The Professional Women's Hockey League has chosen San Jose as one of its newest expansion cities, citing the Bay Area’s avid support for women’s sports as well as San Jose’s deep-rooted professional and youth hockey culture.

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) announced Tuesday that San Jose’s new professional women’s hockey team, which has yet to be named, is set to play in the league’s 2026–2027 season starting in November. Along with San Jose, expansion teams were also awarded to Detroit, Las Vegas, and Hamilton, Ontario, bringing the league’s roster to 12 teams.

The expansion to San Jose was spearheaded by Sharks Sports & Entertainment and the city of San Jose, according to the league. San Jose’s home games will be at SAP Center with training taking place at Sharks Ice at San Jose.

San Jose is the first California team in the women's hockey league, and it joins Seattle and Vancouver as the league's third West Coast team, per KPIX.

In its statement, the PWHL cites the Bay Area’s overwhelming support for women’s sports teams, including the Bay Football Club and the Golden State Valkyries, as motivation for choosing San Jose, in addition to the city’s well established professional and youth hockey culture.

"Between a deeply rooted hockey culture, rapidly booming women's sports scene, and a community known for growth and innovation,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL Executive Vice President, Business Operations, “San Jose offers a dynamic stage for the PWHL to expand its reach and build lasting momentum."

As KTVU reports, female hockey participation in California is ranked sixth in the nation at 3,841 registered players, and a new round of young players in men’s hockey, including Sharks stand-out Macklin Celebrini, has gained the interest of a new crop of local fans to the sport.

The outlet also notes that Sharks Ice at San Jose is one of the largest ice rinks in the Western US.

"San Jose is cementing its reputation as the premier destination for women's sports in our region — and today's announcement is another major win for our city," said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, per the league's statement. "We're thrilled to welcome the Professional Women's Hockey League to San Jose and look forward to helping grow the game for fans and young athletes across our city."  

Interestingly, according to the site, the Hockey News, the first recorded game of women’s hockey in California took place back in 1916 at San Francisco's Techau Tavern Ice Palace, where 1,200 fans watched Oakland’s Minerva Club defeat San Francisco’s Diana Club, 4-1.

The PWHL also announced the team's official colors, featuring bold and bright hues of orange, blue, and white — inspired by the San Jose flag as well as the Sharks’ colors. The league says the colors also reflect the “optimistic energy” of the Bay Area and the beauty of the California landscape, including the Pacific coastline and San Jose’s orange groves.

The league was launched in 2024 and just completed its third season with teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, according to its website. The PWHL reportedly holds the worldwide attendance record for a women’s hockey game and was recognized by Sports Business Journal as the Sports Breakthrough of the Year in 2024.

Related: San Francisco One of Four Cities to Get Women’s Pro Baseball League Team for Inaugural 2026 Season

Image: Theresa Schafzahl #37 of PWHL's the Seattle Torrent skates during the first  period against the Montréal Victoire at Place Bell on March 19, 2026 in  Laval, Quebec, Canada.  (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

During the first intermission at Saturday night’s hockey game between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center, an offensive fan-submitted message flashed across the scoreboard in support of ICE. The team later apologized for the oversight.

As Bay Area News Group reports, alongside the typical “Go Team” or “Happy Birthday” personalized greetings displayed on the jumbotron during the team’s ninth annual Los Tiburones game celebrating Hispanic heritage Saturday, a hostile message from a fan popped up, stating, “SJ SHARKS FANS LOVE ICE!! GET’EM BOYZ!”

Per KRON4, the reaction from attendees at the game was swift, as many wondered how such a problematic message could possibly make it onto the big screen.

Sharks management posted an apology, saying the message made it through without approval, and they’re working to find out how it happened.

“During the first intermission of tonight’s game, an offensively worded message which had been externally submitted was inadvertently displayed on the in-arena scoreboard,” the statement said. “Sharks Sports & Entertainment deeply regrets that this message, which does not meet our organization’s values, was not detected during our standard review process.”

“The Sharks organization sincerely apologizes for this oversight, and we are actively working to determine the origin of the message,” the statement continued.

In response to backlash from fans, Sharks team president Jonathan Becher posted on X, per Bay Area News Group, “Disappointing that this slipped through our internal controls, but even more disappointing that a fan somehow thinks this is acceptable,” continuing, “Definitely NEVER appropriate and completely not consistent with Teal Together.”

