Torrent’s Hannah Bilka Celebrates Homecoming With Stars Puck Drop

For the Seattle Torrent's Hannah Bilka, the PWHL's Texas Takeover Tour brought her home.

The Seattle Torrent will be taking on the New York Sirens in Dallas's American Airlines Center in part of the PWHL's 2025-26 Takeover Tour. This marks the fourth of 16 Takeover Tour stops this year. However, ahead of time both teams hosted open practice at the StarCenter on Dec. 27, followed by a fan autograph session.

Seattle is in their inaugural season and recently set a coveted attendance record, and features Team USA star Hilary Knight on the roster. In addition, Coppell, TX native Hannah Bilka is also on the roster.

Post practice, Bilka referenced how special it was to come and play on home-ice.

"I grew up at this rink; coming back here, it's a full circle moment," Bilka said to Breakaway On SI. "[Being] back here, I mean it's home. You have so much family and friends, it's really cool. I would have never imagined playing here as a pro when I was little."

PWHL's Hannah Bilka Has Line Out the Door at Autograph Signing

Simpson was also a part of the Torrent's post practice autograph signing. For Seattle, the line was out the door.

Closing things out with the @PWHL__Seattle autograph signing. The line is out the door and various girls’ Texas players are here with sticks for the players to sign — Hannah Bilka pictured here with the fans! pic.twitter.com/3e6L3Yjdmq
— Jennifer Streeter (@JennyStreeter3) December 27, 2025

As previously referenced, the Torrent set a new attendance record at a professional women's hockey game in the United States and had the highest attended home venue game in PWHL history with 16,014 fans in attendance to watch the Seattle game.

The Torrent most recently defeated the Montreal Victoire, 2-1. Bilka is a forward and has recorded two goals and four assists so far this year. She won the 2024 National Championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Bilka will also be doing the ceremonial puck drop for the Dec. 27, 7:00 p.m. CST game at American Airlines Center when the Dallas Stars host the Chicago Blackhawks. She will be dropping the puck alongside the Sirens' Allyson Simpson — a Frisco, TX native — who she grew up with.

"I'm a huge [Dallas] Stars fan, and I'm gonna be with one of my childhood friends, Ally[son] Simpson, and we kind of grew up together, so it's really cool to be able to share it with her," Bilka said of the upcoming ceremonial puck drop.

Dec. 28 will mark the first time the PWHL has ever hosted a game in the Lone Star State. Puck drop is slated for 5:00 p.m. CST at the DFW venue.

Make sure you bookmark Breakaway On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more!