When the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s first-ever season got underway earlier this year, it was missing one crucial component: team names.
The decision came from a league that was anxious to get its players and product on the ice, even if that meant leaving proper titles behind. So, the six teams of the PWHL were identified simply by the cities they represented, i.e. PWHL Boston. Jerseys simply had the city or state names on them.
But on Monday, Boston finally got a name: The Boston Fleet.
The decision to go with the Fleet comes after reports that the team could be christened the “Wicked” spread online to a sometimes less than enthusiastic reaction from fans.
The announcement of the Fleet name comes on the same day the PWHL unveiled every team’s proper brand: The Fleet will be joined by the New York Sirens, the Minnesota Frost, the Toronto Sceptres, Victoire de Montréal and the Ottawa Charge.
(Re)introducing the inaugural six, as you've never seen them before:
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) September 9, 2024
Boston Fleet
Minnesota Frost
Victoire de Montreal
New York Sirens
Ottawa Charge
Toronto Sceptres pic.twitter.com/oMTyeTbecL
With the new team branding, Boston’s team will retain green as its primary color and get a stylized letter B that appears to resemble an anchor as its logo. The logo’s forward lean symbolizes the momentum of the team and the city’s sports history.
The new logo also includes additional hints of green and blue to reflect the ocean’s color.
The league worked with New York-based creative agency Flower Shop to flesh out the full identities for its six teams.
PWHL Senior Vice President of Business Operations Amy Scheer said the process of creating the names and logos started early on.
“We really started collecting insights and feedback from our general managers, from our players and of course over the course of the season from our fans in numerous different ways,” Scheer said. “So a lot of discovery to put us down the right path.”
Kanan Bhatt-Shah, vice president of brand and marketing for the PWHL, pointed to Boston’s strong maritime history, with sites like the U.S.S. Constitution and the Charlestown Navy Yard, as a reason for the Fleet name and logo design.
“And I think we really wanted to combine that with the spirit of the people, the spirit of Bostonians, right? And New England,” Bhatt-Shah said. “This resilience, this unity, this togetherness and that spirit.”
We are the Boston Fleet. pic.twitter.com/bKDj1d6oNB
— Boston Fleet (@PWHL_Boston) September 9, 2024
Fleet captain Hilary Knight, who helped unveil the new PWHL names and logos on “Good Morning America” on Monday, said she was ecstatic with the announcement.
“Obviously, year one, you have to build a culture and somewhat of an identity,” she said. “And now to have logos and names, I’m really excited for our group of individuals that gears up together. But super excited for the fans to have that strong identity in Boston.”
Playing for a team without a name must be a little odd. But now that Boston knows exactly who it is, Knight is looking forward to what comes next for the Fleet.
“You know, whenever you go into a huddle and you’re cheering for something, it’s nice to be able to name it,” she said. “And so now to have that identity and to have that more purposefulness, being in Boston and the thoughtfulness that went behind the design and the names, we can really attach ourselves to [that] as well as fans. So I think people are really excited and really eager to get to puck drop for season two.”