Kaitlyn’s Sport Stories Recap: December 18, 2023

Welcome to our Kaitlyn’s Sport Stories Recap – a weekly feature on what’s been happening in the sport and physical activity world for girls and women in Canada (and beyond)! After a quick week off to celebrate our 5+1 Days of Giveaway on our Instagram page and a fun radio interview with Stacey and Daryl at 630 CHED Edmonton (check it out here!), we’re back for our fourth edition.

Today we learn more about the availability of tickets (WHERE CAN WE FIND TORONTO ONES?!) ahead of the beginning of the January 2024 PWHL season; which Canadian was named the ‘best female athlete’ (hint: she’s swimming in accomplishments and medals; we learn more about the FIFA Women’s World Cup, topping the list of most Google searches in Canada this year; and recap the Canada vs. USA rivalry series’ most recent games in Ontario.

The stories of the week show young girls in sport and physical activity that:

1. Professional women’s hockey belongs in Canada. The demand from fans is evident, and limited ticket availability is a great indicator of the future of women’s hockey games in Canada.
2. With skills like hard work and consistency, young women athletes in Canada are succeeding in their respective sports and are getting well-deserved recognition for their achievements.
3. Women’s sports are simply sports. Take the whole country of Canada buying into the FIFA Women’s World Cup and it coming out as a top Google search of the year as an example.
4. There is value in bringing women’s professional sports games to seemingly smaller markets across the province and country. What happens? Fans still fill the arenas up.

The Latest on the PWHL Ticket Availability: Blink and They’re Gone!

On Thursday, December 14, single-game tickets were available to purchase for Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) hockey fans. Throughout the days prior, availability for season ticket memberships and half-season ticket packages quickly sold out. This made the availability window for single-game tickets even more crucial to catch in time for fans after seeing the rate at which previous ticket options sold out. It should come as no surprise that tickets were not available for long before fans across Canada secured their single-game tickets!

• The PWHL Toronto team sold out ALL of their single-game tickets for ALL home games just a few hours into tickets being available for purchase that day. This means that 3,850 people will be in attendance for every home game. 
• The PWHL Montréal team has sold out all their tickets for their home opener game, which will be in front of a crowd of 4,114 people.
• The PWHL Ottawa team has also sold out all their tickets for their home opener game, which will take place at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario. The net capacity for this arena is 7,510 people.

Limited single-game tickets are currently available for other PWHL Montréal and PWHL Ottawa home games throughout the 2024 season!

Maggie Mac Neil Named Best Female Athlete During the 2023 Panam Sports Awards

Canadian swimmer and three-time Olympian Maggie Mac Neil was honoured at the second PanAm Sports Awards, where she was named the ‘Best Female Athlete.’

The most recent 2023 Pan Am Games that wrapped last month in Santiago, Chile, included Mac Neil winning seven medals, five of which were gold. Her five gold medal wins made for a historic moment. This medal accomplishment was the most in history that a Canadian athlete had won at the Pan Am Games. Mac Neil also made history by tying for the second-most medals received by a female athlete during a single edition of the Pan Am Games. 

At just 23 years old, Mac Neil has already made quite the name for herself and impressively represents Canada’s women athletes! To learn more about Maggie and her swimming career, click here.

Women’s World Cup Leads as a Top Google Search in Canada During the 2023 Year

Search engine Google has released their top searches throughout the year, which included categories such as searches in news and events, ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘How’ searches, and trending people, athletes, movies and TV series. 

For Canadians in 2023, the top trending search in the news and events category was the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The most recent 2023 World Cup took place between July and August. The games were hosted in either Australia or New Zealand. Team Canada failed to make it to the qualification round after losing to Australia by a score of 4-0. 

Google also had data on which Canadian provinces Googled the Women’s World Cup the most frequently. British Columbia was the top province to Google this topic the most, with the following provinces being Yukon Territory, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. One can assume that British Columbia and Yukon Territory were the two provinces with the highest Google searches “due to the fact that it was in those regions that Canada’s games kicked off at the least hospitable times.”

Team Canada vs. Team USA Brings Women’s Hockey Rivalry Series to Kitchener and Sarnia, Ontario

The rivalry series, an annual seven-game hockey match-up between Canada and the United States women’s national teams, carried on with their 2023-24 series, this time stopping by Kitchener and Sarnia, Ontario, for two single games this past week.

On Thursday, December 14, Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario, hosted game three of the 2023-24 rivalry series. Team USA defeated Team Canada by a score of 3-2. It was reported that the ticket availability status included approximately less than 50 tickets still available for purchase two days before the game. 

On Saturday, December 16, Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ontario, hosted game four of the 2023-24 rivalry series. Team Canada came out on top after a victory of 3-2 against Team USA.

The following two games will continue in Canada, this time making their way to Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, throughout February 2024. For more information on the upcoming Saskatchewan games and to purchase tickets, click here.   

Kaitlyn’s Sport Stories Recap are written by Kaitlyn Lehbert, a passionate and driven sport advocate for girls and women. Kaitlyn holds her Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Brock University. Learn more about Kaitlyn by clicking here!

Have a sport story you want to share? Contact info@fastandfemale.com and it may get featured in Kaitlyn’s next feature.