PWHL expansion teams names and logos, Digi Mart USA News: The PWHL’s newest four teams now have names and logos, but fans won’t see them on the teams’ jerseys this upcoming season.
Hamilton Havoc, Detroit Clutch, San Jose Sea Lions and Vegas Vanguards were announced as team names on Tuesday morning, ahead of the start of the league’s regular season on Dec. 5.
All four expansion teams will wear previously revealed sweaters that include the city name stitched across the chest, something every PWHL team has done in its first season. The jersey designs with team names and logos have been submitted to Bauer, but according to Amy Scheer, the league’s executive vice president of business operations, it takes about 14 months to get those ready.
“It’s become a fun tradition and the jerseys look great, so why not keep it?” Scheer said about the city-name jerseys. Even though the jerseys aren’t ready yet, the league had merchandise with team names and logos ready for sale on its website on Tuesday morning.
The team names and logos are the result of months of research into what is important to each city, its fans and its sports culture. That includes online chatter indicating what fans want to see.
“Our fans love sharing their opinions,” Ali Koviak, the league’s senior director of brand and marketing, told CBC Sports. “We love seeing their ideas.
Then, once we find something that works, we really start building in that direction: name, logo, sketches, visual exploration. It’s not necessarily a linear process.
Each city looked a little bit different in terms of how everything came together.”
The Hamilton Havoc name is inspired by the balance between industry and nature in Hamilton, where steel mills rise alongside the natural beauty of the Niagara Escarpment, according to the league’s description. The logo incorporates Hamilton’s official bird, the peregrine falcon, reimagined in steel with molten eyes.
The San Jose Sea Lions pay tribute to marine mammals that serve as “proud guardians of the rugged Bay Area coastline.” The name also holds a connection to the San Francisco Sea Lions of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association, a team that played in 1946 and included Toni Stone, “the first woman to play baseball regularly in a major men’s professional league.” San Jose is the PWHL’s first California-based team.
The Vegas Vanguards name celebrates those who lead the way, embracing challenges and creating new opportunities, the league says. The logo features the kit fox, a species native to the Mojave Desert that the league describes as one that perseveres and thrives in the face of adversity.
Detroit Clutch is a reference both to a common hockey term and the city’s deep history within the automotive industry. “It really opened up this rich world where shift plays a role in automotive culture and hockey on the ice and being clutch,” Koviak said.
The logo also includes rhythmic vinyl lines within the wheeled design, a reference to Motown’s enduring influence.
The Hamilton Havoc will make their PWHL debut on Dec. 5 in Quebec against the Montreal Victoire, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
The game will also mark the PWHL’s debut on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
