Hamilton’s new Professional Women’s Hockey League team will be called the Havoc, one of four expansion clubs whose nicknames and logos were unveiled Tuesday ahead of their December debuts.

The other new teams are the Detroit Clutch, San Jose Sea Lions and Vegas Vanguards, according to Associated Press reporting published by Sportsnet. Their arrival expands the PWHL from eight teams to 12 for its fourth season, which opens Dec. 5–6.

The league said Hamilton’s identity draws on the contrast between the city’s steel industry and the natural landscape of the Niagara Escarpment. Its logo features a peregrine falcon, Hamilton’s official bird, perched above steel-forged lettering spelling out Havoc. The team’s colours are rusted steel, tempered gold and orange.

Fans can already buy merchandise featuring the new identities, but the nicknames and logos will not appear on the expansion teams’ jerseys this season. The branding was not ready when the jerseys were ordered, so players will wear their city names across the front instead. The new branding will be incorporated into jerseys next season.

Detroit’s Clutch name references both the automotive industry and performing under pressure. Its black-and-white wheel logo has a red outline and art deco-inspired lettering.

San Jose’s identity connects to Bay Area sea lions and, the league said, honours the San Francisco Sea Lions of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association. That baseball team played in 1946 and featured Toni Stone. The hockey club’s colours are blue and sunset orange.

Vegas’s branding features a Mojave Desert kit fox with V-shaped ears, using cactus green, desert gold and navy.

The PWHL said women-led design teams developed the identities, with creative agency Doubleday and Cartwright collaborating on the Vegas and San Jose logos.

Sources