Episode 21 - Montreal Raises the Walter Cup, PWHL Goes to 12, and the WNBA Heats Up

In This Episode

• Montreal Victoire sweeps Ottawa 4-0 to win the Walter Cup, with Marie-Philippe Poulin finally claiming the one major award she hadn’t yet won
• The PWHL formally announces four expansion teams — San Jose, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Hamilton — growing the league to 12 as it chases a U.S. broadcast deal
• Six games into the WNBA season, Kelsey Plum drops 38 points, Rickea Jackson’s ACL tear is confirmed, and a Caitlin Clark load-management debate nobody wanted starts up
• Utah Royals stay unbeaten and alone atop the NWSL table nine games in, with nobody able to solve their defense
• Barcelona wins the UEFA Women’s Champions League 4-0, and England’s Red Roses claim a fifth consecutive Six Nations Grand Slam
• Rebecca Leslie scores the overtime winner for Ottawa in her hometown arena, and Haley Scamurra becomes the first player to win Olympic gold and a Walter Cup in the same year

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We recorded this one exhausted and a little sunburned after spending the weekend moving approximately a metric ton of sod. Our energy may have been a little lower this episode but the energy brought by women’s sports over the last week was not.

The Montreal Victoire closed out the PWHL season with a 4-0 series win over the Ottawa Charge, which we both saw coming but still wanted to cheer for. Four new expansion teams were formally announced, with GM hires ranging from “obvious hall-of-famer” to “wait, okay, that actually makes sense for Vegas.” And over in the WNBA, six games in, we already have Kelsey Plum going for 38, Rickea Jackson going down, and a Caitlin Clark load management situation that nobody really wanted to be having.

NWSL match week nine wrapped up with Utah still untouchable, Mallory Swanson back and scoring, and Gotham continuing to give off “we’ll be fine eventually, probably” energy. Arsenal Women are outdrawing eight Premier League men’s clubs. England’s rugby Red Roses won another Grand Slam. The French Open is already a labor dispute. Nothing slow about this week.

Montreal wins the Walter Cup

The Victoire were the best team in the PWHL all season. The 4-0 series result made that hard to argue.

• Marie-Philippe Poulin named Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP, the one major award she hadn’t yet collected
• Abby Roque scored a backhand that deflected in off her own face mask in Game 4, pushing it to 2-0; she was the second player after Taylor Heise to have two multi-goal post-season games in PWHL history
• Montreal’s goalie, Ann-Renée Desbiens, was flat-out unscoreable; as Alex put it, “nothing did go in, but it couldn’t, it just, it wouldn’t go in”
• Gwyneth Phillips of Ottawa became the first goalie in PWHL history to record 1,000 saves in a single season
• Rebecca Leslie scored the overtime winner in Game 3 for Ottawa, playing in her hometown arena at Canadian Tire Centre
• Haley Scamurra was the first player to win Olympic gold and a Walter Cup in the same calendar year (Team USA, Montreal Victoire)
• Maggie Flaherty became the first player to win three Walter Cups, scoring critical goals for Montreal in both series
• MPP, Anne-Renée Desbiens, Laura Stacey, and Erin Ambrose all joined the “three times gold” club: Olympic gold, World Championship, and Walter Cup

“She’s probably a little bit later in her career, and she’s battling injuries. She’s the captain of the team. She’s captain clutch. You can see the team goes with her.” — Caitlin, on Marie-Philippe Poulin

The Ottawa Charge fan turnout was something else. Despite getting swept 4-0, basically nobody left the clincher early. Forty-eight percent of all PWHL post-season in-person attendance came through Canadian Tire Centre across their two series. 53,000 total fans, 13k average per game, nearly 17,000 for the finals. For a team that was seeded low both rounds.

“No one seemed to leave. And their team lost four to zero. I think a lot of those people are Canadians going, here’s Canada’s first trophy, and just honoring that.” — Caitlin

PWHL expansion: the why behind the four teams

The PWHL is going from 8 to 12 teams, adding San Jose, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Hamilton. Getting to 12 this quickly wasn’t automatic, and the reasons certain cities got in and others didn’t are actually pretty telling about where the league is.

Two things kept cities off the list: venue conflicts and revenue-sharing asks. Calgary is maxed out with existing teams using the arena. Washington DC, Edmonton, and Quebec City wanted a cut of PWHL revenue the league isn’t in a position to give. Denver and Dallas ran into scheduling nightmares with NBA and NHL playoff overlaps. The four cities that got in all agreed to the same asks: no revenue share, venue access, and PWHL plays first in any NHL doubleheader situation.

