Feel the Power

A progressive, open-minded city that is fueled by various bodies of water and supports all its pro sports teams with passion, Seattle is now ready to fall in love with its PWHL team, the Torrent.

Deciding to bring a team to the Emerald City was almost the easy part—who wouldn’t want to be part of a vibrant community that has served as a leader in women’s sports? Deciding what to call that team was a little harder.

“We approached the process with a clear intention: to create something that felt truly ownable and deeply connected to Seattle,” said Ali Bologna, the PWHL’s Senior Director, Brand & Marketing. “Seattle’s relationship with water is undeniable. It’s part of the city’s geography, its culture, and even its mood. As we dug deeper into what makes Seattle unique, we found ourselves drawn to the idea of motion, energy, and natural force. That’s when the name Torrent emerged. It’s more than a name about water, it's a concept that feels deeply aligned with both the city and the sport.”

Needless to say, the staff and players on the ground in Seattle could not be more excited about the look and name they’ll be representing.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities to translate the name into what happens on the ice,” said Madi McNamara, a former Division I athlete at nearby University of Washington who is now the Torrent’s Director of Business Operations. “I’m working on our game presentations and how to incorporate rushing water and that side of things. There's also how the name connects to what hockey entails on the ice.”

Even if the Torrent’s highly touted General Manager Meghan Turner’s main job description is to hire the staff and players she thinks gives her team the best chance to win on the ice rather than branding concerns, she is still extremely excited about her team’s name.

“A torrent of water, you don’t see it coming, it flows at you, forges its own path... all of those things translate really well to our league and our team, especially in this expansion process,” Turner said passionately. “We come quickly and there’s no hesitation. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to relate to the fast, physical hard to play style that we want to execute... we rush at you and put you on your heels as an opponent.”

One player Turner is counting on bringing the Torrent credo to life on the ice is defender Cayla Barnes, who signed a three-year contract with Seattle fresh off a standout rookie season with the Montréal Victoire. Barnes is a skilled and tough two-way player whose energy on the ice is effectively matched by her enthusiasm off it. A native of Southern California, Barnes is a proud left coaster who hadn’t spent much time in Seattle before last season’s Takeover Tour game at Climate Pledge Arena but is quickly falling in love with her new city and the identity of her team.

“Being a West Coast kid, there’s something about growing the game out here that is very special,” Barnes said before discussing what it was like to learn about the team’s name. “When you don’t have a name or a face, you’re like, What are we going to be called? What is our identity? We were taking wild guesses, which was fun. When we found out, we were super excited. There are a lot of unique jerseys in our league, and ours just turned out amazing. The name, the colors, everything. We’re ready to bring it to life on the ice.”

Something Barnes and her new-to-Seattle teammates are learning that locals already know well is how much the local sports teams look out for one another. Mens, womens, professional and collegiate—the Seattle sports community is a very supportive one.

“This city holds its teams to heart,” said McNamara, who previously spent nearly five years with the Seattle Sports Commission. “You could see it with the Mariners. It’s a very close-knit sports community. With us being the new kid on the block, our name gives us a new identity that really stands out even as it’s in the same family of names that connects to the other teams.”

The most famous member of the Torrent is Hilary Knight, the four- (soon to be five-) time Olympian whose signing with Seattle on the first day of the PWHL’s open signing period in June made it clear that Turner meant business. The 36-year-old forward, who averaged nearly a point per game last season, has a well thought out take on her team’s new name and logo that smartly captures all that it can encompass.

When you’re building a team, Knight explained, “You want to fill it with people who are amazing humans and obviously extremely talented, and I think we have a really good mixture of that which is awesome. And pair it with an incredible city with a really storied sports legacy, and a brand-new logo that speaks to that [is] a really good recipe for us.”

Any connection that Seattle fans make from the Torrent to existing franchises such as the aforementioned Mariners and Kraken as well as the likes of the Reign, Seahawks, Sounders and Storm is not an accident. “The Torrent joins this lineage of a rich and closely tied sports ecosystem with a brand identity that’s both complementary and distinct,” said Bologna, who also noted that one of the designers who was heavily involved in the creative process for brand identity is from Seattle. “Fans will immediately recognize the Torrent as part of Seattle’s broader sports family. The name feels like it belongs, creating a sense of unity and pride across teams. This shared identity fosters loyalty and makes it easier for fans to embrace the new team as their own because it will feel a bit familiar.”

Encouragingly, fans have embraced the team even when it was just, as McNamara put it, “an acronym.” Ticket sales have been brisk. Replica jersey sales set a one-day record.

According to Turner, this all feels a bit like a...Torrent. “The thing I think of is the force,” she said. “The forcefulness. We’ve already seen what these fans are capable of. Seattle is a force and it's showing in our fan base.”

Cosigned Bologna, “Seattle is a city known for innovation, activism, and pushing boundaries. The Torrent will become a symbol of progress in gender equity, representation and community leadership. Fans will wear the logo not just to support a team, but to stand for something bigger.”