It's a Banner Opening Weekend as the PWHL Embarks on Season 3
By Scott Lowe - MYHockeyRankings.com
Even though the weekend of Nov. 21-23 marked the beginning of the third Professional Women’s Hockey League season, the opening slate of games provided plenty of firsts.
The league began its 2025-26 season with eight teams for the first time after expanding by two in the offseason.
The expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes played their first game, hosting the league’s other expansion club – also playing in its first-ever PWHL contest – Friday, Nov. 21. Those two teams provided the frenetic crowd of nearly 15,000 at sold-out Pacific Coliseum with quite an introduction to professional women’s hockey. The hosts beat the Seattle Torrent, 4-3, on Abby Boreen’s goal 1:36 into overtime after rallying to tie the game in waning minutes of regulation.
Julia Gosling recorded the first goal in Torrent history at 14:40 of the opening period, with Sarah Nurse connecting for Vancouver’s first-ever tally just 3:01 later. Gosling scored again less than two minutes after Nurse, capping a crazy end to the first period of PWHL play for both teams. Seattle captain Hilary Knight picked up the assist on the Gosling’s second maker for her first point in a Torrent sweater.
Emerance Maschmeyer earned the Goldeneyes’ first win in goal, stopping 24 shots, and obviously Boreen’s game-winner was Vancouver’s first.
Nurse was the franchise’s initial first star of the game, with Boreen and Gosling earning second- and third-star honors, respectively.
Knight officially became the first player in Torrent history to wear the “C,”, with Ashton Bell doing the same for the hosts.
Corrine Schroeder was the first netminder to start a game for Seattle, and unfortunately, also the first to suffer a loss on an evening that produced no real losers.
It was yet another electric night for the league, which continues to one-up itself on a regular basis, and proved with certainty that the PWHL hadn’t expanded too soon and had selected two strong hockey markets that are likely to develop a natural geographic rivalry.
“You know that when you walk into the Pacific Coliseum, you're coming to see the Goldeneyes, and I think that's something that's so special,” Nurse told assembled media after the game. “I think it's something that the fans have really embraced. To see the amount of jerseys and merch in the stands – I took a second to look around the entire arena, and it just seemed like everybody had a piece of Goldeneyes merch.”
The 14,958 spectators lucky enough to view the opening-night spectacle in person were part of the eighth-largest crowd in league history, but it was the most-attended game at any team’s primary home venue. It also marked the first time in league annals that the home team played its opening game with its logo painted on center ice.
Vancouver also became the first PWHL team to win its inaugural game on home ice.
Continuing to run through the list of firsts, Claire Thompson became the first Goldeneye defender to score a goal and record an assist. She also notched an assist in her PWHL debut with Minnesota a year ago and has points in four straight outings, including the 2025 Walter Cup Finals.
Anna Wilgren became the first Torrent defender to record a point by assisting on the opening goal of the night and season, and Jenn Gardiner became the first British Columbia-born player to score a point for the Goldeneyes with her assist on the game-tying goal. She also scored a goal in her PWHL debut with Montreal last year.
Four Vancouver players – Katie Chan, Darcie Lappan, Michelle Karvinen and Madison Samoskevich – played in their first PWHL games, while Jenna Bugliaoni and Marah Wagner made their PWHL debuts for Seattle.
Here are some other notable achievements from the PWHL’s first matchup of expansion teams:
Boreen finished the evening with a goal and an assist for the second straight year in her team’s opening game, and she tied her career high of seven shots on goal with the OT game-winner.
Gosling recorded two goals for the second time in her career and notched a career-best six shots on goal. She has five goals in her last five games, dating to the 2025 PWHL Playoffs when she was with Toronto. Nurse, who also came over from the Sceptres, scored her team’s first goal of the season for the second year in a row.
Vancouver’s Gabby Rosenthal has two career goals, and both have come in season-opening games, as she tallied in her PWHL debut last year for New York and in Friday’s 2025-26 season opener. Seattle’s Alex Carpenter has produced six points in her three season-opening contests.
Hannah Bilka scored for the Torrent after notching an assist in her PWHL debut last season for Boston. She has five points in her last six games dating to last season.
Tereza Vanisova also dished out a helper and has three points in three season-opening appearances with three different teams.
Maschmeyer started a season-opening contest for the third straight year but finally earned her first win Friday for the Goldeneyes. Meanwhile, at the other end of the rink, Schroeder’s opening-game record dropped to 2-1.
“Unreal atmosphere; it was so cool,” Vancouver Head Coach Brian Idalski told media after the game. “I talked a little bit before the game about what this was going to look like and encouraged people to lean into this experience. Close your eyes. Smell the smells. Listen to the sounds. Just take it all in, because you only get one opportunity like that to start a franchise and be part of an opening night and how special that was to be around.”