The push for seven US teams to five Canadian is almost entirely about locking in a national broadcast deal. You can’t pitch US television rights with most of your teams in Canada. The league is reportedly close to breaking even, and a broadcast deal gets them the rest of the way there.

• San Jose at SAP Center (home of the San Jose Sharks)
• Detroit at Little Caesars Arena (home of the Detroit Red Wings)
• Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena (home of the Vegas Golden Knights)
• Hamilton at TD Coliseum Hamilton, an AHL venue that has hosted PWHL takeover games; capacity around 16,000
• Expansion draft kicks off June 2nd with protected player lists
• Troy Ryan leaves Toronto for San Jose, where he’ll serve as both GM and head coach; Seattle fired Steve O’Rourke; five of 12 head coaching spots are now open
  The four GM hires are a mixed bag, which is sort of the point. Megan Duggan in Hamilton is a hockey lifer: US national team captain, seven-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist, five years of player development work with the New Jersey Devils. She knows the game from every angle. Manon Rhéaume in Detroit was the first woman to play in an NHL game (with the Tampa Bay Lightning) and the first woman to sign a professional hockey contract. Deep playing legacy, knows both sides of the league business. Then there’s Dominique Didia in Las Vegas, who came from a sports marketing and athlete representation background, which drew some skepticism until you look at the market. Las Vegas has had faster growth in girls’ hockey participation than anywhere else in the country. Marketing and career development skills are exactly what that team needs to build from scratch.

And then Troy Ryan taking both the GM and head coach role in San Jose is… bold. Cheryl Reeve does it. We’ll see how he does.

WNBA ups and downs

Six games in and the WNBA is already serving.

Kelsey Plum went for 38 points on 70.6% shooting with 9 assists for the LA Sparks against the Las Vegas Aces on banner night. The Aces are now 0-2 when celebrating their championship in some form. Someone should probably tell them to stop doing that.

Natasha Howard is having one of the best starts of her 13-year WNBA career for the Minnesota Lynx: 17 points per game, 8 rebounds, 4 assists. She’s basically carrying the interior while the Lynx wait on multiple injured bigs. And she’s doing it without anyone apparently crediting the reason she’s good at basketball, which is thirteen years of professional basketball.

Natisha Heidemann tied her career best with 24 points as the Seattle Storm beat Washington 97-85. Dominique Malonga of the Valkyries was in concussion protocol on the bench with her glasses on, which tells you everything you need to know about why Seattle needed a big night from someone else.

Azzi Fudd (Dallas Wings, No. 1 pick) set a rookie record for made three-pointers in a quarter, going 5-of-7 from deep, finishing with 24 points against the New York Liberty. The Wings have won three of their last four. When their coach Jose Fernandez was asked post-game when he’s putting Fudd in the starting lineup, his response was essentially “is that important to you?” He probably gets asked every game. Still a strange way to answer.

Paige Bueckers had a technical called for clapping her hands while walking away from players. The league rescinded it. The real story is that she apparently has a bet running with a veteran teammate to go the entire season without a tech, so she was angrier about almost losing the bet than about the call itself.

The Caitlin Clark situation is trickier to talk about, which is probably why it’s so loud online. She was listed as a late scratch with a back injury an hour or two before a midweek game. The Indiana Fever got a warning from the league for missing the 5 PM day-before injury report window. The coach called it a “strategic management decision.” That phrase is doing a lot of work.

“Is she hurt? Or is she not? We don’t need to know that, we don’t get to know that. But the notification part of it is for the fans. Some of them are thinking, should I show up, because the main reason I bought this ticket was to see the superstar.” — Alex

Five games into the season and we’re already managing load. That’s either totally reasonable or a sign something is wrong. Caitlin is coming off a groin injury that cost her half of last season. If there’s a real issue, the better move is to fix it rather than manage around it.

Rickea Jackson’s ACL tear is confirmed. She was averaging 18 points per game through four games, dropped a 29-point performance on May 15th, and the Chicago Sky was 3-1 at the time. They’ve lost both games since. That’s a brutal blow to a team that was just starting to find something.

NWSL week nine

The Utah Royals are nine games unbeaten and still nobody can figure out how to score on them. Beat Denver 2-1, sit alone at the top of the table.

“I just don’t understand how no one can score on them.” — Caitlin

Portland Thorns are second after beating Kansas City Current 3-1, though they had a midweek win before that too. San Diego Wave drew with Houston in a gritty one (Jane Campbell took a shin to the face and was presumably in concussion protocol after), then lost to Orlando and slid in the standings. Washington Spirit and Gotham FC skipped NWSL play entirely this week to compete in the CONCACAF W Championship. Both lost to Liga MX Femenil sides. Club América won the whole thing, which is less surprising once you realize they also won the Liga MX Femenil title the same week.

