PWHL game in Vancouver could be test run for possible expansion team

Jennifer Gardiner remembers watching the Canadian men and women win double hockey gold on home ice at the 2010 Olympics.

There weren't many opportunities to see women's hockey close to home for Gardiner, who is from Surrey, B.C. She was only eight years old when Marie-Philip Poulin scored both goals for the Canadian women en route to a gold medal against the U.S.

Now, she'll get to compete on that same ice in Vancouver alongside Poulin, who is her teammate on the PWHL's Montreal Victoire. Montreal will take on the Toronto Sceptres at Rogers Arena, typically home to the Vancouver Canucks, on Jan. 8.

"It's something I've always dreamed of doing, getting to play close to home," Gardiner said.

She could also be sharing the ice with Cranbrook, B.C.'s Rylind MacKinnon, a defender for the Sceptres who spent five seasons playing for the University of British Columbia in U Sports.

Rogers Arena seats more than 19,000 for hockey, and the tickets to this game sold out within days. It's one of nine stops on a North American tour the PWHL has called the Takeover Tour.

As the PWHL considers expanding by as many as two teams as soon as next season, it could also be a test drive for professional women's hockey in British Columbia, and the prospect of a PWHL Western Conference.

Jennifer Gardiner, left, will play on home ice in Vancouver with the Montreal Victoire. Teammate Cayla Barnes, right, who is from California, will also have family in the crowd. (Melinda Dalton/CBC)

It's a prospect that excites Gardiner, a rookie forward drafted by Montreal in the second round earlier this year.

She told reporters that local girls' hockey organizations have blacked out that day on their calendar, so players and staff can attend the PWHL game.

"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," Gardiner said.

'Huge strides'

British Columbia hasn't been home to professional women's hockey since the B.C. Breakers, a team in the former Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL), which folded in 2009. That team played out of Langley.

Before that, there was the Vancouver Griffins, a team that competed in the Canadian-based National Women's Hockey League until 2003, with stars like Cammi Granato and Nancy Drolet on the roster.

But the women's and girls' hockey scene in British Columbia has grown significantly since then.

In 2022, Saanichton's Micah Zandee-Hart became the first B.C.-born woman to make the Olympic hockey team.

Now the captain of the PWHL's New York Sirens, Zandee-Hart has seen a lot of change in the B.C. women's hockey landscape over the years.

Micah Zandee-Hart (28), now the captain of the New York Sirens, says she's seen hockey grow in her province since she was a teenager. (Michael Riley/PWHL)

"B.C. is producing a lot more players from when I came up, when I was in high school," said 27-year-old Zandee-Hart, who left home at 15 to play at the Okanagan Hockey Academy.

"The game is just continuing to grow across the country, but especially out west and I think even in the western part of the U.S., too."

A year ago, the province had more than 20 girls or women invited to one of Hockey Canada's summer camps, either at the under-18, development or senior level, according to BC Hockey. A decade ago, that number was two.

"It's taken huge strides in this province, especially in the last probably six, seven years, to be more precise," said Brianna Davey, who is BC Hockey's vice president of member services and female hockey.

She said her organization has focused more strategic planning on growing female hockey in B.C. over the last few years.

"The [minor hockey associations] and district associations have really gotten on board with that and started really growing the programming at the local level."

One of the best examples might be North Vancouver-born Chloe Primerano, a 17-year-old star defender who made her senior national team debut at the Rivalry Series this fall.

WATCH | Primerano on Hockey Canada experience, Olympic dreams:

Primerano played against boys at the Burnaby Winter Club before going on to play elite girls hockey at RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna. Primerano graduated high school a year early and now plays at the University of Minnesota.

"We actually see a lot of athletes from other provinces and territories come to B.C. to play within our accredited schools," Davey said.

"We have a lot of great opportunity for athletes to stay in their home province now."

Primerano is one of two B.C.-born players who will compete for Canada at the under-18 women's world championship in January.

Another seven B.C. prospects were part of the Canadian development team that finished second to the United States at the Women's Euro Hockey Tour earlier this month, and who could find themselves on the senior national team someday.

Arena options

Davey believes the province has the fan base for a PWHL team, pointing to how quickly the PWHL game sold out. She also thinks it could help continue to grow the sport in the province.

Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks, is one of several arenas where a B.C.-based PWHL team could play. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Beyond Rogers Arena, there are a few facilities that could theoretically host a PWHL team.

The Abbotsford Centre is home to the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Canucks, and seats more than 7,000. PWHL teams in Montreal and Toronto also play out of AHL rinks.

Within Vancouver, the league could look at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the University of British Columbia campus. It can seat more than 7,000, and was home to some games during the 2010 Olympics.

There's also the Langley Events Centre, which seats more than 5,200 fans and is home to the WHL's Vancouver Giants.

A 'prime hockey market'

On its own, a Vancouver-based PWHL team could be costly to run. The closest team would be Minnesota in the U.S. midwest, while every other team is located much further east.

But geography is only one of several factors the PWHL is considering when examining potential expansion sites. Paired with another western team, it could be the beginning of a PWHL Western Conference.

As the league continues to mull expansion, there are Takeover Tour games scheduled for other parts of the west, too: in Seattle (Jan. 5), Denver (Jan. 12) and Edmonton (Feb. 16).

WATCH | Hockey North: A holiday gift for each PWHL team:

Edmonton has a long history of professional women's hockey, most recently in the WWHL and Canadian Women's Hockey League.

Seattle, meanwhile, would be a natural rival for a Vancouver team, and is a city that loves women's sports.

A Rivalry Series game between Canada and the United States in 2022 drew more than 14,500 fans to Climate Pledge Arena, the state-of-the-art rink where the NHL's Seattle Kraken play.

Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight played in that game. She has fond memories about how loud the building was and how it amplified the emotion of the game. She's looking forward to going back to Climate Pledge Arena with the Fleet, who will take on the Victoire in Seattle.

Knight, who is from Sun Valley, Idaho, said there are some great "untapped" markets for women's hockey in the west, as the PWHL continues to grow.

"It's a prime hockey market, especially in the States and obviously proven in Canada," she said. "There's no sky or ceiling to where this league could go."