April 23 Officially Marks One Year Of PWHL Hockey In Vancouver

Vancouver has officially been home to a Professional Women’s Hockey League team for exactly one year. On this exact date last year, the PWHL announced that the Vancouver Goldeneyes would be their first-ever expansion team, with the Seattle Torrent following closely after on April 30. The road to Vancouver’s one-year anniversary has been nothing short of memorable.

How To Build A Brand-New Team The lead-up to expansion was bolstered most by a standout Takeover Tour stop in Vancouver, in which the Montréal Victoire defeated the Toronto Sceptres by a score of 4–2 in front of 19,038 fans. This remains the highest attendance number for the PWHL’s Takeover Tour through both seasons since it was introduced. With a team officially introduced, the next step in bringing the PWHL in Vancouver was creating the team itself.

With General Manager Cara Gardner Morey at the helm, Vancouver signed five big-name players during the exclusive signing window at the start of June: Claire Thompson, Sophie Jaques, Sarah Nurse, Emerance Maschmeyer, and Jenn Gardiner. Not only have these five players done an excellent job of representing Vancouver and the Goldeneyes throughout the team’s inaugural season, they also took to the ice for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. From there, Vancouver got to work in constructing their roster via the expansion draft.

The Goldeneyes used the first-overall selection to draft now-captain Ashton Bell before also picking Brooke McQuigge, Abby Boreen, Izzy Daniel, Gabby Rosenthal, Denisa Křížová, and Sydney Bard. They built on their roster even more through the 2025 PWHL Entry Draft by picking Finnish National Captain Michelle Karvinen with their first-round pick and adding rookie defender Nina Jobst-Smith. Vancouver also conducted their first trade in franchise history during the draft, acquiring goaltender Kristen Campbell and a third-rounder for 2025 second and third-round picks.