Mallory Swanson scored in her second game back from parental leave. Chicago is off the bottom of the table. Maybe the first indication that Swanson’s return is going to matter.

Rising: North Carolina Courage. Ashley Sanchez has seven goals this season, second in the Golden Boot race behind Barbara Banda’s eight. The conversation about whether she belongs back in a USWNT camp is getting louder, which is relevant with Sam Coffey out after minor knee surgery and the June camp coming up. Emma Hayes hasn’t called Sanchez since taking over in 2024. At some point, seven goals in a NWSL season is hard to ignore.

Also rising: Houston Dash, who I had sliding last week, and who apparently read my notes. They drew with San Diego late in a game where they really needed to claw for it, then beat Angel City to end what I think was a five-game scoreless stretch.

Bay FC is sliding. They couldn’t score against a Chicago team that gives up goals regularly. Losing to Portland is one thing. Losing to Chicago right now is the list.

Full NWSL break for June. One exception: Champions Cup on June 28th, Gotham vs. Kansas City. Full weekly standings in our NWSL episode archive.

Numbers from abroad

Barcelona won the UEFA Women’s Champions League 4-0 over OL Féminin in Oslo in front of 28,000. It was Lindsey Horan’s last game in a Lyon shirt before she heads back to the States to play for Denver. Not the sendoff she wanted.

Union Berlin’s women’s team broke the Frauen-Bundesliga single-season attendance record. Club América won the CONCACAF W Championship the same week they won the Liga MX Femenil title — the Liga MX Femenil drew 6.8 million viewers for its championship game and is apparently the most-watched women’s football league in the world by TV audience, which I did not know before this episode. Arsenal Women averaged nearly 34,000 fans per game, ranking 13th across all English football and drawing more than eight Premier League men’s clubs. They play in the men’s stadium, which helps, but still.

England’s Red Roses won their fifth consecutive Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam. First rugby team, men’s or women’s, to win both the World Cup and the Six Nations in the same year. Tournament attendance nearly doubled to 280,000.

Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and others limited their media access ahead of the French Open to protest player revenue share. The tournament pays players 15% of revenues; the WTA and ATP each take 22%. It’s not a gender issue. It’s a player vs. institution issue, and it mostly hurts the players who aren’t going deep in the draw.

“This one is not a guys versus girls thing. It’s an up versus down thing. Who it really affects are the players who are lower ranked, who aren’t going as far in the tournament.” — Caitlin

What to watch

June is a gear shift. NWSL is on break, PWHL season is done (expansion draft machinery is spinning), Commissioner’s Cup starts in the WNBA on June 1st, college softball World Series is underway, and the USWNT heads to Brazil for international matches.

This weekend:

WNBA: Minnesota Lynx at Chicago Sky, Friday May 29th, 6:30 PM CT on ION. Seattle Storm vs. Toronto Tempo, Saturday at noon on League Pass. Las Vegas Aces at Golden State Valkyries, Sunday at 2:30 PM CT on Peacock.

NWSL: Orlando Pride vs. Bay FC, Friday 6 PM (matters for both). Portland Thorns vs. Utah Royals, Saturday 3 PM CT on ION (top of table, worth clearing your afternoon). Angel City vs. North Carolina Courage, Sunday 6 PM on Victory Plus, which is the last NWSL match before the June break.

Women’s Elite Rugby on Women’s Sports Network: TC Gemini vs. Boston Banshees (Saturday 5 PM CT), Bay Breakers vs. Chicago Tempest (Sunday 7 PM CT), New York Exiles vs. Denver Onyx (Sunday 1 PM CT).

Minnesota folks: the Aurora play Thursday vs. Rockford Raptors (7 PM CT) and Saturday vs. River City (2 PM CT), both away, available on YouTube or Fox 9 Plus.

June is going to feel quieter in some ways and somehow still full. We’re expecting a lot of PWHL expansion news, the WNBA standings will start to clarify, and there’s a World Cup conversation we want to get into next week. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or read our newsletter on Substack.

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Full Transcript ## Cold open

Caitlin: One of the commentators said that Natasha Howard was looking really good, that she really learned to play fast because she played alongside Caitlin Clark for the last couple of years.

Alex: No. Caitlin Clark did not teach Natasha how to play.

Caitlin: Hi, I’m Caitlin.

Alex: Hi, I’m Alex.

Caitlin: And this is Raising the Game, a women’s sports podcast covering prime-time performances, the business behind the athletes and leagues, and what the growth of women’s sports means for the next generation of women’s athletes.

Alex: We’re back.

Caitlin: We are back.

Alex: We’ve got kind of a similar thing we’ve had the last few weeks.

