Latest news with #Marie-PhilipPoulin
Toronto Sun
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Vancouver takes Charge defender Bell 1st overall in PWHL expansion draft
Published Jun 09, 2025 • 1 minute read Ottawa Charge's Ashton Bell (left) goes airborne after colliding with Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin (29) during first period PWHL playoff hockey action in Ottawa, on Friday, May 16, 2025. Photo by Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press Vancouver's new Professional Women's Hockey League team has selected defender Ashton Bell first overall in the league's first expansion draft. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The 25-year-old blue-liner from Deloraine, Man., spent the last two seasons playing in Ottawa. Bell contributed three goals and three assists over 27 regular-season games with the Charge last season, and added one more of each over eight playoff appearances. Read More Vancouver signed five players during an exclusive signing period for the two expansion clubs last week, including defenders Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques from the Minnesota Frost, former Ottawa Charge goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer, former Toronto Sceptres forward Sarah Nurse, and former Montreal Victoire forward Jenn Gardiner. Each of the PWHL's six founding teams has protected four players from the draft. Vancouver and Seattle can select from any other player who is under contract for next season or whose playing rights are held for next season. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Toronto Blue Jays Olympics Columnists Ontario Canada
Toronto Sun
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Cadbury tees it up for fundraising to benefit food banks
Cadbury has teamed up with hockey stars Nazem Kadri and Marie-Philip Poulin for its "Let's Stick it to Hunger Together" campaign in support of food banks. Photo by Cadbury Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Sweet deal. Cadbury has teamed up with hockey stars Nazem Kadri and Marie-Philip Poulin for its 'Let's Stick it to Hunger Together' campaign in support of Food Banks Canada and local food banks across the country. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The chocolate-maker is donating $200,000 to Food Banks Canada and until the end of the year, will donate up to another $200,000 for every product sold. If the campaign hits its $400,000 target, that will mean an extra 800,000 meals for families across Canada fighting food insecurity, Cadbury said. Marie-Philip Poulin, of the PWHL Montreal Victoire, and former Toronto Maple Leaf Nazem Kadri have teamed with Cadbury to serve as food insecurity 'ambassadors.' Photo by Cadbury In addition, Kadri, a former member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and current Calgary Flame, and Poulin, who is the Professional Women's Hockey League leading goal-scorer this season with the Montreal Victoire, will be donating their time at food banks and leveraging their social media reach as food insecurity 'ambassadors.' 'Canada's need for food banks is at an all-time high with over 2 million people visiting food banks this month, the highest number of monthly visits in history,' said Erin Filey-Wronecki, the chief development and partnerships officer at Food Banks Canada. 'Cadbury's 'Let's Stick it to Hunger Together' initiative is crucial in helping us support communities across the country.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The campaign comes at a time when food bank use in Toronto has spiked almost three-fold since the pre-pandemic years, according to the Daily Bread Food Bank Who's Hungry 2024 report. RECOMMENDED VIDEO In 2024 alone, there were nearly 3.5 million client visits to Toronto food banks, almost 1 million more than the previous year. That 'widespread' need led hard-rockers Metallica to donate $40,000 to the Daily Break Food Bank last month after a pair of sold-out shows at Rogers Centre. Cadbury's parent company, Mondelez Canada, is also a long-standing champion of Food Banks Canada, having donated the equivalent of 22 million meals since 2013 to affiliated groups. 'We invite everyone to join us in making a meaningful impact by providing meals to those in need through the purchase of a Cadbury product,' said Chantal Butler, Mondelez Canada's marketing vice-president. Read More Toronto Blue Jays Crime Columnists Sunshine Girls Ontario
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PWHL expansion draft explainer: How it works and what's at stake
As the Montreal Victoire players gathered with reporters on Tuesday, everyone seemed to acknowledge the same reality: change was coming, and the same group wouldn't be back next year. It's not unique to the Victoire, which lost to the Ottawa Charge in four games in the semifinals last week. The league will hold an expansion draft to help build new teams in Seattle and Vancouver, which begin play next season. It means every team will lose stars, putting rosters across the league into a blender. "Every time you lose in those big moments, it's emotional," Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin told CBC's Jay Turnbull and other reporters gathered at locker clean out day on Tuesday. "You go through so much with your team as individuals. You want to do well for your team. It is very sad." WATCH | Montreal Victoire reflect on playoff loss, expansion: The expansion draft is set for at June 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Here's how the process will work, how we got here and how it could affect teams and players. Each team will only be able to protect three players from expansion, to start. Those lists are due on June 3 at 12 p.m. ET. It's a tiny number, and one that seemed to send shock waves through team fan bases over the weekend. The idea is to make sure Seattle and Vancouver can be