PWHL's sign culture drives connections with fans

There will be signs. That much is guaranteed at any PWHL playoff game. They're pressed against the glass during warmups and waved for the arena video board during the game. Some are carefully stenciled, while others are scribbled in permanent marker minutes before puck drop. But they all say the same thing: This matters to me, personally.

Fans show up to PWHL games not just to watch, but to participate - and signs are a big part of how they do it. In a league still building its fan culture, those handmade signs are starting to represent something more than just supportive slogans.

"The signs thing - we can talk about it for a long time," Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin told reporters on a pre-playoff conference call. "For us, jumping on the ice during warmup, you take that time during that 15-minute warmup and just take a look around. There are so many signs. There are a lot of clever ones that make you giggle."

Signs have become one of the most visible traditions in a league that’s still new enough for every fan action to matter immensely. The posters, like the people holding them, don’t all look the same. That’s the point. The act of making a sign - of bringing it to the rink and holding it up - becomes a way to be part of the group while still saying something personal and connecting with the players.

"I think the sign culture is probably the funnest thing," Amy Scheer, PWHL senior vice president of business operations, said via conference call. "Seeing how creative the kids are with their signs - whether they're simple from, 'I want a team, and 'I want to be a PWHL player,' to really creative signs addressing our players - it's been wonderful to see our fans bring a culture to life. And it's not just with signs, but now, as we introduce team names and big brand identities, how they've gone about incorporating those into the signs and into the way they come to the games dressed."

Sign culture is prevalent in the NHL, too, but the PWHL is embracing it. The league is providing pregame sign-making materials for fans, including pre-cut poster boards and markers, at the three Canadian arenas with assistance from Canadian Tire. Some locations even have full sign-making stations set up, which have become fixtures of the gameday flow.

Sceptres fan Jackie Vandinther, who has been attending games regularly since the team's inception, used the station for the first time last month during the team's Pride Night. It wasn’t just the supplies - it was the vibe.

“We finished making our sign and the volunteers at the sign station were appreciative and thanking us for making it,” she said. Vandinther said that moment stuck with her - not just the encouragement, but the underlying message.

"There's certainly a connection that I feel when I walk into a PWHL game that I haven't felt at a men's sporting event, and I don't know if that's because there are more women in the room - there are actually visibly more women - or, I don't know, if there seems to be visibly more queer people as well, especially on Pride Night," she said. "I think it's the representation and the visibility. I'm not saying that you can't see those things at men's sporting games, but they just seem to be way more visible and out in the open, loud and proud, at PWHL games."

She added that the sign station, like the tickets themselves, reinforced what drew her to the league in the first place - that it feels open. "It just seemed really accessible. … You couldn’t beat it," she said. Vandinther also supports Toronto teams like the Maple Leafs and Raptors but said the cost of attending those games has been prohibitive in recent years. That's what initially got her out to a PWHL game. "Two tickets for under $100 and three or four hours of fun," she said. The atmosphere means she'll want to come back.

That sense of encouragement and shared happiness is part of what league leadership sees as a defining feature of the PWHL gameday experience.

"We're really proud of the culture and the atmosphere of our games. And I think one of the words that we use when we talk about the in-game experience is pure joy," Scheer said. "You go into our buildings, and it's pure joy. We're proud of that. We're proud of everyone feeling welcome at our games and feeling that they could come and express themselves and enjoy the best hockey in the world."

Players have started to anticipate the signs as part of their pregame routines.

"Yeah, definitely early in warmup I'll take a peek around, and some of them will give you a good laugh," Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner said. "It's fun to see all the young hockey players, too, holding up their signs. They're pretty proud of being at the game and sharing their signs."

Some of the posters even carry enough weight to shift the energy in the building.

"At TD Place, our screen is so big that if a good one makes it up there, the crowd goes nuts," Jenner said. "That's a really cool part of the atmosphere, and something I think is pretty unique to our league."

More than anything, the signs represent a feedback loop between players and fans - a relationship that feels closer than it does in many other pro sports environments.

"To see the participation, to see the fans getting involved, game in and game out in different markets, it's been unbelievable," Poulin said. "And honestly, when you take a look around, when I'm stretching in the warmup, it just reminds me why we're doing it. It's pretty awesome to see. ... Really thankful to have all the fans across the league."

Jolene Latimer is a feature writer at theScore.