Caitlin: Yeah, updates across all three major leagues. NWSL and WNBA today.

Alex: It’s been a warm one. We were out all day — if you’re watching the video, we are. If we’re a little glitchy, it’s because we spent about 24 total hours over the weekend moving like 6,000 pounds of sod.

Caitlin: We’ll do our best. Before we get into headlines, what are your favorite things?

Favorite things

Alex: Let’s do it.

Caitlin: I was struggling a little bit with this, because we were focused on a lot of other things this weekend. I was super excited to see Mallory Swanson score her first goal coming back from parental leave after having her daughter Josie last fall. That’s her second game back. Really exciting to see. And I am cautiously optimistic about the Lynx.

Alex: We were talking about that earlier. Things seem to be gelling. Cheryl’s cooking in the kitchen. She’s making it work.

Caitlin: Yeah. We’re about six games into the season, roughly. Commissioner’s Cup starts June 1st. We’ll talk about that in our WNBA segment.

Alex: My favorite thing — I’m stealing what you said at dinner. Being able to just be outside all weekend, working on the yard while the girls got to hang out next to the pool. It’s an inflatable pool. We don’t have an actual pool, let’s set that standard. Just hanging out, laughing and giggling. It was a good weekend.

Caitlin: Yeah, it was really special. Perfect weather here in Minnesota. Nice to get a lot of work done.

Headlines

Alex: Let’s hit the headlines. Montreal Victoire win the Walter Cup with an emphatic 4-0 victory in Game 4, becoming the first Canadian team to win the championship.

Caitlin: We will talk all about this in our PWHL segment.

Alex: All four PWHL expansion teams name their GMs. Coaching vacancies still to be filled. Atlanta Dream moved to the top of the WNBA standings, followed closely by the Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, and Minnesota Lynx. The WNBA and WNBPA officially signed the extended version of the new collective bargaining agreement, set to be in effect for seven seasons through the 2032 season.

Caitlin: To be clear, the extended version is not new terms. It’s just the fully fleshed-out version of what they agreed upon back in March. Nothing new. There is a mutual opt-out clause after six seasons, which is what the players’ association leveraged to negotiate this past time.

Alex: I always thought it was weird that they can just start playing without it being fully signed.

Caitlin: They agreed to the terms, right?

Alex: In the NWSL, Utah Royals sit atop the table as we wrap match week nine, extending their unbeaten streak to nine games.

Caitlin: I just don’t understand how no one can score on them. This also comes with losses by both Portland and San Diego over the weekend, so that picture would have looked a little different. We’ll talk about them in our NWSL segment.

Alex: Mallory Swanson is back, baby. New mom scores in only her second game back from leave, delivers Chicago a much-needed victory over Bay FC.

Caitlin: They are no longer last place in the NWSL.

Alex: Maybe making their way back up the ladder. Washington Spirit and Gotham FC played in the CONCACAF W Championship over the weekend, with both NWSL clubs falling to Liga MX Femenil sides.

Caitlin: There’s a tournament between club teams from Mexico and the United States. I kept looking at the NWSL schedule going, where’s Washington? Where’s Gotham? Well, they were playing these tournament games. In midweek, Washington won a game against Pachuca and Gotham lost to Club América. That set up a first-place game between Washington and Club América, and Washington lost in a thrilling 5-3 back-and-forth. Club América just won the Liga MX Femenil championship a week ago and then turned around and won the CONCACAF Championship. They are in top form.

Alex: Barcelona wins the UEFA Women’s Champions League final 4-0 over OL Féminin in front of a sellout crowd of 28,000 in Oslo.

Caitlin: This was a farewell game for Lindsey Horan, who’s set to return to the States and play for her home team in Denver. Not the way she wanted to go out. Barça showed once again that they are tops in the world.

Alex: Tough week for the “no one watches women’s sports” crowd with these numbers. In the Frauen-Bundesliga, Union Berlin’s women’s side broke the single-season attendance record for the league. The Liga MX Femenil final had 27,000 in attendance and 6.8 million viewers. And I actually learned that the Liga MX Femenil is the most-watched women’s football league in the world by TV viewership. More than the NWSL, more than the WSL.

Caitlin: I think it’s because Mexico loves soccer. It’s a big culture thing. Arsenal’s women boast an average attendance of almost 34,000 people — higher than eight Premier League men’s clubs. They rank 13th across all men’s and women’s football attendances across England. And they play in the men’s stadium, not a separate women’s stadium, which is pretty cool.

Alex: Women’s tennis stars like Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff limited their media availability ahead of the start of the French Open in protest over players’ revenue share.

