This week on The IX Sports Podcast Hockey Edition, host Maya Smith walks listeners through the results of the preliminary rounds of the hockey Women’s World Championship, as well as the new branding reveals for the PWHL’s latest expansion franchises.
Emma-Sofie Nordstrøm made 158 saves for Denmark in the past three games at the Women’s World Championship, a staggering statistic. Although Denmark has won just one game, and lost to Sweden 10-0, Smith said that it’s important to remember the bigger picture. These games represent something bigger than their individual statistics.
“This is really important for the growth of women’s hockey. And I’ve seen a lot of people saying, ‘This isn’t real hockey … There’s no parity in the women’s game.’ And yeah, could there be more parity in the women’s game? Absolutely. It would be nice if Canada and the U.S. were not like virtually the only teams that have ever played for a medal or a gold medal in this tournament. But we can’t get to parity if we don’t have these games, because these players need to experience playing against a team like Canada and the U.S.,” Smith said.
PWHL expansion brands
Then, Smith moved on to talking about the new brand identities that were revealed this week for the 2026 PWHL expansion teams.
Smith said that she likes the Las Vegas name and logo the best (though she noted she had a bit of a quibble with the name being plural). Smith also said she was a fan of the Hamilton Havoc name. Growing up, Smith said, she always wanted to play on a team with the name Havoc.
Smith said her least favorite logo is Detroit’s.
“like the name, but I’m also a car person, and I think one of the things we’ve kind of seen from the reaction is that it’s not really a name that people resonate with or know a lot about necessarily,” Smith explained. The name comes from Detroit’s long history as part of the automotive industry.
To learn more about the newest PWHL team names and logos, tune in to this week’s episode!
Make sure to subscribe to The IX Sports Podcast for in-depth coverage of women’s soccer, hockey and basketball; and tune in each weekday morning for a quick overview of the biggest headlines on Women’s Sports Daily, like WNBA news and PWHL expansion updates.
