Women’s Hockey in Las Vegas Is Having Its Moment — and It’s Just Getting Started
Women’s hockey in Las Vegas isn’t just growing — it’s exploding. Since the Vegas Golden Knights joined the NHL almost ten years ago, participation among girls has surged 600% across the valley, according to USA Hockey. That number represents thousands of girls lacing up skates for the first time, moving up through learn-to-play programs, and sticking with the sport because they finally see a place for themselves in it. At the Las Vegas Ice Center, we’ve watched that shift happen in real time, on our own rinks, with our own teams, and we couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.
That growth was on full display in February 2026, when WickFest — the globally recognized girls hockey festival founded by Hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser — made its first-ever U.S. appearance, and it happened right here in Las Vegas. More than 600 participants and 35 girls teams traveled in from across the U.S. and Canada for four days of games, clinics, and mentorship, marking the first time in the festival’s 16-year history it left Canadian soil for an American host city. Hosting an event of that caliber is a signal: Las Vegas isn’t a stop on the women’s hockey map anymore. It’s becoming a destination.
Then came the announcement that changed everything. On May 13, 2026, the PWHL officially confirmed Las Vegas as its newest expansion franchise, one of 11 teams now in the league, set to debut at T-Mobile Arena for the 2026-27 season. Decked out in green and gold and led by head coach Kim Weiss, the team has spent the months since building a roster worth watching — starting with defenders Mae Batherson and Kendall Cooper as its first-ever signings, followed by a draft haul highlighted by third overall pick Tessa Janecke out of Penn State and fifth overall pick Lacey Eden from Wisconsin. For the first time, girls growing up in this city will have a professional women’s hockey team of their own to follow, dream about, and aspire to play for. Brittney Brooks, who coaches our 14U Girls and has been instrumental in building the Las Vegas Storm girls program here at LVIC, puts it simply: “For years we told these girls to look up to whoever was playing on TV, and most of the time it wasn’t anyone who looked like them. Now a girl on our 10U team can go watch PWHL Las Vegas play at T-Mobile Arena and picture herself doing exactly that. That changes how a kid sees her own future in this sport.”
The timing couldn’t be better, and the gear is catching up too. Bauer — the world’s leading hockey equipment brand — just launched the Vapor Fly W, a head-to-toe women’s protective collection designed specifically for how women play the game. From redesigned shoulder pads with repositioned fits to pants built around the female hip-to-inseam ratio, it’s the first time a line of this scope has been engineered entirely around the female athlete. The full Vapor Fly W collection is available now at the LVIC Full Service Pro Shop, where our staff can fit you properly and get you on the ice with gear that was actually made for you.
Right here at LVIC, the Las Vegas Storm girls program is where so much of this growth takes shape, with teams running at the 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U levels. “When I started coaching, we’d have a handful of girls scattered across boys’ teams, just trying to find their footing,” Brooks says. “Now I look at our bench and I see full rosters, girls who found their best friends through this sport, girls who are already talking about playing in college. That’s not something that happens by accident — that’s a community deciding girls hockey matters.” If your daughter is curious about the sport and doesn’t know where to begin, the LVIC Girls Learn To Play program is the perfect starting point — a welcoming, structured introduction to hockey built specifically for young girls taking the ice for the first time. Visit our website to learn more about Girls Learn To Play, Storm girls teams, and everything happening with women’s hockey in Las Vegas right now.