Caitlin: The French Open pays players 15% of revenues, while the WTA and the ATP each take 22%. The players’ argument is that the growth in tournament revenues is not proportional to what the players are getting. I want to be really clear: this one is not a guys versus girls thing. It’s an up versus down thing. Who it really affects are players who are lower ranked, who aren’t going as far in the tournament.

Alex: England’s women’s rugby team, the Red Roses, won their fifth Grand Slam title, extending their 38-match consecutive win streak.

Caitlin: They become the first rugby team, men’s or women’s, to win both a World Championship and the Six Nations in the same year. Attendance at the Guinness Women’s Six Nations tournament almost doubled from 2025, up to almost 280,000 for the overall tournament this year.

PWHL: Walter Cup recap

Alex: It feels like so long ago that the PWHL Walter Cup Finals were over, but it was just last Thursday.

Caitlin: Kudos to the Montreal Victoire. We said in the last episode, and in previous ones, that they were the best team in the regular season. They had the it factor throughout the playoffs. You could tell they had a team ethos and a game plan, and they executed.

Alex: We said we really wanted Ottawa to win just for the storyline, but we both knew Montreal was the better team all season.

Caitlin: Marie-Philippe Poulin was named the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP — very deserved. This is the one trophy that MPP had not yet added to her trophy cabinet. She’s probably a little bit later in her career, battling injuries. She’s the captain of the team. She’s captain clutch. She showed that multiple times in the playoffs, scoring game-winning goals. You can see the team goes with her.

I have to call out Abby Roque, mostly because she scored a goal off her face mask. A backhand — she dangled a couple of players, came off the far boards, and in Game 4 it took the game from 1-0 to 2-0. All the momentum shifted to Montreal at that point.

Alex: She was the second player after Taylor Heise to have two multi-goal post-season games.

Caitlin: And then they call her “the wall of Montreal” — Ann-Renée Desbiens. I don’t know what else to say. You couldn’t score on her.

Alex: Nothing did go in. It just wouldn’t.

Caitlin: She had some of the most acrobatic saves, great with her glove, and she was huge in the moments when it mattered.

I give congratulations to the Charge too. They embodied that underdog spirit. Rebecca Leslie, the hometown girl, scores the overtime winner in Game 3 to make the series 2-1. Goosebumps, tears, all the things. And then Gwyneth Phillips became the first goalie to hit 1,000 saves in one PWHL season. As someone who plays a netminder position — you have to be so locked in to keep the puck out. The moment you’re not, that’s the difference.

Alex: Just the mindset of letting something in and then having to turn right back around.

Caitlin: I tell my keepers all the time, you gotta have the memory of a goldfish. The Ted Lasso thing. And Phillips faced that many shots without a break — eventually you’re going to fatigue.

A couple more things. Forty-eight percent of the entire post-season in-person crowd saw a game at Canadian Tire Centre. Three series, and they were the low seed in both of theirs. 53,000 total fans, 13,000 average per game, and a record finals crowd of almost 17,000. They went 3-and-1 at home, unfortunately the one being the most important.

Alex: Haley Scamurra of the Montreal Victoire became the first player to win Olympic gold and a Walter Cup in the same year. She’s part of Team USA and part of Montreal. And Maggie Flaherty became the first player to win three Walter Cups. She scored really critical goals for the Victoire against both the Frost and the Charge.

Caitlin: MPP, Anne-Renée Desbiens, Laura Stacey, and Erin Ambrose all joined the “three times gold” club — Olympic gold, a World Championship, and the Walter Cup.

PWHL: Post-season award nominees

Alex: Forward of the Year nominees: Taylor Heise, Brianne Jenner, and Kelly Pannek.

Caitlin: I have to go with Taylor Heise. There was a moment in Minnesota’s season where they were on the ropes, right after the Olympics. We came back and got our butts spanked by Montreal 4-0. Then Heise started to become — like we said about Barbara Banda last week — kind of inevitable. Scoring close to a goal a game, maybe multi-point games. She was the second-leading scorer in the league. The timing of that run was really critical for the Frost’s season.

Alex: I was going to say Kelly Pannek. She’s more of a vibe that backs it up with the stats. She sets the tone for the Frost. She’s known as a defensive forward, and then this year the offense started happening. She had 20 more goals this season than she’s ever had in a single season or something ridiculous. Her leadership just permeates the team energy on the ice.

Defender of the Year nominees: Sophie Jaques, Megan Keller, and Haley Winn. Sophie Jaques is the first player to put up two 20-point seasons as a defender.

Caitlin: I see that stat and I raise you Megan Keller. She’s captaining arguably the second-best team in the league. Sophie Jaques had an incredible individual season, but it didn’t translate into wins for Toronto. Keller’s leadership, her ability to step up in the big moments — that’s why she’s the captain. I might also be a little rose-colored because she scored that amazing game-winning goal in the Olympics.

