Henderson's Water Street District is about to get its first taste of professional women's hockey. PWHL Las Vegas will hold three preseason scrimmages at America First Center in late November, giving fans an early look at the league's newest expansion franchise before it opens its inaugural season at T-Mobile Arena.
According to KSNV, PWHL Las Vegas will face Minnesota on Nov. 22 at 6:50 p.m. PT, followed by a Minnesota-Vancouver matchup on Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. PT, and a rematch pitting Vancouver against Las Vegas on Nov. 24 at noon PT — all at America First Center. Each scrimmage will run 60 minutes of full-stoppage gameplay and end with 3-on-3 overtime and a shootout regardless of score, the station reports.
The scrimmages arrive as part of a broader league-wide expansion. The PWHL officially grew from eight to 12 teams for the 2026–27 season on May 13, 2026, adding franchises in Las Vegas, Detroit, Hamilton, and San Jose, according to the PWHL. The league launched in 2024 with six original teams before expanding to eight in 2025 and then to a dozen this year.
A Tight Turnaround From Worlds to Water Street
Per the same report from the station, teams can invite between 28 and 32 players to camp, but each scrimmage lineup will be trimmed to 21 skaters. PWHL training camps for the 2026–27 season open Nov. 18, immediately after the 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship wraps up Nov. 16 in Denmark, according to Sportsnet. Many top PWHL players compete for their national teams in that tournament, leaving front offices a compressed window to evaluate talent before scrimmages begin.
That squeeze puts real pressure on PWHL Las Vegas's leadership. Head Coach Kim Weiss, appointed June 15, 2026, previously served as an assistant coach for the AHL's Colorado Eagles, where she became only the second woman in AHL or NHL history to hold a full-time assistant coaching position, per the Eagles. General Manager Dominique DiDia, a former CAA Sports agent and Los Angeles Kings marketing executive named the franchise's first GM on May 15, 2026, will be tasked with cutting the roster down alongside Weiss under that tight deadline, according to The IX Sports.
Marquee Talent and a Strip-Sized Stage Ahead
Penn State forward and 2026 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tessa Janecke became the first draft pick in franchise history when Las Vegas selected her third overall in the June 17, 2026 PWHL Draft, the league notes. Janecke set Penn State's all-time scoring record with 201 career points before turning pro.
The scrimmages will be held at America First Center, a 120,000-square-foot indoor hockey facility that opened in November 2020 as a public-private partnership between Henderson and the Vegas Golden Knights organization, according to the City of Henderson. The arena also serves as the official practice facility for the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights. Once the regular season begins, PWHL Las Vegas will play home games at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip, a 650,000-square-foot venue seating 17,500 for hockey that has served as the Golden Knights' home rink since 2016.
America First Center sits within Henderson's Water Street District, a downtown redevelopment area the city established in 1995 that has leaned on sports infrastructure alongside commercial projects like the Watermark's rocky opening, a $41.5 million development. Local officials have actively used ice rinks and sports plazas to drive downtown foot traffic, and hosting a professional women's hockey team's first on-ice action gives the district another marquee draw.
Five Cities, One League-Wide Preview
Las Vegas isn't the only stop on the preseason circuit. The PWHL will hold scrimmages across five cities from Nov. 22-30: America First Center in Henderson, Boston Sports Institute, Morgan Firestone Arena in Hamilton, Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, and Tech CU Arena in San Jose, according to the league. Three of those five host venues belong to the league's 2026 expansion teams.
Fans hoping to attend the Henderson games will have to wait a bit longer for details. PWHL Las Vegas has not yet released a regular-season schedule, and the team says fan access details for the scrimmages will come at a later date, per the station's report. The league has said training camp rosters will be announced the week of Oct. 5.
Local viewers will also have a new way to follow the team once the season starts. The PWHL signed a season-long national broadcast deal with Scripps Sports on Sept. 9, designating local station KMCC (Vegas 34) as the local broadcast partner for PWHL Las Vegas during the 2026–27 season, according to the league. Scripps Sports will also produce a weekly national game on ION.
