The mission of the Anchorage Women's Hockey League is to bring women of all skill levels together to play hockey in a fun, organized and supportive atmosphere. The board works hard to make sure every women who wants to play hockey in Anchorage, from beginner to advanced, has a team to play on at a level they want to play at.

AWHL is excited to offer two divisions for the 2024-2025 season: Recreational and Intermediate! More information on these divisions is available on our Registration page.

• RECREATIONAL is for beginners as well as experienced skaters who want to play a more easygoing style of hockey. No base skills are required for this division! Players should expect a slower pace with a focus on fun.

• INTERMEDIATE is geared toward players ready for a more challenging and faster level of play than in the Recreational tier. Players should be able to stop, have a functional understanding of rules and player positioning, be comfortable with puck handling, skating with other players, and maintaining control, and should not rely on stick for balance. 

Our 2024-2025 season runs from late September through March. Players can expect one game a week (every now and then a team may have two games in a week).

The board sets the budget and fees to schedule each team for 21-24 games total for the season, including any tournament play. 

Find our schedules:

Most AWHL games are scheduled at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on the UAA campus or at Dempsey Anderson Ice Rink, depending on ice availability. If Valley teams are playing with us, games may be scheduled at the MTA Center in Palmer.

Our end-of-season tournament is typically scheduled at Dempsey Anderson Ice Rink depending on ice availability.

AWHL is a NO-CHECK league, which basically means you’re not allowed to use your body to take another player off the puck.

Players should expect some acceptable and inevitable forms of physical contact in the course of a game. That’s the nature of hockey. Sometimes accidents happen where you fall, bump into someone, or get tripped. This is why protective gear is mandatory and why we always have one, if not two official referees to monitor all aspects of play.

Player safety is our league's top priority, followed closely by having fun! Most of us play to get the stress out of our lives – not add to it. Everyone is expected to be a good sport. If someone is not, the referees deal with it on the ice and if necessary, the board can take disciplinary action off the ice. This is very rare in our league, which says a lot about the awesome women who skate with AWHL!

Yes, we do! The AWHL Board would like to remind all players, coaches, and spectators of our inclusion statement, written below, and reiterate that all women are welcome to play in AWHL.

USA Hockey’s transgender athlete eligibility policy, adopted in 2019, states that “a transgender athlete shall be permitted to participate according to the gender with which the athlete identifies, based on the gender shown in their USA Hockey Registration.”

As a USA Hockey member organization, we published our league’s inclusion statement last season, based on the above policy and informed by our league’s mission: to bring women of all skill levels together to play hockey in a fun, organized and supportive atmosphere. 

AWHL INCLUSION STATEMENT

Anchorage Women’s Hockey League (AWHL) exists to offer women from all walks of life the opportunity to play hockey in a positive and supportive environment. As a recreational league, we believe that fun should matter above all. 

All women are welcome, and AWHL does not require women to confirm their gender identity when registering. We trust all of our members play with the league to have fun, and not to gain a competitive advantage they might not have in other leagues or settings.

AWHL players are a diverse group! We've got players as young as 18 and some who are now on the front side of 70. We can't quite remember who said this, but we like it: "If you still want to play, you're not too old!"

Our athletes have a wide range of experience, from hot-shot comp players who have college experience, to complete newbies who have learned to skate and play hockey as adults, to parents and grandparents who decided it was time to get off the bleachers and get on the ice.  

We all have one wonderful thing in common: we LOVE women's hockey!

The following gear is required at all AWHL games:

• Helmet
• Shoulder Pads
• Elbow Pads
• Gloves
• Hockey Pants
• Pelvic Protector
• Shin Pads
• Skates
• Hockey Socks
• Hockey Stick
• Team Jersey (AWHL provides to league-formed team players, player-formed team players provide their own)

AWHL also recommends optional neckguards and mouthguards.

Season fees are set based on the cost of ice, referees, and scorekeepers. AWHL strives to keep the fees as affordable as possible for this expensive sport.

Player-Formed Teams are responsible for paying one team fee with the cost split amongst their players. The 2024-2025 TEAM fee is $6,500.  Many self-organized teams have successfully found sponsorships to help offset their costs. 

League-Formed Teams offer players a chance to sign up individually for a team. These teams also have sponsors which help offset costs. The 2024-2025 Season cost is $450 for players and $75 for goalies. Payment plans are available.

All players also pay a non-refundable admin fee to help offset the cost of a part-time manager who schedules games, referees, tournament and pays our bills.

We strive to make sure all who want to play hockey find a team. When teams fill, the board starts a waiting list. Quite often, player-formed teams also end up needing to fill spots, and we can help connect you. 

Email us at anchoragewomenshockey@gmail.com. 

We would love to have you join us! We offer a Discover Hockey clinic before our season starts to help complete beginners get a feel for the ice. Many of our players started out as complete newbies so you are not alone!

Email us! anchoragewomenshockey@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you out on the ice!

-The AWHL Board