Alex: Goaltender of the Year nominees: Ann-Renée Desbiens, Aerin Frankel, and Gwyneth Phillips. I honestly don’t know how you pick.

Caitlin: I don’t either. Except that ARD won the whole thing, and that’s the only real difference. Frankel came out as the leading goaltender in the regular season by some stats — lower goals-against average or higher save percentage, they were trading. Phillips is a playoff goaltender. Good in the regular season, and then in the playoffs she unlocked something. I still lean toward ARD.

Coach of the Year nominees: Kori Cheverie, Carla MacLeod, and Kris Sparre.

Alex: I voted for Kori Cheverie.

Caitlin: I voted for Carla on Instagram. Carla was battling breast cancer all season. She went away for treatment, coached up her staff and her team well enough to hold things together while she was away — and during that time they qualified for the playoffs when they weren’t in playoff contention when she left. That’s not the sob story for the win. She just has this steadiness that keeps the team grounded, keeps them from going too high or too low. When you see her on the bench during games, she gives off a very steady, even-keel energy. Not getting too high, not getting too low.

Alex: For Kori Cheverie, there was an article about how she keeps things lighter in practice, more friendly. And then game day, she switches into a different mode — more focused, calling the shots. I think it’s an interesting dynamic. Players can enjoy what they’re doing and know she’s going to lock in when it matters.

PWHL: Expansion and new GMs

Caitlin: There was a little drama on the socials around some of this. Amy Speer, who is high up in PWHL decision-making, was pretty clear about why takeover tour cities weren’t automatic for expansion. It wasn’t really a barometer.

Two big barriers: revenue sharing and venue access. Calgary has three teams already using the arena — an NHL team, an AHL team, and a WHL team — and the GM basically said we can’t make it work for a full PWHL season, but they’re happy to host takeover tour games. Washington DC, Edmonton, and Quebec City wanted revenue share, which the PWHL isn’t ready for. Denver and Dallas had scheduling issues — Ball Arena runs the Avalanche, the Nuggets, and concerts, and the PWHL can’t be third on the priority list.

The PWHL also had one key condition: when there’s a doubleheader with the NHL team, the PWHL plays first. All four cities agreed to that.

A lot of the US-heavy split (seven to five) comes from needing to land a national broadcast deal. You can’t pitch US television without a real US footprint. The league is reportedly close to breaking even, and the broadcast revenue is the difference.

Alex: We had a quote a few weeks ago about how the PWHL is ahead of schedule on revenue. Very close to being in the black. You’re not going to chase a broadcast deal with fewer US teams.

Caitlin: So for Hamilton: Megan Duggan is the GM. US national team from 2007, captain from 2014 to retirement in 2020, seven-time world champion, one-time Olympic gold medalist. Five years with the New Jersey Devils in player development — basically deciding rosters and how players progress through the system. She also served on the PWHL’s player safety committee and as a special consultant to hockey operations.

Alex: Perfect credentials. She just eats, breathes, drinks hockey.

Caitlin: For Detroit: Manon Rhéaume. Two-time Women’s World gold medalist, Olympic silver medalist, and the first woman to play in an NHL game, as a goaltender with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Also the first woman to sign a professional hockey contract. Deep playing legacy, knows the NHL from the inside, and she’s a trailblazer in a way that fits Detroit’s identity pretty well.

For Las Vegas: Dominique Didia, from CCA Sports where she launched the women’s hockey department. Her background is marketing and career development for athletes. She played at Trinity College but her career didn’t go much beyond that.

Alex: Vegas makes total sense for that skill set.

Caitlin: Exactly. Vegas has the fastest growth in girls’ hockey in the country. Marketing, representation, career development — that’s what you need to build a team culture from scratch in a new market. And then Troy Ryan takes both the GM and head coach role in San Jose, which is its own thing. He was the inaugural PWHL season coach of the year, and the Sceptres made the playoffs both years he was there. But some people are skeptical about one person doing both jobs.

Alex: Who does he think he is? Cheryl Reeve?

Caitlin: That’s basically it. Seattle also fired Steve O’Rourke. So now there are five open head coaching spots out of twelve. I think we’ll see a lot of movement this week.

One thing from the post-season interviews stuck with me. Montreal players were saying this won’t be their team next year. You put in all that work to build chemistry, you finally achieve something, and then it gets torn apart for the expansion draft. They just rebuilt last season too.

And to wrap the expansion segment: one of the other reasons they only added four teams at once is that they just added two last year. If you keep turning over rosters, you risk alienating the fans you’ve built. Fans can’t buy jerseys if the team changes constantly. My hope is next season is the last big disruption and then things settle.

