The Professional Women’s Hockey League returned to Chicago for the second time in its Takeover Tour. This time, the Seattle Torrent played the New York Sirens.

When we arrived at Allstate Arena in Rosemont early as usual for the game, we were a bit surprised to see a huge line waiting for the doors to open. To see that many people lined up two hours before puck drop is a great sign for the PWHL.

We meandered around the arena chatting with fans. We were surprised again when we saw many fans wearing team jerseys, especially since neither team is a Chicago team. Fans came from everywhere. Next to Tony were folks from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Next to me was a family from St. Louis.

We made our way to our seats on the glass about 45 minutes before game time. By then, most of the lower bowl of the arena was filled. When the teams skated out for warmups, the crowd erupted. It reminded me of Chicago Blackhawks games in the old Chicago Stadium.

Chicagoan Wayne Messmer gave his legendary usual performance of the National Anthem. The noise level was incredible as he finished.

As play started, I was excited to see Corinne Schroeder in goal for Seattle. I interviewed Schroeder a few years ago. About halfway through the first period, Seattle’s Theresa Schafzahl scored the game’s first goal, with an assist from Danielle Serdachny. Four minutes later, they switched roles, as Serdachney scored with an assist from Schafzahl and Alex Carpenter. With less than 30 seconds left in the period, Cayla Barnes scored Seattle’s third goal, with assists from Serdachney and Julia Gosling.

After a scoreless second period, five minutes into the third New York finally got on the board as Sarah Fillier scored with an assist from Casey O’Brien. Halfway through the period, Seattle’s Carpenter netted one, with an assist from Schafzahl and Aneta Tejralova. That was it for the scoring, giving Seattle a 4–1 victory.

Tony and I could tell the crowd was even bigger than the first PWHL game here in December which drew 7,238 fans. This game’s attendance was 10,006. That pushed the all-time PWHL attendance beyond the 2 million milestone.

© Professional Women’s Hockey League

These neutral-site games raise awareness to the PWHL and test the cities for potential future expansion teams. The thought (or hope) is Chicago would be a top pick. New York head coach Greg Fargo stated, “It was a lively crowd tonight. You could hear them chanting ‘We want a team’ and singing along. Chicago has proven to be a strong hockey city.”

Although many fans wore New York or Seattle jerseys, if Chicago is given a team, I am sure there will be even more proudly wearing Chicago jerseys. Tony and I would certainly be purchasing ones as soon as they were available.

— John Wroblewski, podcaster