PWHL’s Vancouver Goldeneyes gather for first-ever training camp

The Pacific Coliseum got a face lift ahead of Vancouver’s inaugural puck drop in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

VANCOUVER — Jenn Gardiner has been waiting for this moment.

Growing up in Surrey, B.C., she didn’t think she’d ever get to play professional hockey in nearby Vancouver. Now she’s part of the city’s new Professional Women’s Hockey League team.

On Monday, Gardiner finally got on the ice with her new Vancouver Goldeneyes teammates as the expansion club began training camp.

“I haven’t stopped smiling since I signed in Vancouver,” she said. ”But obviously, just today was very surreal, to get to put on our logo, to put on our jersey today, and skating out.”

Gardiner got a taste of what’s to come in January when, as a forward for the Montreal Victoire, she played a “Takeover Tour” game against the Toronto Sceptres in Vancouver.

Months later, the PWHL announced it was expanding with new clubs in both Vancouver and Seattle.

Now the Goldeneyes are set to host the Seattle Torrent in their first-ever game on Nov. 21.

It’s a development few would have predicted this time last year, said Goldeneyes forward Sarah Nurse, who has been instrumental in the league’s development.

“Vancouver was not on anybody’s radar,” she said. “And so to think about this time next year, the possibilities really are endless of where we could be.

“And so I really think that (the league has) exceeded all expectations. I think we came in hopefully optimistic, but I really think that we’ve just blown everybody away.”

Nurse spent the last two seasons playing in Toronto, and is among five players who signed on with Vancouver during an exclusive expansion team signing window in early June. The club then added more talent in an expansion draft, followed by an entry draft and free agency.

With athletes coming from around the league — and beyond — camp is bound to bond the group.

“I think that for a lot of people, for everyone in this group, it’s a new team so everything is new,” said defender Claire Thompson, who won a Walter Cup with the Minnesota Frost last season. ”So I think there’s a sense of unfamiliarity. But I think, within that, there’s a lot of excitement for the potential we have here.”

Thirty-two athletes are with the Goldeneyes in camp, including 18 forwards, 10 defenders and four goalies.

“What I love about our roster is the depth, the overall talent, the ability for us to be able to play a lot of different styles,” said head coach Brian Idalski.

“We can skate. You want to play fast, we’ll be good winning a 7-4 game. You want to play defensive, physical, gritty? We can grind it out, and we can play a 1-0, 2-1 game. I feel like we have that kind of flexibility with our group and the player pool that we get to select from.”

The Goldeneyes’ home of Pacific Coliseum should be the building other teams across the league least want to visit, said Gardiner.

“Its going to be a hard, gritty game,” said the forward who contributed five goals and 13 assists across 30 games for Montreal last season.

“I think we’re going to be there for each other, battling so hard for one another, and just making everybody on the other team’s lives miserable when they play against us.”

One player Nurse is looking forward to playing with instead of against is goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.

The 31-year-old Canadian was one of Ottawa’s foundational signings, and posted a 9-9-4-2 record for the Charge last season before suffering a leg injury late in the campaign.

Stepping onto the ice in Vancouver on Monday was “surreal,” Maschmeyer said. And she believes there are more surreal moments to come.

Maschmeyer still remembers the chills and emotions that enveloped her before puck drop of Ottawa’s first game.

“I even teared up on the blue line with the anthem. I think it’s going to be a very similar feeling (in Vancouver.) I thought I only got to do it once in my career, to have that moment. But we’re having our inaugural home game as well, our first-ever game, and it’s most likely going to be sold out. So I have no doubt I’ll have chills on the blue line as well.”

That game — and this Goldeneyes team — will be special, Maschmeyer added.

“It’s bigger than just us and our sport and our game,” she said.” ”It’s exciting for Vancouver, it’s exciting for the West Coast, women’s hockey, women’s sports. It’s a big moment.”

This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published Nov. 10, 2025.