“This is for all the girls out west”: PWHL Vancouver game brings women’s pro hockey back to Western Canada

It sold out in just a few days, and all girls hockey games and practices are blacked out for the day in the city.

When the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire battle in Vancouver on Wednesday, it’s poised to be an all-encompassing sporting experience for Canada’s third-largest metropolitan area.

For the first time in 12 years, a fully professional women’s sports game will head to Vancouver -- and a pro women's hockey game for the first time since 2009, when the BC Breakers of the Western Women’s Hockey League folded.

The expected sold-out crowd of nearly 19,000 will mark the highest attendance in the PWHL’s second season, trailing only behind the biggest games of the inaugural season at Montreal’s Bell Centre and Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.

“I’ve had the Vancouver game circled since I heard about it,” said Montreal forward Jenn Gardiner, hailing from nearby Surrey, BC. “It's been pretty exciting for many friends and family back home, but I think more importantly, just for the entire female game and the growth we've seen with hockey.

“With all the PWHL teams out east, this is for all the girls out west. Being able to watch these games in Seattle, Vancouver, and Denver is going to be an incredible opportunity.”

The Vancouver game marks the second stage in the PWHL’s nine-stop Takeover Tour and a potential step in expansion exploration as the league looks to grow by up to two teams in 2025-26. Seattle garnered just over 12,000 fans on Sunday and Vancouver’s attendance will likely crest that.

For Gardiner, one of five BC-born PWHL players, a chance to play in BC is one she could’ve seldom dreamed of. After heading to NCAA Ohio State, Gardiner is in her first season but hasn’t played a competitive game in her home province since 2018 -- when she scored 80 points in 30 games for the U18 Greater Vancouver Comets.

“I'm really excited to get to play the game. It's something I've always dreamed of doing in getting to play close to home,” Gardiner added, mentioning the female hockey blackout in the city on Wednesday.

“To see something like that, it goes to show how important it is to continue to expand this league and get these games all over North America because people want to watch it, and people want to be part of it. As soon as the league gives that opportunity, it's cool to see everyone taking advantage.”

Similarly, Toronto Sceptres defender Rylind MacKinnon returns to Vancouver less than a year after wrapping up her final U SPORTS season with the UBC Thunderbirds, where she won the three Canada West banners.

Those games, though, at UBC’s Thunderbird Arena, were played rarely in front of more than a few hundred fans. The 2024 Canada West Final features photos with sprawls of empty seats -- not similar to what MacKinnon expects on Friday.

“I was lucky enough to play university out there for six years,” MacKinnon said, as one of the five former Canadian university players in the league and one of two to jump directly to the PWHL. “It’s not the traditional route... but playing in Vancouver, I think, will expose this league more to those Western Canadian universities.”

Expansion bid?

While the return of two of the PWHL’s more prominent BC players and the big names of Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Blayre Turnbull and others will garner much attention, so does the potential of a Vancouver expansion.

With significant portions of North American women’s pro sports leagues focused on the Eastern Seaboard, Vancouver has been left on the outside looking in. Only recently has the city returned to looking at women’s sport with the introduction of the Northern Super League’s Vancouver Rise in soccer and a WNBA showcase game in 2025.

Outside of club games, Vancouver has been a common home for Canadian Women’s National Team soccer games, and hosted a Rivalry Series matchup in 2020, with eight players now featuring with Montreal and Toronto.

But could a PWHL club be in the cards for as soon as next season? There’s the fan interest and clearly the star power in the roots with University of Minnesota rookie Chloe Primerano hailing from North Vancouver.

Should Vancouver’s keen fanbase prove enough for the PWHL to look west, it likely would not involve playing at Rogers Arena. Owned by the Aquilini family, a Vancouver team would need to pay rent on the building. Should the PWHL stick to a single-entity ownership model- it's unlikely a move they’d go for.

But there are several other options. MacKinnon’s old stomping grounds of Thunderbird Arena can hold roughly 6,000, the Langley Events Centre, home to the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, can hold 5,200, and the 7,000-person Abbotsford Centre could have an opening between AHL games. None, however, are highly accessible for rapid transit from central Vancouver.

“There's some awesome hockey markets out west that are sort of untapped,” Team USA and Boston Fleet forward Hilary Knight said.

“I know there was a Women's League well before the CWHL days up in the Vancouver area, and they did tremendously well up there... It just depends on how much money you're willing to spend on the transportation part of it and getting into a new community.”

Regardless of whether the game is the precursor to expansion as soon as the fall of 2025, it will feature the season's highest attendance for a match that sees the Sceptres trying to dig themselves out of the league’s basement -- facing a Montreal team tied for first place with the Minnesota Frost.