Best women’s professional hockey logos — News and must-click links

Reports abound, originating on TSN 1200, that the league is delaying branding announcements until at least the middle of next month. I hope they don’t think we’ll have forgotten about the truly awful trademarked team names by then, but given this has been a long time coming, the cynic in me is definitely scared that they think our memory is that short. 

Still, let’s take a moment to reminisce on some of the good branding moments — or at least, the less egregious ones — in women’s professional hockey. In no particular order, I’m going to touch on some of my favorites in the game. 

Starting off strong, let’s talk about how absolutely stellar the Calgary Inferno logo was. Whether minimalized with just the bust visible, as in their final season in 2018-19, or with the full team name underneath — these logos were just everything. The nod to their brother team, the Flames, was evident, but not in a way that made it feel super derivative. 

For those of us (me, I’m those of us) who like a little wordplay, the Toronto Six were another goodie. The six regions of the Greater Toronto Area, six players on the ice, the fact that Toronto was at that point the PHF’s sixth established team — it was a win for me, anyway. And the color scheme was a great one — perhaps a little overdone, but still great. I still love that black sweater. 

Speaking of color schemes, let’s talk about Montreal. PWHL Montreal’s tan jerseys have a classic look to them that I absolutely adore (and I hope they stick with it regardless of the team name), but La Force de Montreal put together some seriously gorgeous jerseys in their only year of existence. Whether in white, black or that lovely crimson, the fleur de lis F and the clean lines just spoke to me on another level. 

Despite being a Buffalo resident, I’ve always held to the notion that the Beauts’ specialty jerseys far outranked anything they had going on in the regular scheme. Maybe that’s a bit unfair, but let me just say — they knew how to market at the end of the day. Almost every single one of their Pride Night jerseys was a banger, and their Buffalo Believes Classic sweaters still rank in my heart as some of the simplest, yet most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. That signature blue is so excellent. 

And finally, they may not be on quite the same level as the rest of the ones on this list, but you can’t tell me the Minnesota Whitecaps didn’t have some of the most fun jerseys back in the day. As a team that outlived so many fledgling leagues prior to its dissolution in 2023, it’s a shame to see so much history go away. Even the more streamlined look had a certain charm to it, one I hope the PWHL (or whoever they hire) can replicate. 

I know there are more I’m forgetting about, but to keep it brief, those are some faves that come to mind easily. Let me know some of yours on social media, and let’s keep the memories flowing! 

Women’s hockey links

Check out the latest signing updates through the end of July here at The Ice Garden (TIG).

Also at TIG is a fun little breakdown by J Gray of women’s hockey cards, what they like and what they would like to see in the future. Give it a read. 

And of course, we wrapped up our Top 25 Under 25, with perhaps no one being surprised that PWHL top draft pick Sarah Fillier is also our top young gun of 2024. Fillier continues her dominance after a stellar senior season at Princeton, and I’m psyched to see what she does for New York. 

In college hockey news, Michelle McAteer has been named the new commissioner of the WCHA (aka the conference that wins all the NCAA championships most of the time). A former UMD Bulldog, McAteer had been building the DIII program at Augsburg University for the last 14 years. She earned 166 wins and eight playoff appearances in the MIAC.

Nela Lopušanová, the Slovak phenom who lit up the U18s last year, has announced her commitment to… well — where else but one of the top schools in the entire United States. The Wisconsin Badgers have gained a hell of a talent to join the rest of their absolutely stacked roster. I can’t wait to see her in red and white. 

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There’s been quite a bit of buzz over another European hockey player, Noora Räty, in the past week. The Finnish goaltending legend was recently added to St. Cloud State’s women’s hockey coaching staff, alongside former Husky Emily Ach. She also won her appeal to the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, lifting a suspension she received for being one of the players leading the charge to remove head coach Pasi Mustonen, alleging inappropriate conduct against multiple members of the national women’s team during his tenure as head coach. 

There have been more reports of this in Finnish hockey news than stateside, but essentially what it looks to boil down to is that Räty and other players alleged that Mustonen fostered a hostile environment, and Räty was in turn ruled to have engaged in unethical conduct for speaking up about it in the manner she did. The result was a three-month ban for Mustonen and a four-month one for Räty, which again she has managed to get overturned as of this writing.