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Forbes
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
PWHL Expansion Begins With Vancouver, With More Cities To Come
Three months after drawing more than 19,000 fans to Vancouver's Takeover Tour date, the PWHL ... More announced it is placing its first expansion team in the city. Less than 16 months after dropping the puck for its first game on January 1, 2024, PWHL expansion has begun. On Wednesday, in front of a picture-perfect backdrop on the roofdeck of a downtown skyscraper, members of the U11 Vancouver Angels girls hockey team were given the honor of officially announcing that Vancouver will be home to the league's seventh team, starting play in the fall of 2025. Wednesday's announcement may not be the only one from the league this spring, either. After drawing 12,608 to Climate Pledge Arena for the opening date of the Takeover Tour on Jan. 5 and with its reputation as a strong market for women's sports, it was widely expected that Seattle would also be part of the 2025 expansion plan. That may still happen in time for next season. And if it's not Seattle, it could be another U.S. market like Denver, which would still help spread the league's footprint. 'I think we are hopeful that we will add a second team going into Season 3,' said the PWHL's executive VP of business operations, Amy Scheer, on a media call Wednesday afternoon. 'At this time, we are not ready to say when and where that will be.' And while Scheer said that there's no hard deadline for an announcement, a decision will need to be made soon. When the regular season wraps on May 3, two teams will be eliminated from the playoffs and ready to start their off-season planning. But no details have been shared yet for an expansion draft or alternate player dispersal process. And that process will look different if two teams are building their rosters rather than just one. According to Jayna Hefford, the league's executive VP of hockey operations, the goal is to distribute talent in such a way that the expansion team or teams can be competitive immediately. 'The priority is that this Vancouver team will compete on Day 1 for the Walter Cup,' Hefford said. 'That's been guiding us as we've worked through what an expansion draft could look like, or a player dispersal process. The parity and competitiveness across this league is one of the greatest assets that we have, and our intention is to keep that across all teams that compete in Season 3 and beyond.' The league's third entry draft is set for June 24 in Ottawa. In June of 2024, 167 players declared for the 42-pick draft, which spanned seven rounds. By February of 2025, 38 of those 42 players had appeared in at least one PWHL game. Rookies like Sarah Fillier, Jennifer Gardiner and goalie Gwyneth Philips quickly established themselves among the league's top players. This year's draft class is expected to be headlined by 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Casey O'Brien from the University of Wisconsin. It should also include a number of top European players including Czech forward Kristyna Kaltounkova, a 23-year-old senior at Colgate University who was named to the tournament all-star team at the just-concluded 2025 IIHF women's world championship. For the rapidly-growing PWHL, Vancouver checked multiple boxes as an expansion market. As Canada's third-largest city, it's valuable to the league's Canadian broadcast partners — TSN, CBC and Prime Video. It also has a dynamic and growing womens' and girls' hockey community, which was turbo-charged after the Canadian women brought home gold on home soil at the 2010 Winter Olympics. 'I think the last stat I saw from B.C. Hockey was, the girls and boys registration is just about 50/50, and that's huge,' said Scheer. 'B.C. Hockey's efforts have been huge in growing the game, and we want to help build and continue that momentum." For the first time, the league was also able negotiate an arena deal in Vancouver where its team will be the anchor tenant — at the Pacific Coliseum on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition in East Vancouver, with a dedicated practice facility right next door at the smaller Agrodome. Capital improvements to both venues have begun immediately, with an eye toward completing Phase I before the beginning of the 2025-26 season in November. Costs will be covered by the non-profit PNE, which is owned and managed by the City of Vancouver. The original home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, the Coliseum hasn't housed a sports team since the WHL's Vancouver Giants moved to suburban Langley, B.C. in 2016. Since then, the 16,000-seat arena has been used primarily for concerts and other touring events. PWHL Vancouver will play out of the Pacific Coliseum (left) and practice at the nearby Agrodome. 'We've got assets here that we don't have in any other market,' said Scheer. 'We're coming here with a clean sheet of ice that we could sell, the Zamboni that we could sell. That primary-tenant thing is huge. It provides us with ways that we could have our sponsors engage with us that they really can't in other arenas.' Yes, there will be some longer flights. But the PWHL schedule is currently at 30 games per season, far fewer than the 82 games played by NHL teams, so the toll of travel is not as grueling. If another Western market isn't introduced immediately, scheduling through Minnesota in the middle of the country and building the next set of Takeover Tour dates strategically should be enough to avoid sending teams 3,000 miles across the country for a single matchup. Vancouver's selection did cause disappointment in markets like Detroit and Quebec City, where fans believed they were strong contenders. Scheer underscored that this won't be the only PWHL expansion cycle. 'Vancouver is the first step in our expansion process,' she said. 'There are many more steps to come — this year, potentially next year, potentially the year to follow. So this is really our first step in a long journey to continue to grow and build this league.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why is Laila Edwards, one of the top young forwards in the world, playing defense?
