PWHL New York players fulfill dream by playing at UBS Arena

The women of PWHL New York stepped out of the tunnel in their turquoise jerseys and skated out on the ice in the direction of a thrilling new experience.

It was a chance to play hockey for the first time in one of their two new homes — the bigger one, the one with a Long Island address, UBS Arena.

“Definitely a dream come true,” GM Pascal Daoust said Wednesday night before former Islanders great Bryan Trottier dropped a ceremonial puck and the Professional Women’s Hockey League game against Montreal got underway, game three for New York.

“A dream starts with a plan. Until you get a plan, it’s always a dream. Now we have a great, great plan that comes from the league. They have an opportunity to show up and showcase for the fans of New York.”

The new PWHL features an Original Six of New York, Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. There’s a 24-game regular season schedule. It began for the league with New York at Toronto on Jan. 1, ringing in a special New Year for women’s hockey.

Past women’s pro hockey leagues didn’t survive. The PWHL is hoping to be around for good. A strong franchise in this market would help.

The Islanders’ logo remaining painted at center ice for this game at UBS. PWHL New York’s other home has Islanders’ ties, too.

The team also plays at 10,000-seat Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Islanders’ AHL affiliate plays. It drew 2,152 fans in last Friday night’s opener there. New York lost to Toronto, 3-2, after winning that first game, 4-0.

Daoust was expecting about 2,500 fans but hoping for more in the Elmont opener.

The arena can hold 17,255 for hockey, although some upper sections were covered by black curtains for this game. Daoust was encouraged by the fan interest around the league in the first week of the inaugural season.

“When we have a crowd coming like they did in Minnesota with 13,000 and Ottawa with 8,000, and even the first couple of games with us at Bridgeport and Toronto with 2,000 more, it’s a good start,” Daoust said. “Now we need to show consistency.

“We have the opportunity with that building to fill it someday, and New York, they have the opportunity to be the first, on top of the other teams.

“I know that song says it well, ‘If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.’ ”

Only nine of the 12 home games have been assigned sites so far, five in Bridgeport and four at UBS. The next one here isn’t until Feb. 21, also against Montreal.

Asked if having two home bases is a good thing or if the franchise might have to settle on one home base down here, Daoust said, “We’ll go through that first year and see before I would say we judge or comment on that because it’s an opportunity to see how the fans will react, how the team will react, the traveling, how were going to go with the traveling.

“But both buildings are great facilities, great venues. We need to take advantage of it. We need to reach out to the most people as possible.”

One thing missing for New York and the others is team names.

“The logo will come,” Daoust said. “The name will come. For now, it’s New York. We’re very proud to wear that name.”

When he was constructing the team in September, Daoust signed free agent centers Alex Carpenter and Abby Roque, both members of the U.S. Women’s National Team, and signed free agent Micah Zandee-Hart for the blueline. He also went for defense high in the draft, selecting Ella Shelton with the fourth overall pick and Jaime Bourbonnais with the ninth.

“Strong down the middle, D-side as well,” Daoust said of the plan. “I was definitely focusing on having the best D corps possible.. . . We have tons of great players. Depth at each position. …We have three tall goalies [Corinne Schroeder, Abbey Levy and Lindsey Post], great goalies, agile. They have great feet. They can compete.”

They are aiming to be the first league champions. They think they’re capable of it.

“We do,” Daoust said. “We do respect that the six teams have the same opportunity to build from scratch, to build a team with tons of talent because this is the league where the best players in the world are playing together.”