PWHL Las Vegas

Lore & Background

The team's founding was announced on May 13, 2026, alongside a new Hamilton, Ontario team, joining other new teams in Detroit and San Jose. Despite Las Vegas not having hosted a PWHL Takeover Tour game, the success of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and a resulting 600% increase in youth hockey participation—particularly among girls and women—along with the Las Vegas market for sports in general, led the PWHL to place an expansion team there. The team is the league's eleventh franchise overall and its fifth expansion team, part of its second round of expansion. The team will play its home games at T-Mobile Arena, which is also the home of the Vegas Golden Knights. On May 15, the league announced the hiring of Dominique DiDia as the first general manager; DiDia previously launched CAA Sports' women’s hockey department. Their first personnel move was signing Mae Batherson and Kendall Cooper to two-year contracts. On June 15, DiDia's former Trinity College teammate Kim Weiss was announced as the inaugural head coach; Weiss previously served as an assistant coach on the Trinity College men's hockey program, Maryland Black Bears, and the Colorado Eagles, and as head coach of the Washington Pride program. As part of the expansion announcement, the team's colors were revealed to be green and gold—green as an homage to the desert and mountains surrounding Las Vegas, gold as a nod to the lavish culture synonymous with Las Vegas and the team identity of the Golden Knights. Like all previous teams, the team will temporarily operate as PWHL Las Vegas until a permanent team identity is decided.

Reader's Guide

PWHL Las Vegas represents a significant step in the PWHL's second round of expansion, becoming the fifth expansion franchise and the eleventh overall. Its founding was driven by the success of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and a 600% increase in youth hockey participation among girls and women, highlighting the league's strategy of leveraging existing hockey markets. The team's first general manager, Dominique DiDia, brought experience from launching CAA Sports' women’s hockey department, and her first moves were signing Mae Batherson and Kendall Cooper. The hiring of Kim Weiss as head coach, a former teammate of DiDia's at Trinity College, underscores personal connections in the team's early leadership. The team's colors—green and gold—were chosen to reflect the desert and mountains of Las Vegas and the lavish culture of the city, as well as the identity of the Vegas Golden Knights. The team will play at T-Mobile Arena, sharing a venue with the Golden Knights. As of July 18, 2026, the team's roster included first-round draft picks Tessa Janecke (3rd overall) and Lacey Eden (5th overall) from the 2026 draft.

Did You Know?

• The team's colors are green and gold, with green representing the desert and mountains and gold representing Las Vegas's lavish culture.
• The team's first head coach, Kim Weiss, was a former Trinity College teammate of general manager Dominique DiDia.