Women’s professional sports leagues continue to grow in popularity in the United States, with soccer and basketball leading the way. Now, women’s hockey is looking to forge its path.

In its third season, the Professional Women’s Hockey League organized a “Takeover Tour,” playing 16 regular season games on neutral sites during the 2025-26 season. One of those games will take place at D.C.’s Capital One Arena as the New York Sirens take on Montreal Victoire.

The game is set to take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on Ticketmaster, with prices starting at $30.

However, the game will not be an exhibition. As of Friday, both teams sat in the upper half of the eight-team standings, with Montreal in second place with a 7-4 record and New York in fourth place, 6-5.

It’s the third season the PWHL has played games outside of its teams’ cities. The second tour drew over 123,000 fans across nine games.

Montreal forward Laura Stacey said the league’s quick growth in three years before a Winter Olympics puts it into perspective of how far the sport has come.

“We never dreamed about being where we are right now,” Stacey said. “The fact that we’re here, we’re now going to Washington to play in Capital One Arena. I think slowly, every single year, we’re getting these moments of ‘Where are we? How are we doing this?’ And I think it really blows our mind every time.”

For Hayley Scamurra, Sunday’s game is a mini homecoming.

While she was raised in New York, the Montreal forward is the daughter of former Washington Capitals defender Peter Scamurra, and her mother is from Maryland. Hayley also spent time in the D.C. area as a former coach for the Capitals Youth Development Program and ALL CAPS ALL HER initiative to bring hockey to women and girls.

Scamurra said she’s watched the D.C. region’s love for hockey grow, despite the region not having a notable women’s college hockey program. She added that, after speaking to people within the Capitals organization, the team and D.C.-area hockey fans will welcome the PWHL with open arms.

“Growing up, as a kid, no one knew what hockey was,” Scamurra said. “So now, to see so many girls playing hockey there, there’s like dedicated girls teams at the Caps organization and things like that. The growth has been immense.”

Before the game, both teams will host an open practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, where fans can meet players and received signed autographs. On Saturday night, Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin and Sirens player Kayla Vespa will participate in a ceremonial puck drop before the Capitals take on the Florida Panthers.

Vespa, a lifelong Capitals fan, said it is a “full circle moment” to be playing in D.C.

“I’ve only watched them play on TV, so to be able to be there, at an NHL venue, just shows how much the game has grown,” she said. “To be a lifelong fan, it means a lot, and to be able to bring both teams here … is very exciting, and it’s the next step for us.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

WASHINGTON – Some of the coldest air of the season settles over the Washington, D.C. region Friday as a pair of wintry systems line up for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

What we know:

FOX 5’s Taylor Grenda says January is back with a punch, with morning wind chills dipping into the single digits. Skies stay clear but breezy through the afternoon, with highs only in the mid-to-upper 30s.

Light rain may develop Friday evening and briefly mix with sleet or snow as temperatures hover near freezing.

Saturday starts with scattered showers that could again mix with sleet and snow.

Temperatures rebound into the mid-40s later in the day. Grenda says the morning mix shouldn’t cause travel issues, and conditions improve by midday.

The focus then turns to Sunday as a coastal storm tracks north. The current forecast shows the best chance for accumulating snow across southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Grenda says it’s a close call along the I-95 corridor, where totals could vary. Areas north and west of D.C. may see very little, if anything. Forecast trends continue to point toward a lower overall snow threat.

READ MORE: DC weather: Chance for snow over MLK weekend as coastal system moves north

What’s next:

The region dries out for the holiday on Monday before another blast of bitter cold arrives Tuesday into Wednesday.

Walk around the site where RFK Stadium used to stand and you’ll notice there’s almost nothing there anymore. Further exploration of the neighborhood surrounding the old stadium grounds reveals a lot of one particular thing not seen in renderings of the planned new stadium released Thursday by the Washington Commanders — homes.

Many people call the Kingman Park neighborhood and surrounding area home. The neighborhood is just west of the stadium campus, and residents there hope their neighborhood benefits not from the new stadium itself, but the planned development that will surround it.

“This neighborhood needs grocery stores,” Alexis Pazmino, who leads the Friends of Kingman Park Civic Association, said. “We need a full-service grocery store over by RFK. You know, we don’t have any in this neighborhood.”

She also said she hopes local business owners will benefit from development around the new stadium, which is slated to open for the start of the Washington Commanders’ season in 2030.

“I want to see places where my money can be spent,” Pazmino said. “I have money in my pocket. I want to put it into our community. I would love to see coffee shops and restaurants and local businesses.”

Residents around the neighborhood said something similar, with one person noting a nearby 7-Eleven even closed down. They don’t want to see more of the same chains or fast food restaurants that already exist all over D.C. and the surrounding area.

But many are skeptical that small businesses will be able to afford to open up there.

“Say you’re a moms and pops,” a man named L. Randolph said. “Are you able to afford to be able to run a business in this neighborhood? Because we all know the … lease prices are going to be super expensive.”

Neighbors are also asking for something that visitors and game day fans definitely won’t like — strict parking enforcement.

“If you look, there’s only a couple cars in the streets in those designs, and that’s a, that’s kind of a dream that isn’t going to come true,” Pazmino said. “The stadium is definitely a throwback to the previous designs, but we hope that it’s not going to also be a throwback to the terrible parking and congestion that was here.”

Even though there isn’t that much around, Rodney Ford said there are already problems with parking in the neighborhood.

“I think that may be one of the biggest concerns by all of us in the neighborhood,” Randolph said. “Where are these people going to be able to park and are they going to give them enough parking options so that they don’t spill over into the neighborhood?”

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.