New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League
New Zealand's top-tier women's ice hockey league, founded in 2014.
The New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL) is the country’s highest level of women’s ice hockey. It was founded in 2014 as the first national women’s league in New Zealand and operates as an amateur competition under the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation, which is part of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The league currently includes four teams from both the North and South Islands. Each season, the league champion receives the Championship Trophy and gold medals, while the league premier is awarded the Premiership Trophy.
The NZWIHL was created to support the national women’s team, the Ice Fernz, during their IIHF World Championship campaigns, and to give female players of all ages a chance to develop and compete together. It started with three teams: Auckland Steel, Canterbury Devilettes, and Southern Storm. Auckland Steel topped the standings in the first season, winning both the inaugural premiership and the first championship grand final in 2014. The league stayed at three teams from 2014 to 2019, with Auckland winning four titles during that stretch. Canterbury claimed the championship in the second season, and Southern Storm won in 2018.
In 2020, the Southern Storm was disbanded, and two new teams—Dunedin Thunder and Wakatipu Wild—were formed in Dunedin and Queenstown, joining the league for the 2020 season. Before the 2021 season, the Canterbury Devilettes renamed themselves the Canterbury Inferno to separate their identity from the men’s Red Devils team. The 2021 season was cancelled midway through due to COVID-19 lockdowns, and the planned finals were also called off in November. In 2022, Wakatipu Wild became the first of the two new teams to win both the premiership and championship, going nearly undefeated in the regular season and winning both finals games.
**Auckland Steel** Founded in 2014, Auckland Steel is one of the three original NZWIHL teams. They play at Paradice Avondale in western Auckland. The team has won four championships and one premiership. German coach Andreas Kaisser was their first head coach, with Canadians Garret Ferguson and Jonathan Albright as assistants. Philippa Kaisser served as the first general manager. Auckland played the league’s first game on 29 November 2014 against Southern Storm.
- Established
- 2014
- Status
- Amateur
- Sanctioning body
- New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation
- Number of teams
- 4
- Championship trophy
- Championship Trophy
- Premiership trophy
- Premiership Trophy
- Most successful team
- Auckland Steel (7 championship titles)
Lore & Background
The New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL) was established in 2014 as New Zealand's top level women's national league. The newly formed league was set up to support the National Women's team, the Ice Fernz, for their IIHF World Championship seasons. The league would provide opportunity for female players of all ages to develop their skills and play together in a competitive environment. The league was founded with three teams, including: Auckland Steel, Canterbury Devilettes and Southern Storm. The Auckland Steel topped the league standings in the first season to claim the first league premiership before they won the inaugural 2014 NZWIHL season grand final, to become the league's first championship team. The NZWIHL remained a three team league between 2014 and 2019, with Auckland establishing itself as a dominant force in the league, with four championship titles during this time. Canterbury were crowned champions in the second NZWIHL season and Southern Storm won the 2018 season. In 2020, a league decision saw the disbanding of the combined Southern Storm team and the establishment of two separate teams for the NZWIHL. The Dunedin Thunder and Wakatipu Wild were formed and based in Dunedin and Queenstown in the Otago region respectively. They joined the league and first competed in the 2020 NZWIHL season. Before the 2021 season, in July 2021, the Canterbury Devilettes changed their name to the Canterbury Inferno to create a separate identity from the Red Devils men's team. In August 2021, the league had to be cancelled midway through the season due to the New Zealand Government lock-downs to help minimise the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally the league still hoped to play finals at a later date, but that too got cancelled in November 2021. In 2022, Wakatipu Wild was the first of the two new teams to claim a league premiership and championship, when it went almost undefeated for the regular season and then won both games in finals.
