Vancouver Goldeneyes stay strong on home ice to start first PWHL season

Vancouver Goldeneyes' Jenn Gardiner (12) celebrates a goal against the New York Sirens with her teammates during the first period of a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, December 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

VANCOUVER — It’s all about firsts for the Vancouver Goldeneyes in their inaugural season in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Jenn Gardiner’s first goal as a Goldeneye was a short-handed one, while goalie Emerance Maschmeyer logged the franchise’s first shutout in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the visiting New York Sirens.

This season is also the first chance for a few homegrown Goldeneyes to play in front a crowd that’s been waiting for professional hockey.

Five Goldeneyes are from B.C., including Gardiner who hails from Surrey.

“It’s pretty special. There’s a lot of people here so to get on the scoresheet feels good,” said Gardiner.

Her short-handed goal was the third of three Vancouver scored in the first season. Abby Boreen recorded her first multi-goal game as a Goldeneye with two.

The Goldeneyes improved to 2-0 at home. After three straight losses on the road, Vancouver’s head coach Brian Idalski knew how important the home crowd would be Saturday.

“The ability of us to feed off (the crowd), and what it means to have that kind of support, it’s special already,” said Idalksi.

“We (have to) do our job and make sure we have a good product on ice.”

Maschmeyer, who stopped all of New York’s 28 shots, said she knows how important it is for players like Gardiner to play in front of a home crowd.

“We don’t even realize the impact we have (until) you see (fans) in seats,” she said.

Saturday’s theme at Pacific Coliseum was “Kids Takeover Day”, emphasizing the impact the team and league has on children and professional hockey hopefuls.

“We inspire them, but honestly they inspire us,” said Maschmeyer.

Katie Chan of Richmond, Hannah Miller and Nina Jobst-Smith of North Vancouver and Kimberly Newell of Burnaby are the other B.C. players on Vancouver’s roster.

B.C. players in New York’s lineup — Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart and forward Anne Cherkowski — also relished a chance to play in their home province, albeit for the opposition.

“We’ve always known that women’s hockey has just continued to grow in this province,” said Victoria’s Zandee-Hart.

“It showed with the fact (Vancouver) got its own team this year and kind of put the game on the map. Fans showing up and people in the jerseys, it’s all really cool.”

Cherkowski, of Coldstream, B.C., looked past her team’s loss and saw a bigger picture of support for women’s hockey at Pacific Coliseum.

“You can tell there’s a ton of energy in this building. Especially being local, I thought the crowd came out, and it was really fun to play (for),” said Cherkowski.

Saturday’s attendance was 9,502 for Vancouver’s second home game of its first season. Almost 15,000 attended the opener Nov. 21, when the Goldeneyes edged the Seattle Torrent 4-3 in overtime.

This report by Rois Chand, The Canadian Press, was first published Dec. 6, 2025.