Image: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The latest photo of Jo PAW-velski. Thanks @hssv for taking care of our kitty #SJSharks #SmashNash #sharksblackcat pic.twitter.com/gjBLiUIUuR

— Jim Sparaco (@JimSparaco) May 8, 2016

While they didn't walk away with the Stanley Cup this year, losing in the finals to Pittsburgh, one San Jose Sharks player did pick up a life-changing prize on the ice this season: An adorable stray black cat who scurried out onto the rink during Game 1 of the team's second-round playoff series.

Fox Sports covered the incident, observing that the cat became a sort of good luck symbol for the Sharks. To encourage a family to adopt the cat and others like it, a Silicon Valley humane society even set up a live-cam to watch it and others.

In the end, someone did step up: The San Jose Mercury News reports that none other than Sharks forward Patrick Marleau and his family adopted the kitty, whom the team named Jo Paw-velski after captain Joe Pavelski. In fact, Marleau and his wife, Christin, went so far as to adopt the cat's sibling, too.

Previously: Watch A Stray Cat Slip And Slide On The Ice Before Sharks Game In San Jose

As of today the San Francisco Bulls are no more. Currently in their second season, the nascent ECHL (East Coast Hockey League) team played only one full season on the ice.

"We had a great opportunity come to us that would’ve kept the Bulls in San Francisco at least through the end of the 2014 season, with potential for future seasons, but we ran out of time to complete all ends of the deal," says a Bulls spokesperson. "At this point, the best thing to do financially is to reluctantly end the season. We will miss playing here, miss our fans, and miss this city."

The following letter was sent to ticket holders on Monday:

"We regret to inform you that the SF Bulls are ceasing operations, effective immediately. The team was hoping to secure new ownership, however the terms of an updated deal were unable to be finalized, cancelling the remainder of the season.

"We want to thank all of our loyal season ticket and mini plan holders over the last two seasons. It’s been such a memorable time here with you in San Francisco, and we’ve especially appreciated all of your positive feedback over the past week. Thank you to those who went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed in the Bay Area, especially the members of the Matadors and Stampede. The entire organization is grateful.

"We had a great opportunity come to us that would’ve kept the Bulls in San Francisco at least through the end of the 2014 season, with potential for future seasons, but we ran out of time to complete all ends of the deal. At this point, the best thing to do financially is to reluctantly end the season. We will miss playing here, miss our fans, and miss this city.

"Bringing hockey to San Francisco was a dream; we have great talent on our team, and had a great vision for what the team could be. Things didn’t pan out the way we had hoped. It’s sad, and disconcerting, but we’re unfortunately left with no other choice at this point.

"For fans that have already purchased tickets to upcoming games, the Bulls Office will take requests for refunds up until February 28. Season ticket holders and single game ticket holders can contact their ticket reps for more information at admin@sfbulls.com."

The hope was to transfer ownership. On January 23, SF Bulls CEO Angela Batinovich posted this message to the official SF Bulls site:

"Thank you for your support during this time, we appreciate all of the encouragement from our fans.

"During the ECHL Mid-Season Meeting, the Commissioner and Board of Governors granted our request for additional time to complete negotiations that would allow for the transfer of the San Francisco Bulls to a new ownership group.

"We are hopeful that these negotiations will be completed within the allotted time, and we currently have no intention to cancel any games."

UPDATE: The SF Bulls finally sent out the official press release. "We want to thank all of our fans for your support and loyalty over the last two seasons," said President and Head Coach of the Bulls, Pat Curcio. "It’s been such a memorable time here with you in San Francisco, and we’ve especially appreciated all of your positive feedback over the past week ... At this point, the best thing to do financially is to reluctantly end the season. We will miss playing here, miss our fans, and miss this city."

[h/t: David Elrod]

The cover story in tomorrow's Weekly is all about SF's new minor-league hockey team, the San Francisco Bulls, and how they're doing in their nascent few weeks over at the Cow Palace. It's been the passion project of Canadian-born Pat Curcio, a one-time player and coach who decided to take on San Francisco as a venue for hockey. He's dumped a ton of his own money into the franchise, as well as the money of "a consortium of well-heeled Canadians," and the pre-season just got off to its start in October.

Now all they have to do is sell some tickets.

The team of thirteen rookies is struggling a bit, but at least they're not in last place anymore! As of this week, they're in second to last place in the western division of ECHL (East Coast Hockey League, which actually now has west coast teams), just ahead of Las Vegas's minor league team, the Wranglers. Also, there's the indignity of the Cow Palace itself, which the team has to share with the annual Grand National Rodeo that comes to town (did you know that's why it's called the Cow Palace?) every October, manure and all.