competitive from the beginning. Parity has been a key pillar of the league since it launched, and that's come with success. More than half of the league's games have been decided by one goal or a shootout, and three teams finished tied in the points standings this season. The league spent months working on these rules, executive vice president of hockey operations, Jayna Hefford, said ahead of Game 1 of the Walter Cup finals. "It was really critical that we got it right because decisions like this do shape the future of the league," she said. "For us, the priority is always about competitive balance." The league also negotiated with the players' association throughout the process, as well as general managers, coaches, the league's advisory board and others. Hefford acknowledged on Tuesday that the rules may not be popular among fans of existing teams. "We understand a lot of people will have questions about the process and of course an affinity towards their teams and their favourite players," Hefford said. "But we also know this is such an exciting time of growth for women's hockey and for the PWHL. It's important to remember that all teams here will be growing under the same salary cap and the same rules." Only players who are under contract or team control next season have to be protected. That means pending free agents, like Toronto's Natalie Spooner or Hannah Miller, for example, can't be taken in the expansion draft. After the protection lists are submitted, the Seattle and Vancouver teams have a five-day window to speak with and potentially sign up to five unprotected players each. The expansion teams can also sign players who are on expiring contracts. The idea, Hefford said, is to give players a bit more power over where they're going to sign, especially if they think they could be selected in the expansion draft. "It's their decision at the end of the day, but we definitely had a little bit of an impact on what we thought was best for the players, especially in terms of free agents," said Laura Stacey, who is the Victoire's player representative on the players' association. Once a team has given up two players, either through the signing window or the draft itself, the team can protect a fourth player. The negotiation window closes on June 8 at 5 p.m. ET. It's not yet clear whether Seattle or Vancouver will select first, but both teams will alternate picks until they each reach 12 players. If a team comes into the draft with more signed players than the other, then they may have extra picks to get to the magic 12 number. The league has yet to name a general manager for Vancouver. Seattle will be built from scratch by Meghan Turner, who's been the assistant general manager with the Boston Fleet for the last two seasons. By the end of the expansion draft process, existing teams will each have lost four players. Terms of players' salaries aren't made public in the PWHL, but it's safe to say the new teams can't draft a team full of superstars and stay under the salary cap. Still, there's no doubt the process will end with existing teams having big holes in their lineups to fill. For Montreal, it could undo what was a strong entry draft in 2024. The Victoire added defenders Cayla Barnes and Anna Wilgren, as well as rookie of the year nominee Jennifer Gardiner, who is from British Columbia. "We are most probably going to lose some of those players that we drafted, we picked, we evaluated, we developed this year," said Montreal GM Danièle Sauvageau, who added that her team hasn't decided which three players to protect yet. "But they're going to be playing in this league and this is what we have to be proud of because at the end of the day, we are here to grow the league and we are here to build the market that is growing the league as well." The PWHL is a single-entity league, which means every team has the same owner. In other words, what helps make the expansion teams in Seattle and Vancouver successful will help lift the other six teams, too. "It's never fun to hear but again, it's part of professional sport," Poulin said about the prospect of losing teammates. "There's two teams coming in. It's exciting. There are going to be more women playing hockey." For players, especially those whose seasons have ended, the next two to three weeks are full of unknowns. Will they return to the same team next season? Or will they be moving across the country? Until those questions are answered, players can't make big life decisions, nor can general managers fully plan for the upcoming PWHL entry draft, which is set for June 24 in Ottawa. For defender Erin Ambrose, who has a year remaining in her contract with the Victoire, it could mean leaving a city and team she has come to love and regard as family. Like others around the league, she said she's trying to focus on the bigger picture — the same way players did when they vowed not to play professionally until they could create a sustainable league, or when the PWHL launched in the summer of 2023 and players waited to see what the future would hold. "There's a lot of anxiety around it," Ambrose said. "But I also am really excited because it means that our league is doing something good. It means that we are growing as a professional league. It's an unfortunate situation because I would love to stay here, but it is out of my control."
Toronto Star
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Star
Poulin, Fast, Knight named finalist for PWHL's Billie Jean King MVP award
TORONTO - Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Toronto Sceptres defender Renata Fast and Boston Fleet forward Hilary Knight have been named finalists for the Professional Women's Hockey League's Billie Jean King MVP award. Poulin, also a finalist in the PWHL's inaugural 2024 season, led the league with 19 goals and added seven assists as the Victoire finished the regular season with the league's best record.