The battle of Pacific Coast expansion rivals was just one of four contests played during the PWHL’s third season-opening weekend, which once again demonstrated the league’s continued popularity and growth among North American Hockey fans. The two newest members of the league will not face off again until Jan. 25.
More than 9,000 fans turned out to see the host Minnesota Frost raise their second Walter Cup championship banner Friday prior to their matchup with Toronto at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Sceptres got a third-period goal from Kiara Zanon in a 2-1 victory that sent the home fans home disappointed after Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield had staked the Frost to an early 1-0 lead.
New York stormed into Ottawa and skated off with a 4-0 victory in the season opener for both teams Saturday. More than 7,000 fans at TD Place saw Sirens winger Taylor Girard record a natural hat trick while teammate Maddi Wheeler dished out three helpers and goalie Kayle Osborne made 28 saves to earn the shutout.
Girard became the first PWHL player to score three times in the same period in notching the league’s second natural hatty. She matched her season point total from a year ago in one period of play, while Wheeler established a league record for most points in a PWHL debut.
“It is special to be a part of this group and Kayle obviously helped us out in a lot of areas,” Girard said. “All of the goals that were scored, the credit goes to everybody else on the team who worked their butts off in every area of the ice. We scored because we set each other up every shift, shift after shift.”
And finally on Sunday, Susanna Tapani opened the scoring in the first period and assisted on Megan Keller’s third-period goal as the host Boston Fleet knocked off the Montreal Victoire, 2-0, in front of 5,166 fans at Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. Aerin Frankel earned top-star honors with a 25-save shutout.
In all, more than 36,000 fans – an average of better than 9,000 per contest – turned out to be part of the PWHL’s third opening weekend.
This season, PWHL teams will play 30 games between late November and April 25. There will be an Olympic Break from Jan. 25 through Feb. 29 to allow PWHL players to prepare for and play in the Winter Games in Italy Feb. 5-19. There also will be a shorter International Break Dec. 8-15.
The league recently announced its 2025-26 broadcast schedule and partnerships, with games to be available in nearly 100 million homes worldwide via various over-the-air and online options.
In Canada, all120 regular-season contests will be available live across a combination of traditional and digital platforms operated by the PWHL’s media partners.
Canadian viewers can watch Tuesday games exclusively on Prime Video, and Wednesday matchups will be aired exclusively on TSN. Games played on Thursdays can be seen both on TSN and Sportsnet, while Friday, Saturday and Sunday contests will be carried by CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. There will be 54 games on TSN, 30 on Sportsnet, 18 on Prime Video and 17 on CBC/CBC Gem.
The 30 Montreal Victoire regular-season games will be available in French on RDS, Radio-Canada, ICE TELE/ICE TOU.TV and Prime Video.
In the United States, the PWHL returns to regional sports networks NESN, MSG and FanDuel (FDSN). The league also has forged over-the-air broadcast partnerships with FOX, Paramount, Scripps Sports, Gray Media and TEGNA, having the ability to reach nearly 60 million American homes.
Games in the four U.S. team markets can be seen on NESN and WSBK Channel 38 in Boston, FDSN North and FOX 9+ in Minnesota, MSG Networks and WWOR TV in New York and KONG and FOX 13+ in Seattle.
Digital streaming will continue to be a viewing option for PWHL fans, with all games available live in the United States via the PWHL YouTube Channel and website. International fans can view the games on those platforms except in Canada, Czechia and Slovakia. Nova Sport will carry PWHL contests in the latter two countries.
Here is the upcoming schedule for the remaining PWHL home openers with broadcast information:
Tuesday, November 25 – 7 PM ET
New York at Montréal
Canada: Prime Video (English and French)
U.S. (In-Market): MSG
U.S. (Out of Market): FDSN (Detroit, Florida, Midwest, North, Ohio Extra, South, Southwest, West, Wisconsin)
Friday, November 28 – 4 PM ET
Minnesota at Seattle
Canada: Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet+
U.S. (In-Market): FDSN North Extra and FOX9+ (Minnesota), FOX13+ (Seattle)
U.S. (Out of Market): FDSN Wisconsin Extra, NESN+, SNP+
Saturday, November 29 – 12 PM ET
Vancouver at New York
Canada: Sportsnet, Sportsnet+
U.S. (In-Market): MSG SN, WWOR MY9
U.S. (Out of Market): FDSN (Detroit, Midwest, Ohio, North, South, Southwest, Sun Sports, West, Wisconsin), FOX 11 Plus (Los Angeles)
Saturday, November 29 – 2 PM ET
Boston at Toronto
Canada: CBC and CBC Gem
U.S. (In-Market): NESN, WSBK (TV38)
U.S. (Out of Market): SNP+, FOX 10 Xtra (Phoenix)
