Playing hockey for a living has changed the way some women in the Women's Professional Hockey League see themselves in the game.
The PWHL's third season opens Friday with the Vancouver Goldeneyes taking on the Seattle Torrent, while Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost takes on the Toronto Scepter.
As the league has evolved since the first game on January 1, 2024, so have the players. Their dream of more games and practices, a living wage and competitive support from their male peers was finally coming true, but it also meant they had to think twice about it.
“I've been an Olympic athlete for so long, I'm an Olympic athlete, I'm at the top of my game, I'm one of the best players in our country, the best players in the world, but hockey still felt almost like a hobby,” recalls forward Sarah Nurse, who signed with the expansion Goldeneyes in the summer after two seasons with the Scepter.
“We didn’t have good ice games, we didn’t have access to the best resources, the best people, and you’re training at 10 o’clock at night. You kind of start thinking, “Is this real? What are we doing?
“Before the PWHL, it was like a hobby, and now, just with the travel, the games, the training, the media pressure, the fan pressure that we've been able to create, it's all good, but it changes your actual perspective on the game and it really becomes a job.”
For Canada's best players, the pursuit of victory is no longer limited to World Championships and Olympic Games tournaments, as well as a few international games against the United States each winter.
The competition to earn a spot in the PWHL, maintaining a spot in the PWHL and satisfying fans who want the Walter Cup has raised the stakes of hockey in their lives.
“As a player, as a person, it just makes you realize: What can I do to be successful in this league? How should I prepare? How should I eat? How can I discipline myself? How should I prepare for the game? – said the captain of the Montreal Victoria, Marie-Philip Poulin. “If I look back… yeah, we had the CWHL, but it wasn't quite the same.
The league is “physically and mentally difficult”
“In the PWHL, knowing how hard it is to play in this league makes me better because I know I have to be ready day in and day out.
“It’s hard physically and mentally. You have to be ready to work. Otherwise, you will be smoked in the boards, you will be hit.”
The PWHL allows for body checks while chasing the puck rather than hitting open ice, which Scepter defenseman Renata Fast said has added a new element to her game.
“It allowed me to excel at the physical side of my game, which I know I always had but was never allowed to use,” Fast said.
The 31-year-old has blossomed in the PWHL. Fast was recognized as the best defenseman of the 2024 World Championship according to the IIHF Directorate and the International Hockey Federation. PWHL Best Defender last season.
She led the league in average ice time per game (nearly 25 minutes) while recording six goals and 16 assists in 30 games in her second season.
“I wouldn’t have had the season I had last year if it wasn’t for the PWHL and the challenges it brought,” Fast said. “It changed me a lot.”
On the national team, “you kind of fall into the box of the role you're going to play, and it's hard to deviate and try to see if you have another part of your game,” Fast said. “The PWHL gave me the opportunity to take on a larger role.”
The Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medalist returns to her hometown of Clermont, Quebec, where she is making a lasting impact on her community.
Victoria's Debien is more emotionally stable
Victoire goalkeeper Anne-Renée Debien, a Canadian starter at the international level, has noticed changes in her game and in her mentality as a PVHL player.
“It's easier to maintain your confidence and keep building it up rather than having it fluctuate based on just one game a year, so I'm definitely a little more stable emotionally than I was before,” she said.
“I've definitely changed a little bit, which allows me to be a little more consistent in my game. That's the biggest change I've seen in terms of the good games we play. It's easier to know my strengths, work on what I need to improve on and become more consistent as a goalie, which I personally think is the greatest quality a goalie can have.”
Ottawa Charge forward Brianna Jenner, who was among the players who negotiated the league's first collective bargaining agreement, says she was pushed out of her comfort zone to improve.
“I learned a lot during my seasons in the PWHL because I was put in an environment where I didn’t always have to travel, do volume, and interact with fans,” Jenner states. “For me as a player, I had to learn to be the best on the ice, overcoming new challenges and new conditions.”
The addition of the Goldeneyes and Torrent expansion will bring 46 new players to the PWHL this season, as well as six more reserve players.
Each club will play 30 regular season games plus playoffs.
The PWHL will pause from January 29 to February 5 due to the Olympics.