Winnipeg Free Press
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Changes looming for Montreal Victoire with PWHL expansion ahead
MONTREAL – Erin Ambrose said the hardest part of the Victoire's playoff exit was knowing the same group won't return to Montreal next season. And with Professional Women's Hockey League expansion looming, she knows that might include her. 'More than anything, I'm anxious that I might not be in Montreal, I might not be a part of the Victoire,' Ambrose said. 'That's something for me that means a lot.' Victoire players, following a semifinal series loss to the Ottawa Charge, cleaned out their lockers at Verdun Auditorium on Tuesday — a day after the league announced expansion procedures for incoming franchises in Vancouver and Seattle. The guidelines are clearly designed to make both teams competitive as soon as they hit the ice next season. 'It's a great buffet that those expansion teams have,' Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau said. Each of the league's original six franchises will lose four players. Teams can initially protect only three, before adding a fourth after two players are selected from their rosters. Even as last season's defender of the year, Ambrose knows she could be the odd one out on a Victoire roster loaded with high-end talent. Montreal boasts star forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey — who are married — and netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens, the heavy favourite to win goaltender of the year after a stellar season. They were the first three signings in franchise history back in September 2023, and Ambrose expects they'll be the first three protected come expansion time. 'All of us could probably collectively agree on who the three (should be),' Ambrose said. 'Ann-Renée, Stace and Pou, if that happens, it's definitely not a bad choice. I'm not oblivious. 'It's something that's just weird, you have no control over. My hands are up in the air and we'll see where everything falls.' Expansion will unfold in two phases: An exclusive signing window from June 4 to 8, followed by the expansion draft on June 9. Ambrose isn't the only player anxiously waiting for those dates to pass. 'It's pretty hard to process,' said forward Kristin O'Neill, another Canadian national team player. 'I thought I was going to be here for three years, but that has become a little unknown and that's pretty scary, especially because as female professional athletes we're not used to that.' Sauvageau said she hadn't yet chosen her three protected players, although one spot is clearly spoken for. 'Marie-Philip Poulin is going nowhere,' she said. All players, including Ambrose and O'Neill, still acknowledged the bigger picture — that expansion is a positive step for the league's growth. 'Growing to two new cities that are thriving in the women's sports world and really want a women's hockey team, from that perspective, it's amazing to see,' said Stacey, the Victoire's players' association representative. 'We all knew they wanted the two teams to be competitive, and to do that every single team is going to have to lose some great players.' Parity has been a calling card in the PWHL. In each of the league's first two seasons, the Walter Cup final has featured the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. Poulin believes the even playing field needs to continue with the Seattle and Vancouver franchises. 'That's something we take pride in here for this league, that we want to put the best product on the ice,' she said. 'That's what made these rules happen, to make sure everybody has a great start and is able to compete.' A short protection list means U.S. defender Cayla Barnes and Canada winger Jennifer Gardiner — Montreal's first two picks in last year's PWHL draft — could be on the move. Gardiner is from Surrey, B.C., while Barnes hails from California. 'It would be nice,' said Barnes about the possibility of moving back West. 'My family's close, so that would be nice to be able to see them and them to be able to come out to more games.' Sauvageau, meanwhile, said she's prepared to rebuild. 'It's like our children, we have to let them go,' she said. 'We're probably going to lose players that we recruited, that we developed, for the good of the league.' When the NHL expanded to Vegas in 2017, several teams made trades with the Golden Knights to shield players from selection. Sauvageau said such deals won't be possible in the PWHL, which does not yet allow teams to trade draft picks. HERE TO STAY Sauvageau made it clear that Kori Cheverie, a nominee for the PWHL's coach of the year, will return next season. 'Kori is here to stay,' she said. 'We're going to continue to build.' The Victoire exited the playoffs in agonizing fashion for a second consecutive season. Montreal, after finishing first in the regular season and earning the right to select third-place Ottawa, lost to the Charge in four games. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Goals dried up in the playoffs again. The Victoire scored six in four games and parts of 16 periods, including a quadruple overtime victory in Game 2 — the only playoff win in the franchise's young history. Sauvageau, however, didn't want to hit the panic button. 'We had a good season, the playoffs are another story, we'll ask questions of ourselves and learn,' she said. 'To restart and sweep away everything we've done in a season would be a lack of respect, a lack of recognition. 'We won't panic.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.
