Women’s Hockey Hits New Milestone with TD Garden Sellout
Written By Ella Rose Licata
BOSTON – TD Garden witnessed its first sold-out showdown between the Boston Fleet and the Montréal Victoire, marking a step forward in the momentum of women’s hockey.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) hosted its first-ever game at TD Garden on Apr. 11. The overwhelming success in crowd presence will support the prospect of future games being organized at Boston’s TD Garden arena.
The stadium sold out with a crowd of 17,850 guests. This ranks as the second-highest all-time United States arena attendance in women’s hockey history.
“Seeing the Boston Fleet sell out TD Garden is an exciting and meaningful moment — one that underscores the powerful momentum around women’s sports in Boston…Boston has consistently shown up for women’s sports, and there’s an even deeper sense of pride in welcoming gold-medal Olympians back home as part of the Boston Fleet. This roster includes some of the best in the world, and the atmosphere inside TD Garden will represent the quality on the ice,” said Glen Thornborough.
PWHL ticket sales climb by 17 percent each season, and the growing enthusiasm for the sport will continue to open doors for future opportunities in women’s hockey.
As a league, the PWHL has only operated as an official North American franchise since 2024. The first draft took place in 2023, and the official season started in January of the following year. The league consists of eight professional teams, four in the United States and four in Canada.
The Fleet and the Victoire are the top two scoring leaders in the PWHL standings, which led to an intense battle on the ice. The game ended 1–0 in favor of the Montréal Victoire when forward Lina Ljungblom scored her first career game-winning goal in the third period.
The goaltenders, who withstood nearly the entire game without allowing a single score, were the Victoire’s Ann-Renée Desbiens and the Fleet’s Aerin Frankel. Both goalies have been locked in a struggle to pull ahead of one another, as their statistics have gone back and forth for most of the 2025–26 season.
The amount of growth seen by the PWHL in the short time it has been in operation is a reflection of the passion being poured into the league by fans and players alike. The continuation of these efforts will undoubtedly be rewarded with more women’s hockey events taking place in similarly famous arenas.
TD Garden is Boston’s premier entertainment arena and a hub of sports activity. Home to the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics, the Garden hosts 3.5 million people a year for various events and concerts. Delaware North has maintained TD Garden as one of Boston’s most prominent sports arenas since its opening in 1995.
Boston Fleet captain Megan Keller was asked to consider the game and its ramifications for league culture following its success.
“Playing at TD Garden was obviously super special for our league, especially with a sold-out building. This was the first time a lot of us have played here. I think we've all felt it after the Olympics, the buzz around women's hockey and around our league. Every venue we're going into, it's loud, the seats are filled and the fans are passionate. It's an exciting time for us,” commented Megan Keller.
