AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right. An international hockey game broke a record over the weekend.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: We are expecting a new U.S. record attendance. We will let you know as soon as the final numbers are in. But we're about to drop the puck on this major matchup with...
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
That is right - for attendance.
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CHANG: The Professional Women's Hockey League held the latest in its series of touring games in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. And more than 17,000 people showed up to watch, making the matchup the highest-attended, in-arena game in U.S. women's hockey history, according to the league.
JACKIE JOHNSTON: It was electric, I think, just to be in the stadium with so many people. And, you know, everyone's just so excited to be witnessing what ended up being history.
CHANG: That's Jackie Johnston, who was in the crowd that night. She follows women's sports as a hobby.
DETROW: This record was all the more remarkable because this was all made without a hometown team on the ice.
CHANG: Instead, the New York Sirens and Montreal Victoire played a barnstorming match in the nation's capital.
JOHNSTON: The Sirens have a really fun chant where they do, like, let's go sirens, wee-woo, wee-woo. It's funny because I went to the men's game on Saturday night, and obviously, those chants are led by, like, big, burly men. And then to go to this game and you have the let's go sirens, wee-woo, wee-woo chant led by, like, a 7-year-old screeching is, like, just a whole different thing. It's super fun.
CHANG: All this for a league only in its third season.
DETROW: Both teams had scored by the end of the first period.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Back up high, one-timer. They score.
DETROW: The announcers kept their eye on that busy crowd well into the second period, when New York netted its second goal.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Way to go, Caps - I shouldn't say Caps' fans. Yo, they score...
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: ...Right off the...
CHANG: The clock ticked down. And after a desperate attempt by Montreal to tie things up, its final seconds ended in chaos.
JOHNSTON: It really was looking like they might get it right towards the end, and then the fight started. But, oh, my God. That - those last, you know, 10 minutes were just crazy.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And the horn sounds as tempers flare. D.C., say hello to the PWHL.
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DETROW: New York won 2 - 1, but success for the PWHL is a bit more of an open question.
CHANG: The league has just eight teams and says it set its last attendance record in November. Men's National Hockey League games have an average attendance around that of the PWHL's record-setting night.
JOHNSTON: What I always say about women's sports is if you build it, they will come. A lot of times, participation and people showing up in women's sports events is truncated by the space - like, the size of the venue. And, you know, we filled up that venue.
DETROW: Jackie Johnston wants the league to open up a franchise in Washington and so do the people sitting next to her at the game.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) We want a team. We want a team. We want a team.
CHANG: Fortunately, for those fans, the league is looking to expand. An executive recently said they plan to add between two to four teams at the end of this season.
DETROW: So maybe it's time to think of a name. I don't know the Washington Wompers.
CHANG: (Laughter).
DETROW: The Beltway Blades. Good thing there's plenty of time.
(SOUNDBITE OF VANILLA ICE SONG, "ICE ICE BABY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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