All the players, we find out from SF Weekly, have been hooked up with apartments over in Park Merced, and you can see them all here, looking happy, in their locker room. Also, we find out that playing a minor league sport, like hockey, isn't going to get you rich — these players are lucky if they make $800 a week.

Well, we have all our sports bases covered now that the Warriors are moving in, and until the 49ers move out. We still say hockey's going to be a hard sell around here.

[SF Weekly]

(By hockey correspondent, Ian Evans)

The Sharks third consecutive ouster in second round of the NHL playoffs, despite having a Stanley Cup-worthy team this season, has led to the firing of head coach Ron Wilson on Monday. This last year, the Sharks set records in wins, consecutive wins, and consecutive points. The team also won the Pacific division for the second time in franchise history, and improved their point total for the third season in a row. However, their regular season dominance didn't translate into post-season success.

The Sharks, the number-two seed in the Western Conference, beat the seventh-seeded Calgary Flames in a tough seven game series during the first round. Their second round opponent, the Dallas Stars, handily won the first three games in the best-of-seven series, a hole that only three other teams in the history of the NHL have ever overcome. The Sharks won games four and five, and played an epic game six that saw four sudden-death overtime periods before Dallas captain Brendan Morrow score a power-play goal to end the Sharks season.

-The Bay Area will send two teams to the Big Dance starting with the Stanford Cardinal who are a #3 seed in the South and will play Cornell in the first round. Cornell? We didn't even know they played basketball. The only thing we know about Cornell is that it's amazingly beautiful and half the students attempt suicide (God only knows what'll happen if they lose). Also representin' the Yay Area are the St. Mary Gaels who have a #10 seed in the South and will play the U of Miami. For those of you sneaking peaks at work (if they don't block you), Stanford plays Thursday at 2 PM and St. Mary's plays at 11:30 AM on Friday. SFist will gladly agree that the Tourney is the best sports event in America but is easily annoyed by all the crap that goes with it, like the cute nicknames for every part of the Tourney or the fawning worship of coaches or the endless blathering on ESPN.

-The Sharkies finally lost a game after an eleven game winning streak as they lost in a shoot out to the Edmonton Oilers. BTW, we watched Clerks last weekend and couldn't help notice that Jay is sporting a Sharks baseball hat. We still think Randall's dissertation on the difference between Star Wars IV and Star Wars VI, the one about contract laborers on the Death Star, is one of the greatest bits ever put on film.

-The Giants lost a split squad game but are thinking that their new savior will super speedy Eugenio Velez. Between him and Rajai Davis, the Giants should be speed demons on the basebaths. Well, except for all the aging veterans on the team. Or the possibility Davis and Velez can’t hit. But, hey, at least Zito pitched well.

Sunday afternoon they won their ninth straight game, and seventh straight on the road, against the Minnesota Wild (not, as you might guess from the uniforms, the Polar Elf Sniper Brigage). Marleau saved the game with one of the most spectacular defensive plays of the year, batting a fluttering shot that was deflected past goaltender Evgeni Nabokov out of the air as it was heading for an open net in the final seconds of regulation. After a scoreless overtime, Marleau scored the game winner in the shootout. Where you been all this time, Patty?

The improved play of Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo (who has been scoring goals in absolute bunches lately, signifying he's fully recovered from double-hernia surgery) has been one of the primary reasons for the Sharks recent dominance, but the catalyst was the arrival of slick-skating defenseman Brian "Soup" Campbell from Buffalo in exchange for the promising but unseasoned power forward Steve Bernier. Sharks GM Doug Wilson has been looking for an offensive-minded d-man who can lead the breakout and quarterback the power-play for many years now. Campbell is that guy. His spin-o-rama goal to cement the Sharks entertaining win against the Montreal Canadiens last week is going to be in highlight reels for years to come. He's also good defensively, capable of playing the body, and a good mentor for young defenseman like Christian Ehrhoff and Marc-Eduard Vlasic. He'll also be an unrestricted free-agent at the end of the year, so let's hope that Wilson can work on an extension for Campbell. Like a midwestern hot dish, the universal binding ingredient, what brings all the flavors together, for this year's Sharks is Soup.

By our hockey correspondent, Ian

Warriors 105 Sonics 99- Yeah, the Warriors beat a team they should beat but the best news to hit the Warriors today was Yao Ming's season ending injury. The Ws had been involved in a nine team pileup in the Western Division and had scratched and clawed their way to the eighth and final spot thanks to the largess of the Nuggets, now currently starring in a three-game losing streak. But with Yao down, a team that had won twelve straight now looks pretty doomed. The Warriors should solidify their playoff spot just as soon as the Rockets start losing, something for which they should start doing any minute now. Any minute now.....

