Pro women's hockey league to hold playoffs in Florida
6-team playoffs to be held from March 25-28 near Tampa
The Premier Hockey Federation's Isobel Cup playoffs will be held in Florida, the women's professional hockey league announced on Wednesday.
The six-team playoffs will be played at the AdventHealth Center Ice complex near Tampa, and held from March 25 to 28. The format will feature the bottom four teams playing a preliminary round game, with the winning teams advancing to the semifinals, followed by the championship game.
The Isobel Cup final will be televised on ESPN2, while the preliminary and semifinals games will be streamed on ESPN-Plus.
The PHF was formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League and is North America's lone professional women's hockey league. It is attempting to hold its playoffs at a neutral site for a second straight season.
Last year's playoffs were supposed to be held at Lake Placid, New York, as part of the league's two-week COVID-19 constricted schedule. The playoffs were postponed following a COVID-19 breakout in February, before eventually moved to the Boston area six weeks later, with the Boston Pride winning the title.
The PHF is in its seventh year and planning to expand from six to eight teams next season. Montreal has already been awarded a franchise, while the league has yet to announce the location of a second franchise, except to say it will be based in the U.S.
The league is also more than doubling its salary cap to $750,000 US — up from $300,000 this year — per team for next season.
