New to the PWHL? | Trash Panda Lodge Studio Site

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NEVER SEEN A HOCKEY GAME IN YOUR LIFE? PERFECT.

SO YOU'RE BRAND NEW TO PWHL
HOCKEY

Some Lodge members showed up not knowing what icing was. Nobody is going to quiz you. Here is everything you actually need for your first Sceptres game, and nothing you do not.

THE GAME, IN ABOUT 90 SECONDS

Three periods, 20 minutes each

The clock stops constantly, so a period takes closer to 35-40 real minutes. Two intermissions in the middle. The whole thing runs about two and a half hours.

Six players a side

Three forwards, two defenders, one goalie. Players swap on and off mid-play in shifts of 30-60 seconds — that chaos at the bench is normal, not a mistake.

Offside and icing, honestly explained

Offside: you cannot get into the attacking zone before the puck does. Icing: you cannot fling the puck the length of the ice to relieve pressure. Both simply stop play and cause a faceoff. That is the whole thing.

Penalties

Two minutes in the box for most infractions, and the penalised team plays a player short. That stretch is a power play for the other team, and it is where a lot of goals happen. When the Lodge gets loud out of nowhere, check the penalty clock.

Nobody goes home tied

Every game has a winner. Tied after 60 minutes and you get overtime — fewer skaters, wide open ice, chances at both ends every few seconds. Still tied and it goes to a shootout: one skater, one goalie, no help. It is the most nerve-shredding two minutes in sport and the reason you should never leave early. That said, both teams still bank a point for getting that far, which is why the standings stay so tight.

Yes, there is bodychecking

Full bodychecking is legal in the PWHL — players finish checks, pin along the boards, and win pucks with their body. What is not tolerated is open-ice head hunting: no lining somebody up for a highlight-reel hit, no charging, no going near the head. So the hitting is real and constant, but it happens in the corners and along the wall where the puck is, not in the middle of the ice for the sake of it. Anyone who tells you this league is soft has not watched a board battle in the third period.

The Jailbreak goal

Here is the good one. A team down a player is supposed to survive the penalty, not score during it — so when they do score, it is called a jailbreak goal. The player in the penalty box gets sprung free, the building loses its mind, and for about eleven seconds physics does not apply. Rarer than a regular goal, roughly four times louder. If you hear the roar reach a pitch you did not think humans made, congratulations: you just witnessed a jailbreak.

The PWHL has its own scoring twist

A regulation win is three points, an overtime or shootout win is two, an overtime loss is one. A losing team can still leave with something, which keeps the standings tighter than you would expect.

YOUR FIRST GAME AT THE RINK

Dress in layers

It is an ice rink. It is colder than you think for the first twenty minutes, then you stop noticing. Sceptres blue anything counts as a jersey.

Get there early

Warmups start 20-25 minutes before puck drop and they are genuinely one of the best parts. Players are close to the glass, kids get pucks, and you can work out who is who before it matters.

Bring a sign

Homemade signs get on the video board and players notice them. The Lodge has a whole gallery of them — steal an idea.

It is basically a mini Taylor Swift concert on ice

Friendship bracelets get traded in the concourse. Strangers scream together, then compliment each other's signs. Somebody's kid knows every player's number by heart and will tell you all of them. It is loud, it is joyful, it is a bit unhinged in the best way — closer to a stadium tour crowd than the grumbling you might expect at a rink. Bring beads. Bring your voice. You will leave with both a new favourite player and a wrist full of bracelets.

You will not be the only new person

This league is young and most of the building is learning together. Ask the person beside you what just happened. They will be delighted.

LODGE LINGO

TRASH PANDA

You. A member of this Lodge. Raccoon behaviour encouraged.

BEAST OF THE GAME

Our own player-of-the-game award, voted by the Lodge, not the league.

THE SQUEAL

The sound of one thousand little girls emptying their lungs at once when the puck goes in. It arrives without warning, it rearranges your hearing, and it is the best noise in sport.

SUPERFAN DEBBIE

Game-day outfits of legend. There is a poll about what she wears next.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

Chanted at any opposition player marched off to the penalty box. Point at the box. Say it like you mean it.

"SPOOOOOOON!"

What the whole building howls whenever Natalie Spooner touches the puck. To an untrained ear it sounds exactly like booing. It is the opposite of booing. It is love, stretched out over six vowels. Never apologise for it, just hold the O until she loses the puck.

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?

No question is too basic. Ask in Chats and somebody who was exactly where you are last season will answer.

ASK IN CHATS

FIND YOUR FIRST GAME

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