WNBA ups and downs

Alex: WNBA. Ups and downs over the past week. Kelsey Plum versus the Aces: 38 points on 70.6% shooting, nine assists, big win for the Sparks. This was also the night the Aces raised their banner. They’re now 0-and-2 when celebrating their championship. Ring night, they lost.

Caitlin: I’m so happy to see KP have a great game. She’s so capable of this. If you go look up her play in college, she was something else. Good to see her charge forward. And she’s doing this against the defending champions, and her former team.

My up: Natasha Howard of the Minnesota Lynx. We lack depth at the forward and center spot. We’ve been losing bigs left and right. Chakova went out with an ACL tear, Dorke still out with a foot injury. So basically we’ve got Tasha down there, Nia Coffey trying to help out as an undersized forward, and then a developmental player getting significant minutes if Tasha gets into any foul trouble. This is Natasha’s 13th season, and she’s having one of the best starts in those 13 years. Averaging 17 points per game, about eight rebounds and four assists. She’s able to play a lot of minutes, which is a real challenge with the new refereeing approach this season.

And during the broadcast of the Lynx-Sky game, one of the commentators said Natasha Howard was looking really good because she learned to play fast by playing alongside Caitlin Clark the last couple of years.

Alex: No. Caitlin Clark did not teach Natasha how to play.

Caitlin: Thirteen seasons. I just reject that entirely.

Alex: Natisha Heidemann tied her career best with 24 points in a 97-85 win against the Washington Mystics for Seattle. Second straight game for the Storm without Dominique Malonga. Malonga was on the bench in concussion protocol. Fun to watch Heidemann just go off.

Caitlin: She’s one of the best as a human. Very fun to see her light it up. And she’s a lefty, so she throws people off.

My last up is the Dallas Wings. I saw something before we recorded that’s going to add a wrinkle — our clip on Jose Fernandez’s comments about the team being selfish just went out today. And they’ve won three of their last four since he said that. So maybe he knows his team. They’re sixth overall, fourth in the West. Azzi Fudd is starting to find her groove, getting more minutes, more confidence. She had an exceptional performance against the Liberty — set the rookie record for made three-pointers in a quarter, going 5-of-7, finishing 6-of-12 overall, 24 points in the game.

In the post-game press conference, Fernandez was asked when he’s moving Azzi into the starting lineup. He was like, “Is that important to you?” I understand it probably gets asked every game. She does kind of seem like someone who needs a little time to marinate in the league. But I don’t know if that’s because she’s not getting consistent playing time.

Caitlin Clark and load management

Alex: I need to be careful with my words here. Caitlin Clark was listed with a back injury about an hour or two before a midweek game. The Fever got a warning from the WNBA because injury reports are required by 5 PM the day before. The coach came out and called it a “strategic management decision,” which basically means load management. If you’re saying that an hour before the game, is it really strategic?

It’s either you have a load management protocol for someone with a lingering issue — in which case, is she actually ready to be playing? Or something else. There’s been talk about her going in at halftime to get adjusted or massaged. For the fans: is she hurt or not? We don’t get to know that. But some of them are thinking, should I show up, because the main reason I bought this ticket was to see the superstar.

Caitlin: She didn’t practice on Tuesday, which isn’t weird — players skip practice to manage things all the time. But we were five games in. If we’re already at load management that early, I think something is either being managed around rather than fixed. And I say that as someone who genuinely cares about player safety. Caitlin Clark is very good for the WNBA. She brings eyes. But I want to see her on the court. If there’s actually an issue, let’s solve it for her rather than manage around it. She came off a groin injury that cost her half of last season, came back. If a coach is already not sure she can play some minutes at game time, five games in — it’s weird.

Alex: The Rickea Jackson ACL tear got official confirmation. She was averaging 18 points per game through four games, dropped a 29-point performance on May 15th, and Chicago was 3-and-1 at the time. They’ve lost both games since. Big loss for them.

Caitlin: She was playing really well. Real potential to be the star on that team. Skylar Diggins and Azrael Stevens were back in the lineup over the weekend, so we’ll see how they go.

Alex: My last down: the technical called on Paige Bueckers for clapping her hands. What are we doing?

Caitlin: She was walking away from players, clapping to herself, excited about getting a foul call. Team was making a run. She gets a tech. This particular ref has called two technicals on Paige in her career and statistically calls more techs when he’s on the crew. Someone should look into that. But the up is that the tech was rescinded by the league. Paige apparently has a bet with a longtime veteran on the Wings that she’ll go the entire season without getting a technical. She was more upset about almost losing that bet than about the call itself.

