PWHL Montreal to break women's hockey crowd record as Bell Centre sells out in minutes

Sporting a purple and whitetuque with the letters PWHL, BethanyHaeseler's passion for women's hockey is palpable and she says it's uplifting to seewomen athletes finally getting their due.

"It's emotional in ways that I didn't anticipate it being. I feel so fulfilled and so happy and so energetic because their success is our success," said theProfessional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) superfan.

For the first time since the start of its inaugural season in January, the PWHL will be making its debut atthe Bell Centre home of the Montreal Canadiens and thebiggest hockey arena in North America.

General tickets forthe April 20th game between Montreal and Toronto went on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET and sold out in under 20minutes,setting the league up to break the world record forlargestattendance for a professional women's hockey match.

Pre-sale tickets were also snapped upin the past few days, with Tuesday's batch selling out within hours.

Tickets are now cropping up on popular reseller platformsat significant markups and are selling almost as fast as they're appearing.

Sites like billet.ca and Stubhubare offering some seats at more than four times the original Ticketmaster value.

All tickets were originally under $100, but a section that once offered seats for $54 is now $198 on Stubhub,with the most expensive section priced at nearly $450.

Haeseler, a season ticket holder for Montreal's PWHL team, says she can't wait to see her home team make history, adding the crowd is bound to "blow the roof off the place."

"I'm sentimental about it already and I'm so proud of our team," she said.

"They deserve to be on TV. They deserve to be streamed. They deserve to fill an arena and have it sold out and to be given the opportunity to do so."

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Tickets sell out in minutes for PWHL Bell Centre debut

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General tickets for the April 20th game between Montreal and Toronto went on sale Wednesday morning, selling out in under 20 minutes. The league is poised to break the world record for largest attendance for a professional women's hockey match.

Fans of the league, not just teams

The league's current attendance record is held by Toronto, which hosted Montreal at the Scotiabank Arena in Februaryin front of 19,285 fans.

The Bell Centre has a maximum capacity of 21,105.

The Montreal PWHL team normally plays at the Verdun Auditorium, which has a capacity of 3,650 seats. They've played a few games at Place Bell in Laval, which has about 10,000.

But Heidi Van Regan, a PWHL fan club founder, says that doesn't satisfy the public's appetite.

She says the ultimate goal would be to have a purpose-built arena that is "exactly the right size for the women's game."

Van Regansays she's followed women's hockey before, but she's never seen such interest in terms of the professional game.

"Instead of people rooting just for their home team, so many of the fans are watching every single game and know about every team," she said.

"It's really the league that has fans, not just the teams, and that's really exciting to see."

'The records keep coming'

Jared Book, a veteran Montreal hockey journalist and deputy managing editor at Habs Eyes on the Prize, has covered women's hockey for the past 20 years.

He says he's shocked by the PWHL's success, especially in the league's infancy.

"Ialways knew there was a market for women's hockey, but I didn't think that it would be growing this fast this soon," he said.

Book says it's more common to see records set for home opener games and attendance slowly taper off, but "the records keep coming and I think that's significant in its own right."

Based on what he's seen at previous games in Verdun and Laval, Book says people should preparefor more energy at the Bell Centre than what you'd see for a generic NHL game.

WATCH| Fans with tickets will be part of the largest crowd ever for a professional women's hockey game:

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Montreal plays Toronto April 20 and it's likely to be the largest crowd ever for a professional women's hockey game. Regular tickets go on sale March 20.

"Women's hockey crowds are always more energetic it's less people in business suits and more just fans that want to be there," he said.

Book says he doesn't expect the Bell Centre to become the team's permanent home, but given his surprise at the league's growing popularity, he isn't ruling anything out.

"Maybe I just underestimated the women's hockey community and what happens when you give attention to it."