-The Sharks picked up defensemen Brian Campbell for right wing Steve Bernier and a first round draft pick. No, we're not sure what this all means either. Apparently, the Sharks thought Bernier would help the offense as he's got good stats and was considered some pretty good trade bait. They also sent Rob Davison to the Islanders for a seventh-round pick and signed free agent goalie Brian Boucher. Shark fans, however, aren't quite happy as apparently, nobody is happy with Patrick Marleau.

-Omar Vizquel will be out for the rest of the preseason as he's going to have knee surgery, thus proving this was a bad week for people named Omar (sniff). This means Ray Durham will play 2nd base, Kevin Fransden will play short, and the third baseman will be whomever on the bench draws the short straw.

It all started so positively, with Joe Thornton, Milan Michalek, Craig Rivet, and Marleau signing contract extensions, and the team eager to rectify their playoff collapse the previous spring. The team has played maddeningly inconsistent since then, though they have a good record, and currently sit atop the Pacific division standings. Much of Sharks fans frustration with this team springs from their atrocious home record this year, where they are 7-9-4 (or, to translate, where they have only won 7 of 20 games). On the road,
however, the Sharks are one of the top teams in the league, with a record of 16-3-2. That's why we can say that this team is "maddeningly inconsistent" while sporting a winning record and being in first place in their division.

Why call out Patty Marleau for the team's failings? Firstly, well, he's the captain, and therefore he, fairly or not, takes on the sins of the entire team. Secondly, he has, to put a fine point on it, sucked this season. At home. On the road. Night games, day games, games played on days that end in "y." Statistically, he's flirting with career lows in goals, points, plus/minus, and shooting percentage, and he's playing his tenth year in the NHL. His disinterested and distracted demeanor on the ice sure hasn't helped make the fans forget his lack of offensive production.

This November is a big month for all the teams in the Pacific division, as they spend the entire month playing their division opponents. The Sharks have shaken off their lackluster play to go 6-3-1 in their last ten games, three of which were against the Phoenix Coyotes. That includes Thursday night's 6-0 shutout, a game that they absolutely dominated. All told, in the three games against the Coyotes, they had two shutouts and only allowed one goal.

Douglas Murray, hero to college students everywhere and a Cornell grad himself, is now second in the league in plus/minus at +15. Woof.

Jeremy Roenick, of all people, is leading the league in game winning goals. 5 of his 6 goals on the year have been difference makers, including his 500th career goal. His signing, for minimal money, is looking like a genius move right now, as is the signing of Sandis Ozolinsh, who has put in quality minutes on defense, and has helped spark the Sharks power play with some good point play.

Captain Patrick Marleau is finally producing some points, and it's frankly about time. He, Milan Michalek, and Jonathan Cheechoo have been MIA for much of the year, and it's thanks to improved play by Joe Pavelski and Stever Bernier, some nice sniping by the Gooch (rookie Devin Setoguchi) and Torrey Mitchel that Sharks haven't been left behind by the rest of the division.

Image courtesy of Jon Swenson at Sharkspage.

Ah. the Sharks roster, chock full of the most unique, special, fragile snowflakes that ever graced a consistently good (regular season) team. And Mike Grier. I'll also grant an exception to defenseman Douglas "Crankshaft" Murray, crypto-Swede, inventor of the Ubertap, and capable of some of the most punishing checks
Sharks fans have ever seen. Too bad he's not faster, or he'd be more than just a 6-7 d-man.

Sharks fans have been spoiled recent years by spectacular individual performances by guys like Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek, and Grier. As we mentioned in Part I, those feats didn't mean diddly in the playoffs, and so far this year the team has played even more inconsistently. Let's look at some of the key players, and what they need to do to help the team get over the team's mini-funk.

Reviews after the jump

After getting bounced last spring by the Detroit Red Wings for another second round playoff collapse, the refrain from the Sharks brass, coaches, and players during the off- and pre-season has been: consistency and resiliency. With twelve games under their belts in this young season, the San Jose Sharks currently sit atop the decidedly mediocre Pacific division, and unfortunately have shown many of the same problems that supposedly led to their playoff exit last year.

Case in point: they've been stomped by the Red Wings in both games they've played so far this year. Sharks fans have been denied a symbolic payback, and the Sharks brass can't be too happy with the way the team played against their Detroit playoff tormenters, either.

The only real consolation so far is that the Sharks have played an NHL-high number of games on the road, and are still a game above .500.

Photo by Jon Swenson of Sharkpage