User:Coolturtle11/Professional Women's Hockey League

PWHL article addition (attendance records):

Many of the PWHL arenas boast capacity sizes which are commendable to such a young program, although there is some discrepancy between locations (PWHL Minnesota plays at the Xcel Energy Center which holds 20,554, while PWHL Montreal plays at the Verdun Auditorium which holds 4,000). Despite this inconsistency, a record breaking number of fans attend games. On January 6, 2024 in PWHL Minnesota v. PWHL Montreal the previous attendance record was broken (5,938). The Xcel Energy Center recorded the total attendance for the game at 13,316. This record, however, did not last very long, on February 16, 2024 the record was broken during a game between PWHL Toronto and PWHL Montreal in Scotiabank Arena. The final attendance was recorded at 19,285, not only setting a record for the PWHL, but selling out the arena. On Saturday March 26, 2024 the United States attendance record was broken for a 2nd time in the season. Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan hosted PWHL Ottawa v. PWHL Boston with a record attendance of 13,736 seats filled of the 19,515 total seats available. On March 20, 2024 tickets went on sale for the April 20, 2024 game of Toronto v. Montreal, dubbed "Duel At The Top" which is set to take place in Bell Centre in Quebec, Montreal. Within an hour of tickets going on sale the Bell Centre, which holds 21,000 people sold out.

Rule Divergence:

The PWHL has included in their rule book guidelines for permissible bodychecking. Rule 52 outlines instances where bodychecking is and is not allowed. Body checking is allowed "when there is a clear intention of playing the puck or attempting to "gain possession" of the puck with the exception from the situation described in this rule." Other allowances of body checking include "if two (2) players are in pursuit of the puck, they are reasonably allowed to push and lean into each other provided that "possession of the puck" remains the sole object of the two (2) players." There are two main factors which cause a bodycheck to be seen as "legal" vs. "illegal". The first factor is being able to determine whether or not gaining possession of the puck is the sole purpose of the player initiating the body check. An blatant example of an illegal body check would be if a player is across the ice from the puck, and they initiate a body check against another player. This shows that gaining possession of the puck was not the sole purpose of the player because they were not in a fight for said puck possession. The other factor which determines the legality of a body check is the movement of players. Under rule 52.1 "a player, who is stationary is entitled to that area of the ice. It is up to the opponent to avoid body contact with such a player." If a player were to initiate a body check on a player who is stationary and without the puck, then that would be grounds for a referee to assess a penalty.