In the PWHL's inaugural season, the club, now known as the New York Sirens, played their home games in three arenas: Bridgeport, Connecticut; Elmont, New York; and Newark, New Jersey.
In addition to a newly announced name change this season that sees the team dubbed the Sirens, the area's girls hockey team will be based at a more permanent location at the Prudential Center.
“We hosted two games there last year and both were very well received,” Amy Shea, the league's senior vice president of business operations, told The Post. “We were very happy with it and we loved our relationship with Prudential Center, so it just made the most sense to go there full time and learn for a year to understand what the market is like and really determine what the best arena and best home base is for the PWHL.”
The PWHL schedule for 2024-25 has yet to be announced, but each of the league's six teams is scheduled to play 30 games.
The Sirens are scheduled to play 12-15 games at The Rock, with the exact number determined by how many neutral-site games they are assigned, and will also play their playoff home games in Jersey.
They also will acquire the West Orange venue formerly used by the Devils and use Essex County Cody Arena as a practice facility.
The team finished last season with nine wins, 12 losses and three draws, missing out on the playoffs, but they are hoping to change that this season.
“Just six months ago, we [Prudential Center] “I went into the locker room and told the players we’re not going to wait until next November to start the season,” Sirens general manager Pascal D’Aoust told the Post. “Things needed to change in that moment, that specific moment, but we’ve already turned things around. [since] Since the end of April and beginning of May, we have been making great progress every day and are looking forward to November. [wanting it] Now.”
After using its inaugural season to get a foothold in the hockey world, the PWHL introduced new names and logos for each team that last year played under generic city names.
Scheer said deciding on the Sirens was especially tough, as they join the Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost, Boston Fleet, Montreal Victoires and Toronto Scepters.
“How do you capture the grandeur, the beauty and the feel of this city in one name? It's impossible,” she says. “We looked at a lot of New York names, but it was probably the hardest because this is my hometown. It was a lot easier to say, 'No, no, no,' in this market than in any other. But when we settled on Sirens, we thought it was a fun name that evoked hockey, and in a way it encapsulates the character of this region and its people.”
“I always tell them New Yorkers will never sneak up on you. They'll definitely hear us coming.”
The sirens could be heard all the way across the Hudson River to New York.
