual role but not a woman have a dual role especially as Cara is more qualified than Troy

I literally am not happy with fans right now who believe that Marie=Philip Poulin is wrong for taking a trip of a lifetime with her partner Laura Stacy instead of going straight into surgeryAt the end of the day she is a human being who has done more than enough for Montreal and the sport in general and deserves to take a much needed break before surgery and an intense rehab awaits

While the top tier is still a few months away from their World Championships we already have the first details regarding the 2027 Division 1A tournament The tournament will kick off on my 31st birthday in Milano where the winner will be promoted to the top tier for 2028I am ecstatic that not only Italy but the city of Milano gets to host a second major hockey tournament right off the heels of the best Winter Olympics in my lifetime

While I still hold reservations about Troy Ryan being both the General Manager and Head Coach to PWHL San Jose but things are takking shape when it comes to his top teamI couldn't be more pleased with his two choices for assistant coaches as they both bring plenty of experience to the Bay Area and both of them could easily take charge if Troy's dual role doesn't work out

The NHL schedules for the 2026/27 season have recently announced and as for my Sharks they have plenty of special nights planned including our match vs Connor McDavid on October 10thThat night is a Sharks x PWHL San Jose night and I see this is a golden opportunity to continue to build the strong bonds that the San Jose Sharks have done with their new baby sister

July 16-19 was Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend but did we hear anything about it the answer was a big fat no as I saw nothing on my social media timelines over the four daysThis has left my blood boiling especially as the weekend was more to prove a point rather than celebrate our beautiful game and what's worse is it reopened old wounds from February

On November 6 2024 Tech CU Arena hosted Team USA & Team Canada as part of the 2024/25 Rivalry Series where Team USA won outright by a final score of 7-2Little then did we realise that San Jose would become a destination for our league or that plenty of PWHL San Jose's future personnel would play a huge role on the night

In part 4 of this year's Girls on Tour we share our thoughts on the final stops on the 2025/26 Takeover Tour as the league made return trips to three previous stops on the tour Chicago, Detroit and Edmonton

In part 3 of this year's Girls on Tour we share our thoughts on the next four stops on the 2025/26 Takeover Tour which included the game we attended in Denver between our Minnesota Frost and the New York Sirens back in March

In part 2 of this year's Girls on Tour we share our thoughts on the next four stops on the 2025/26 Takeover Tour which saw two games being held on the same day twice in the month of January as two of the league's future expansion markets took center stage

In part 1 of this year's Girls on Tour we share our thoughts on the first four stops on the 2025/26 Takeover Tour which included Halifax where Game Changers author Rachel Reid was in attendance

Not long after leading Team USA to gold it what is meant to be her finally Winter Olympics the captain of the Seattle Torrent Hilllary Knight made an appearance on A Touch More Check it out for yourselves - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR93UHTV408

Not long after winning gold in Milano-Cortina our very own Taylor Heise visited a Minnesota Timberwolves game where her achievements were recognised on center courtWatch it for yourselves - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM2Cbqocz68

Back in June the PWHL received its first set of investments from outside investors as women's hockey continues to grow at a far more growing pace than most people can handleWhile we are mainly happy about the news we do have some reservations which is understandable when any investor starts to throw money around

There is a lot of chatter going around about potentially increasing roster sizes in the PWHL with three scenarios being floated around I personally would go with the option that removes reserves full stop while Pluto & Lady fancy the 24+2 scenario as they feel that a 25 member roster would be two big

These days whether you're in Blighty like us or Stateside or even in Canada's case switching continents travelling is a very expensive and stressful thing to do Especially if you're a league like the PWHL that doesn't have its own private jets and has to fly economy like the rest of us and with four more teams arriving the costs are only going to grow #GeorgeHand #pwhl #travel Subscribe to the channel here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5T8gaOEyDsHsOO8p-eLPSwFollow George Hand Tumblr - www.tumblr.com/georgedhandInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/georgedhand Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/georgedhand.bsky.social

Our players continued to shine in the 2025/26 season as several of them reached 50 career points in the PWHL and on this show we run down the eighteen players to start the club

Going into June we knew it was going to be hard because of how the Expansion Process was set up by I was not expecting to be physically sick because of itIn this show I fly solo as I share my thoughts on how I personally felt the 3026 Expansion Process went down

The 2025/26 season saw a massive upheaval in the rules regarding officiating as the league removed the coaches challenge with all goals now reviewable by Central Situation Room onlyCollectively as a trio we were initially sceptical of the rule change but as we saw it in action we began to feel that this was the best thing to help imorove the flow of our game