Reader's Guide
The NZWIHL is significant as New Zealand's first women's national ice hockey league, established in 2014 to support the national women's team, the Ice Fernz, for their IIHF World Championship seasons. The league provides a competitive environment for female players of all ages to develop their skills. The most successful team in NZWIHL history is Auckland Steel, who have claimed seven championship titles and are the current reigning champion. The league has evolved from three founding teams to four teams from both the North and South Islands. The league champion is awarded the Championship Trophy and gold medals, while the league premier is awarded the Premiership Trophy. The NZWIHL has amateur status and is sanctioned by the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The league's history includes the disbanding of Southern Storm in 2020 and the formation of Dunedin Thunder and Wakatipu Wild, as well as the renaming of Canterbury Devilettes to Canterbury Inferno in 2021. The 2021 season was cancelled midway due to COVID-19 lockdowns.
The PWHPA's Campaign and the Birth of a League
When the Canadian Women's Hockey League suddenly folded in 2019, it left a void no existing organization could fill. Hundreds of elite players, including Canadian and American Olympians, banded together to form the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, determined to create a single, financially sustainable professional league in North America. Rather than simply demanding change, the PWHPA took bold action: they boycotted the leagues that still existed, organized exhibition tournaments to showcase women's hockey talent, and courted corporate sponsors and NHL franchises as partners. Their persistence paid off in 2022, when they struck a deal with the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises to build a new league. The following year, the partners acquired the assets of the Premier Hockey Federation, which had ceased operations, and the PWHPA negotiated a collective bargaining agreement before the new competition launched. The Professional Women's Hockey League was officially announced in August 2023, with its first draft held that September and its opening season beginning in January 2024. To this day, the Mark Walter Group retains full ownership and operational control.
A Record-Breaking Inaugural Season
The PWHL's inaugural campaign in early 2024 became a string of firsts that reshaped expectations for women's professional sport. Six charter franchises—Boston, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, and Toronto—built their rosters through a brief free-agency window and a fifteen-round draft of ninety players drawn from a pool of 286, with Minnesota selecting Taylor Heise as the league's first overall pick. Because time was tight, teams skipped traditional nicknames and instead wore jerseys bearing their city names in a diagonal wordmark. The season opened on January 1, 2024, when New York's Ella Shelton scored the league's first goal in a 4–0 victory over Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. That broadcast drew 2.9 million Canadian viewers, outpacing the NHL Winter Classic airing the same day. Attendance records were shattered repeatedly: Ottawa drew 8,318 at TD Place Arena, Minnesota 13,316 at the Xcel Energy Center, the Battle on Bay Street at Scotiabank Arena pulled in 19,285, and the Duel at the Top at the Bell Centre set the all-time mark at 21,105 fans in the building.
Rule Innovations and Competitive Structure
Although the PWHL borrows its structural DNA from the NHL, it introduces several distinctive rules that set it apart from other women's competitions and IIHF-sanctioned events. Most notably, the league permits bodychecking, though under tighter restrictions than those governing men's professional play. The scoring system also departs from the standard two-point format: a regulation win earns three points, an overtime or shootout victory two, an overtime or shootout loss one, and a regulation defeat zero. This 3-2-1-0 framework creates a more granular standings table. Another innovation is the 'jailbreak' rule, under which a short-handed goal immediately ends the opposing team's penalty, adding tactical urgency to power-play situations. The regular season culminates in a four-team playoff, with the champion receiving the Walter Cup. Additionally, once a team's playoff hopes are extinguished, its accumulated regular-season points feed into a 'Gold plan' that determines the order of selection in the following season's entry draft, giving even struggling franchises a pathway to rebuild.
Broadcasting and Global Reach
The PWHL has built a broadcasting footprint that spans multiple continents and languages, reflecting the global appetite for women's hockey. In the United States, games air through regional sports networks anchored in each city that hosts a franchise, giving local fans direct access to their team. Across the border, Canadian viewers can watch via CBC/Radio-Canada, TSN, its French-language counterpart RDS, Amazon Prime Video, and Sportsnet, ensuring coverage in both English and French. Internationally, the league streams its matches on YouTube for audiences everywhere except Canada, removing traditional paywalls for fans in most other countries. In Central Europe, Nova Sport carries select games for viewers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, extending the league's reach into a region with a deep hockey culture. This multi-platform, multi-language strategy means that a fan in Prague, a viewer in Quebec, and a subscriber in Minneapolis can all follow the same season, each through the channel most natural to their locale.
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