Alex: Four or five games in, more mad about the bet. As we continue to watch the refereeing situation: just be consistent.

NWSL week nine results

Alex: NWSL week nine. Rising and sliding.

Caitlin: Top five quick: Utah at the top, nine games unbeaten, beat Denver Summit 2-1. Portland second, lost to Kansas City Current 3-1 after a big midweek win over Bay FC. San Diego had a rough week — late draw against Houston where Houston came back, then lost to Orlando. Washington and Gotham are slots four and five, but they didn’t play in the NWSL this weekend because of the CONCACAF W Championship.

Gotham is giving me a little of who they were last season, where they barely got into the playoffs and then won the whole thing. They’re failing to find their rhythm, and with the roster they have, they shouldn’t be.

Rising: North Carolina Courage. Ashley Sanchez had a big midweek win. She’s quietly in second place for the Golden Boot with seven goals, right behind Barbara Banda’s eight. I was texting with a soccer friend who loves women’s soccer and he was asking: could she be back in the mix for the national team? She hasn’t played since 2023, Emma Hayes hasn’t called her in, but with Sam Coffey out with minor knee surgery and the June camp coming up — when goal scorers are scoring, you kind of just let that ride.

Also rising: Houston Dash. I had them sliding last week, reversing the hex. They drew grit against San Diego — Jane Campbell literally took a shin to the face, I have to assume she’s in concussion protocol. And then they beat Angel City, ending what I think was a five-game scoreless stretch.

Sliding: Bay FC. They’ve been hovering around that eighth-place playoff cutoff, and they’ve slid back. Lost to Portland, then couldn’t score on a Chicago team that regularly gives up goals. If you lose to Chicago right now, you’re on this list.

Alex: Bay FC has the benefit of being in the women’s sports capital of the world in the Bay Area. And they’ll be getting their PWHL team started up too, so.

Caitlin: We’ll see what happens. Definitely on my slide.

What to watch

Alex: One game per day. WNBA: Minnesota Lynx at Chicago Sky, Friday May 29th, 6:30 PM CT on ION. Saturday at noon on League Pass: Seattle Storm versus Toronto Tempo. Sunday at 2:30 PM CT on Peacock: Las Vegas Aces at Golden State Valkyries.

NWSL: Friday 6 PM, Orlando Pride versus Bay FC — important for both clubs. Saturday 3 PM CT on ION: Portland Thorns versus Utah Royals, top of the table. Sunday 6 PM: Angel City versus North Carolina Courage on Victory Plus. These are the last NWSL games before a full month break — the only game in June for the league is the Champions Cup on June 28th, Gotham versus Kansas City.

Women’s Elite Rugby on Women’s Sports Network: TC Gemini versus Boston Banshees Saturday at 5 PM CT. Sunday: Bay Breakers versus Chicago Tempest at 7 PM CT, New York Exiles versus Denver Onyx at 1 PM CT.

We may try to make it to a Women’s Football Alliance game Saturday night. Minnesota Aurora play Thursday versus Rockford Raptors (7 PM CT) and Saturday versus River City (2 PM CT), both away, on YouTube or Fox 9 Plus if you’re local.

Caitlin: And the French Open is ongoing, and the college softball World Series starts this week now that we’re through super regionals.

Momentum and setbacks

Caitlin: Momentum: Utah Royals in the NWSL. It’s kind of uncanny to watch them be so consistent. Nobody can score on them. I’ll be watching the Portland-Utah game closely. On the flip side, I’m curious to see how the Atlanta Dream hold up over the next couple of weeks — whether they can keep that top spot in the WNBA.

Alex: My momentum: the PWHL had over 1.2 million in total attendance across 133 games this season. Around 9,000 to 10,000 per game. That’s fantastic. I can’t wait to see what next season looks like with 12 teams.

Caitlin: June is going to feel weird. NWSL on break, PWHL season technically over with all the expansion stuff spinning up, Commissioner’s Cup in the WNBA, international games, and we’re hoping to get into the World Cup conversation next week.

Alex: My setback might just be the NWSL going away for a month, but I don’t think we’ll want for topics.

Caitlin: My setback is the online behavior around the WNBA. I realize we’re talking about a very small subset of fans. But sometimes that subset takes the narrative. Let’s just focus on the play and the players. We can debate coaching decisions and roster moves. But going after someone’s entire family line because you disagree with them is a lot. Just not necessary.

Alex: Agreed. RTG underscore pod on Instagram and YouTube, Raising the Game Podcast on Substack, RTGpod.com, raisingthegamepodcast at gmail dot com. Check us out.

Caitlin: And we’ll see you next week.

Alex: Bye.