The Ice Garden’s New York Sirens beat reporter Natalia Rachman joined host Maya Smith for the latest hockey episode of The IX Sports Podcast. Their conversation started with PWHL attendance, which has surged since the 2026 Olympics.
As Melissa Burgess wrote, 17,335 fans attended the PWHL’s game at Climate Pledge Arena and the league has sold out future games at Madison Square Garden and TD Garden.
“Honestly, they were crushing the marketing for MSG when that first announced and I think that the Olympics sort of put them over the top,” Rachman said. “I think they were taking steps in the right direction already and then the boost from the Olympics was just sort of a well-timed reward for that.”
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Later in the show, Smith and Rachman previewed the NCAA tournament and made predictions for the Frozen Four. You can read Giselle Velazquez’s article here, which breaks down each game in the regional semifinals.
“I’m fairly confident in Wisconsin, Ohio State, to get back to the Frozen Four,” Rachman shared. “I think the other two spots are definitely pretty interesting in terms of matchup. Penn State is currently the third-ranked team, but they’re really hard to gauge over the course of the regular season, because there’s only one other top-15-ranked team in Atlantic Hockey America.”
UConn, Princeton, Minnesota and Northeastern were also discussed as potential contenders.
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