Fall 2025 was a horrible time if you wee an Ottawa Charge fan as an arena situation reared its ugly head and plunged the team's future into jeopardy all season longFast forward to Summer 2026 and we have reached the perfect resolution as starting in the 2026/27 season the Ottawa Charge will be moving to Canadian Tire Centre and cementing their long term future

We have the first official PWHL baby as Toronto Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull is expecting her first child at the end of the year and we couldn't be happier for herIt also puts our league into new territory as we navigate new waters as one of our players goes on maternity

We have been waiting three seasons to cover the inclusivity of the PWHL and with the truth of my sexuality now in the open the time has finally comeIt's fair to say the PWHL has done what no sports league has done and shown its pride for communities that don't get the spotlight they deserve especially mine as there are more active LGBT players in the PWHL than the NHL Oh word of warning Pluto insisted on having an LGBT disco to end the show and he goes a bit OTT for my liking

This time next week Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend will get underway in Las Vegas and while at the time I was all down for it my mind has changed as the big event is just around the cornerThe weekend reminds me of why we're having this weekend in the first place and I had put all of that drama behind me and now I fear its all going to come flooding back

Despite playing in the smallest venue in the PWHL you can't deny how brilliantly the Boston Fleet have done in terms of attendance but their arena situation compared to the Sirens & Charge have never really been a big issueHowever I applaud the decision for the team to move from Lowell to Boston as of next season as it will allow the Fleet to grow their fanbase even further than ever before

So a recent article in The Hockey News was discussing about how a lack of a SoCal team could harm PWHL San Jose as they wouldn't have a direct rival kinda like how we currently don't in MinnesotaAs the entire Purple Trio has supported Californian teams we know a thing or two about the market's scene and having read between the lines don't see a problem with it

I don't pay attention to the NHL Entry Draft but when I heard that PWHL San Jose's first ever draft pick Laila Edwards was on the floor in Buffalo for the first round oh boy did I get interestedIt seems to me of the four incoming expansion teams San Jose is the one making the most effort to make a splash in their market

While we were on our way to Hercules this past weekend the dates for the Women's Euro Tour were revealed and its a lot earlier than normalUsually this event takes place in December but instead the tour begins August and lasts until the day before the World Championships and we are hoping the Rivalry Series will follow suit

June was a painful month for us fans of current exisiting teams as the expansion teams got well underway into building their rosters with plenty of teams feeling the hitThe Purple Trio come together to share their thoughts on how the two week period went down as a whole which saw a massive lack of clarity in how many players each team could lose

Britta Curl-Salemme has been the most hated player in the PWHL ever since she was drafted by our Minnesota Frost in 2024 not just for her aggresive style of play but also her views on the LGBT communityFor a proud gay guy like me having her on my team the past two seasons has been very hard to deal with and now that I'm publicly out we can finally have a deep conversation about it

It's our third annual awards show but sadly because of the fucking heat I had to abandon the glad rags and I'm raving because this year I had purple ones I wanted to show youAnyways this year's award show took place in Detroit who switched things up by holding them before the Entry Draft unlike in prior years

The last place I would expect our beloved Professional Women's Hockey League to get name dropped was on the live stream of a YouTube channel that I'm subscribed toBut that is what happened as Mickey Jo Theatre a YouTube channel that I'm subscribed to which covers my big passion outside of hockey read a comment from the live chat of his Oliver Awards streamThe comment referenced the lesbian wedding that happened at the Ottawa Charge's game which the Seattle Torrent won in thrilling fashionWatch the stream here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E3DfsDZe5Q

Not long after Team USA claimed gold in Milano-Cortina the Montreal Victoire's very own Hayley Scarmurra went on the Kelly Clarkson ShowNow this should have been a good thing but it ended in disaster as for starters Kelly wasn't there, second it was only roughly five minutes and lastly not much focus on the sport she playsAt the end of the episode I do my own version of Kellyoke picking one of my favourites from American Song Contest because Pluto couldn't think of a Kelly Clarkson song on the spotWatch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNNrrTluUPk

Ever since the Vancouver Goldeneyes played their first game at Pacific Coliseum our Pluto has an idea about what it would be like to have all of the PWHL teams be able to have theirs on center iceI let him take the floor while also posing some devil's advocate scenarios in what is a very lighthearted edition of the Purple Reign podcast