Why is Laila Edwards, one of the top young forwards in the world, playing defense? Why is Laila Edwards, one of the top young forwards in the world, playing defense? ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE, Czechia – For most of the third period on Sunday night against Canada, Laila Edwards sat on the bench watching her U.S. teammates close out a 2-1 preliminary-round victory. The last time she played Canada at a Women's World Championship, she was a third-line winger and scored one of five U.S. goals in a heated gold medal match, which Canada won in overtime. After the game, Edwards was named tournament MVP at only 20 years old, the youngest player to ever win the award. Advertisement This time around, she was stapled to the bench after a defensive gaffe led to a Laura Stacey breakaway goal, while playing defense for only the third time at a major international competition. It's understandable, of course, to roll with a more veteran defense corps in a one-goal game against your bitter rivals. But more than anything, the moment — both the defensive error and the subsequent benching — begged the question: Why is one of the top young forwards in the world playing defense? The 21-year-old first made headlines when she became the first Black woman to play for the U.S. senior women's national team in November 2023. At worlds in Utica, N.Y., last year, she scored a tournament-leading six goals in seven games. This season, as a junior at the top-ranked University of Wisconsin, Edwards led the NCAA in scoring and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the best women's hockey player in college hockey. Advertisement All of her early-career accomplishments — and there are plenty, such as winning MVP at U18 women's worlds in 2022 and winning two NCAA championships in three years — have come while playing the forward position. And yet Edwards is in Czechia, on just her second senior world championship team, playing an entirely different position. The move to defense was a 'mutual decision' between U.S. management and Edwards, she said. The idea sprung from the influx of American forward talent and Edwards' desire to do whatever it takes to play for her country. 'This is the No. 1 thing that I want, to be on this team,' Edwards told . 'Whether that means I'm forward, D or even goalie, I'm all in.' Advertisement Last summer, Edwards played defense at the Bob Suter Memorial Classic, a charity hockey tournament in Wisconsin, and enjoyed it, telling a member of the U.S. staff about her experience. 'I just knew the forward group for USA was so competitive,' Edwards explained. So competitive, in fact, that Edwards was told she would actually have a better chance at staying on the roster at defense than forward. Given the choice of switching positions, or potentially being on the outside looking in with the 2026 Milan Olympics approaching, Edwards chose the former. Initially, head coach John Wroblewski said, he was not on board with the idea. 'We just got done with you making the team, and you had six goals as a forward and were named most valuable forward in the tournament,' Wroblewski thought at the time. 'What are we thinking?' Advertisement But when the U.S. brain trust started doing the math on which forwards to invite to their November Rivalry Series games against Canada, they realized moving Edwards to defense made the roster calculus work. 'We had five lines of players that we wanted to bring to Rivalry, except it was five lines plus one,' Wroblewski said. 'If Laila was a forward, we had 16 forwards that we wanted to bring. 'So then you start going, OK, well, if we want to take a look at Player X and Player Y and Player Z, and if Laila wants to play defense … It opens up a spot for somebody else to come in.' Beyond that, after losing to Canada last year at worlds in Utica, one of Wroblewski's takeaways was that Team USA needed to show up in Czechia with 'the biggest, sturdiest and most mobile team' possible to negate how good Canada is. So the U.S. roster, particularly at forward, has a focus on veteran, two-way talent more than just young, high-end skill. Star forward Kirsten Simms, 20, has played a smaller role on the team than expected, with veterans such as Kelly Pannek and Hayley Scamurra getting more regular ice time. Ultimately, moving Edwards to the blue line allows Team USA to lean on a veteran-heavy forward group but keep one of its top young players in the mix — even if she's out of position. Advertisement 'It gets us the 20 best skaters on the ice,' Wroblewski said. Still, at Wisconsin, Edwards remained a forward this season, save for a handful of shifts on the blue line when the Badgers were blowing out opponents. And when she ultimately reported to the national team for the Rivalry Series in November, Edwards was on the blue line. On Nov. 6, she made her debut as a U.S. defender against Team Canada, which has won four of the last five major international tournaments, including the 2022 Olympics. Despite not quite being eased into the transition, she had a multi-point game in a 7-2 win. 'That was crazy,' Edwards said. 'But it was fine, everyone was really helpful with the adjustment.' Advertisement As expected, the move also allowed U.S. management to give a few new (and returning) forwards like Casey O'Brien, Gabbie Hughes and Grace Zumwinkle a look on the roster. Only Zumwinkle, the 2024 PWHL rookie of the year, made the worlds team from that group. After those three games in November, Edwards returned to Wisconsin to once again play her natural position. She finished the NCAA season with 35 goals in 41 games, including a hat trick in the national semifinals to make her third straight championship game, where she scored a goal in a wild 4-3 Wisconsin overtime win. Two weeks later, she was back on Team USA. And she was back on the blue line, paired with No. 1 defender Megan Keller, and sometimes taking shifts with Stecklein, one of the very best shutdown defenders in the women's game. 