PWHL Ottawa home opener sell-out to set North American attendance record
The sold out home opener for Ottawa's Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) team will set a North American attendance record for pro women's hockey.
The team said Wednesday that tickets for the Jan. 2 game against Montreal had already exceeded initial capacity and upper bowl seats at The Arena at TD Place were being sold to expand capacity to 7,510.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
On Sunday, the Ticketmaster page for the game said that tickets were sold out.
PWHL spokesperson Paul Krotz told CTV News Ottawa that the game will break an attendance record.
"There are already over 5,000 tickets sold which means the home opener on Jan. 2 will set a new a single game record for a North American professional women's hockey game," Krotz said in an email on Thursday.
The previous record was set this past February, when the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association had 4,301 fans at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ont.
Some arenas where the PWHL plays have even greater capacity and could push attendance records even higher as the inaugural season progresses. St. Paul, Minn.'s Xcel Energy Centre, for example, has an official capacity of 17,954.
Ottawa is one of the original six teams in the PWHL, alongside Toronto, Montreal, Minnesota, Boston and New York.
The very first regular season game in the PWHL takes place New Year's Day, when Toronto hosts New York at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, which has a capacity of 2,600.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian family stuck in Lebanon anxiously awaits flight options amid Israeli strikes
A Canadian man who is trapped in Lebanon with his family says they are anxiously waiting for seats on a flight out of the country, as a barrage of Israeli airstrikes continues.
Yazidi woman captured by ISIS rescued in Gaza after more than a decade in captivity
A 21-year-old Yazidi woman has been rescued from Gaza where she had been held captive by Hamas for years after being trafficked by ISIS.
Scientists looked at images from space to see how fast Antarctica is turning green. Here's what they found
Parts of icy Antarctica are turning green with plant life at an alarming rate as the region is gripped by extreme heat events, according to new research, sparking concerns about the changing landscape on this vast continent.
Suspect in shooting of Toronto cop was out on bail
A 21-year-old man who was charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a Toronto police officer this week was out on bail at the time of the alleged offence, court documents obtained by CTV News Toronto show.
A 6-year-old girl was kidnapped in Arkansas in 1995. Almost 30 years later, a suspect was identified
Nearly 30 years after a six-year-old girl disappeared in Western Arkansas, authorities have identified a suspect in her abduction through DNA evidence.
A Michigan man is charged with killing and dismembering a janitor he met on the Grindr dating app
Prosecutors have charged a Michigan man with killing and dismembering a janitor he met on the dating app Grindr.
NEW Youth pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of P.E.I. teen Tyson MacDonald
A teen charged with the murder of another teen on Prince Edward Island last year has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Haitian gang kills at least 70 people, including 3 infants, UN says
Armed men belonging to the Gran Grif gang killed at least 70 people, including three infants, as they swept through a Haitian town shooting automatic rifles at residents, a spokesperson for the United Nations' Human Rights Office said on Friday.
WATCH LIVE 2 dead after fire rips through historic building in Old Montreal
At least two people are dead and others are injured after a fire ripped through a century-old building near Montreal's City Hall, sources told Noovo Info.