Seattle Pride HOCKEY LEAGUE 2026
After a lot of discussion and careful planning, the SPHA Board of Directors has decided to pause SPHL for the 2026 season. This wasn’t an easy decision — we know how much the league means to our community and how many of you look forward to summer hockey with SPHA.
Here’s what brought us to this point:
- We’re a small volunteer crew managing a growing organization. We’re proud of what we’ve built, and we also need to be honest about our current limited bandwidth.
- Ice availability continues to be a major challenge, even still during the summer months. The options available to us for 2026 continue to be limited, and the times/locations we can secure aren’t as favorable to players’ schedules as they need to be.
- Economic realities are also a factor this year. We want to make sure SPHA can remain sustainable while continuing to deliver the programs our community counts on.
OUR GOAL IS TO BRING SPHL BACK
This is a hiatus, not a goodbye. We hope to return in the future if/when more ice becomes available and we can secure schedules that better support players and the kind of league experience you deserve.
What we’re exploring instead for 2026:
While SPHL is paused, we’re actively exploring an alternative option: placing two to four SPHA teams into the Kraken Hockey League Spring/Summer season.
- If we field one or two teams, we would enter them into the most appropriate existing divisions based on skill level.
- If we field four teams worth of players, we would pursue the creation of an SPHA Division within the league — similar to the structure used for other dedicated divisions (like 40+ and KWHL/SKWL draft divisions).
This could be a strong bridge option for 2026: keeping our community on the ice, staying connected, and continuing to build momentum while we work toward SPHL’s return.
AN SPHA ASK: WE NEED MORE HANDS ON DECK
SPHA continues to grow rapidly — and that’s exciting — but growth also requires more leaders, coordinators, and doers behind the scenes. If you’ve ever thought, “I’d love to help,” this is that moment.
We’re especially looking for support in areas like:
- Program Operations
- Creative & Multimedia
- Grant Writing & Sponsorships
- Several other areas…
If you’re interested in stepping up (even in a small way), check out our open positions below and let us know.
Thank you for continuing to show up for each other and for SPHA. We appreciate your understanding as we pause hosting SPHL in 2026. We remain committed to keeping our community connected and skating, and we’re hopeful that with more support and better ice availability, we can bring the league back even stronger in the future.