'It's really incredible,' Stecklein said about Edwards' job change. 'I don't know how she does it. But she's done it just so eagerly. She will accept any role, do whatever is asked of her. And I think is doing a really good job at it, like the patience and composure she has, especially at such a young age, it's really incredible.' Advertisement Edwards appears to have the skills to be an effective defender. At 6-foot-1, she has incredible reach and innate ability to break up plays. As a forward, she was already strong on the forecheck and at hunting pucks. Her vision is excellent and her passing is accurate, which could help her break pucks out of the defensive zone and make her an excellent power-play quarterback. The adjustment is still a work in progress, though, and Edwards said she has 'a lot to work on.' 'It's a lot different back there,' she said. 'I need to be a little quicker on plays and a little harder on plays. I'm the last one back, so I gotta be a little smarter than I've been. These are things that I'm learning, and I hope to get better at.' Through four games, Edwards has just one assist, and admits she's been a little too hesitant offensively. Last week against Czechia, Edwards passed on a few scoring chances in the slot she probably would have buried last year with her heavy and accurate shot. U.S. star Hilary Knight has said Edwards' shot is so hard it looks like she's about to rip the net apart. Advertisement 'I think I've been trying to be so careful of not being overly offensive, that I'm giving up a bit of my offensive talent,' Edwards said. 'I don't think it has to be that way, but I think that comes with experience. So the more I get comfortable, and the more I play, I think those pieces will tie together.' On Tuesday night against Switzerland, Edwards played over 19 minutes, second among U.S. defenders, and looked better on the blue line than she did against Canada, breaking the puck out of the zone and making plays from the offensive blue line. 'The pieces are all there for her to be an unbelievable defender,' Wroblewski said, while later adding that Edwards will be given a runway for this change. Still, it's hard to overlook Edwards' bona fides as a forward. No player scored more goals in the NCAA last season – including five current national team forwards in Abbey Murphy, Lacey Eden, Tessa Janecke, Joy Dunne and Kirsten Simms. Only six-time world champion Alex Carpenter scored as many as Edwards' six goals at last year's world championships. Advertisement With a combination of size and skill, Edwards is one of the most unique and exciting prospects in the game. In 2023, Wroblewski even said, 'I don't think there's another woman like her in the game right now.' Everything about Edwards suggests that she is, at the very least, one of the top 14 forwards in the United States. Five years from now, by the 2030 Olympics, she could be the face of the program. But for now, she's trying to learn a new position on the fly, with another potential gold medal against Canada looming in the next four days. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. NHL, Women's Hockey 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Why is Laila Edwards, one of the top young forwards in the world, playing defense?
ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE, Czechia – For most of the third period on Sunday night against Canada, Laila Edwards sat on the bench watching her U.S. teammates close out a 2-1 preliminary-round victory. The last time she played Canada at a Women's World Championship, she was a third-line winger and scored one of five U.S. goals in a heated gold medal match, which Canada won in overtime. After the game, Edwards was named tournament MVP at only 20 years old, the youngest player to ever win the award. This time around, she was stapled to the bench after a defensive gaffe led to a Laura Stacey breakaway goal, while playing defense for only the third time at a major international competition. Laura Stacey scores a beauty on the breakaway! 🚨 Canada cuts the U.S. lead in half!#WomensWorlds — TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 13, 2025 It's understandable, of course, to roll with a more veteran defense corps in a one-goal game against your bitter rivals. But more than anything, the moment — both the defensive error and the subsequent benching — begged the question: Why is one of the top young forwards in the world playing defense? Advertisement The 21-year-old first made headlines when she became the first Black woman to play for the U.S. senior women's national team in November 2023. At worlds in Utica, N.Y., last year, she scored a tournament-leading six goals in seven games. This season, as a junior at the top-ranked University of Wisconsin, Edwards led the NCAA in scoring and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the best women's hockey player in college hockey. All of her early-career accomplishments — and there are plenty, such as winning MVP at U18 women's worlds in 2022 and winning two NCAA championships in three years — have come while playing the forward position. And yet Edwards is in Czechia, on just her second senior world championship team, playing an entirely different position. The move to defense was a 'mutual decision' between U.S. management and Edwards, she said. The idea sprung from the influx of American forward talent and Edwards' desire to do whatever it takes to play for her country. 'This is the No. 1 thing that I want, to be on this team,' Edwards told The Athletic. 'Whether that means I'm forward, D or even goalie, I'm all in.' Last summer, Edwards played defense at the Bob Suter Memorial Classic, a charity hockey tournament in Wisconsin, and enjoyed it, telling a member of the U.S. staff about her experience. 'I just knew the forward group for USA was so competitive,' Edwards explained. So competitive, in fact, that Edwards was told she would actually have a better chance at staying on the roster at defense than forward. Given the choice of switching positions, or potentially being on the outside looking in with the 2026 Milan Olympics approaching, Edwards chose the former. Initially, head coach John Wroblewski said, he was not on board with the idea. 'We just got done with you making the team, and you had six goals as a forward and were named most valuable forward in the tournament,' Wroblewski thought at the time. 'What are we thinking?' Advertisement But when the U.S. brain trust started doing the math on which forwards to invite to their November Rivalry Series games against Canada, they realized moving Edwards to defense made the roster calculus work. 'We had five lines of players that we wanted to bring to Rivalry, except it was five lines plus one,' Wroblewski said. 'If Laila was a forward, we had 16 forwards that we wanted to bring. 'So then you start going, OK, well, if we want to take a look at Player X and Player Y and Player Z, and if Laila wants to play defense … It opens up a spot for somebody else to come in.' Beyond that, after losing to Canada last year at worlds in Utica, one of Wroblewski's takeaways was that Team USA needed to show up in Czechia with 'the biggest, sturdiest and most mobile team' possible to negate how good Canada is. So the U.S. roster, particularly at forward, has a focus on veteran, two-way talent more than just young, high-end skill. Star forward Kirsten Simms, 20, has played a smaller role on the team than expected, with veterans such as Kelly Pannek and Hayley Scamurra getting more regular ice time. KIRSTEN SIMMS TIES UP THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH 18.9 SECONDS REMAINING 😱 OVERTIME ON ESPNU NOW 🍿 — ESPN (@espn) March 23, 2025 Ultimately, moving Edwards to the blue line allows Team USA to lean on a veteran-heavy forward group but keep one of its top young players in the mix — even if she's out of position. 'It gets us the 20 best skaters on the ice,' Wroblewski said. Still, at Wisconsin, Edwards remained a forward this season, save for a handful of shifts on the blue line when the Badgers were blowing out opponents. And when she ultimately reported to the national team for the Rivalry Series in November, Edwards was on the blue line. On Nov. 6, she made her debut as a U.S. defender against Team Canada, which has won four of the last five major international tournaments, including the 2022 Olympics. Despite not quite being eased into the transition, she had a multi-point game in a 7-2 win. Advertisement 'That was crazy,' Edwards said. 'But it was fine, everyone was really helpful with the adjustment.' As expected, the move also allowed U.S. management to give a few new (and returning) forwards like Casey O'Brien, Gabbie Hughes and Grace Zumwinkle a look on the roster. Only Zumwinkle, the 2024 PWHL rookie of the year, made the worlds team from that group. After those three games in November, Edwards returned to Wisconsin to once again play her natural position. She finished the NCAA season with 35 goals in 41 games, including a hat trick in the national semifinals to make her third straight championship game, where she scored a goal in a wild 4-3 Wisconsin overtime win. Two weeks later, she was back on Team USA. And she was back on the blue line, paired with No. 1 defender Megan Keller, and sometimes taking shifts with Stecklein, one of the very best shutdown defenders in the women's game. 'It's really incredible,' Stecklein said about Edwards' job change. 'I don't know how she does it. But she's done it just so eagerly. She will accept any role, do whatever is asked of her. And I think is doing a really good job at it, like the patience and composure she has, especially at such a young age, it's really incredible.' Edwards appears to have the skills to be an effective defender. At 6-foot-1, she has incredible reach and innate ability to break up plays. As a forward, she was already strong on the forecheck and at hunting pucks. Her vision is excellent and her passing is accurate, which could help her break pucks out of the defensive zone and make her an excellent power-play quarterback. The adjustment is still a work in progress, though, and Edwards said she has 'a lot to work on.' 'It's a lot different back there,' she said. 'I need to be a little quicker on plays and a little harder on plays. I'm the last one back, so I gotta be a little smarter than I've been. These are things that I'm learning, and I hope to get better at.' Advertisement Through four games, Edwards has just one assist, and admits she's been a little too hesitant offensively. Last week against Czechia, Edwards passed on a few scoring chances in the slot she probably would have buried last year with her heavy and accurate shot. U.S. star Hilary Knight has said Edwards' shot is so hard it looks like she's about to rip the net apart. 'I think I've been trying to be so careful of not being overly offensive, that I'm giving up a bit of my offensive talent,' Edwards said. 'I don't think it has to be that way, but I think that comes with experience. So the more I get comfortable, and the more I play, I think those pieces will tie together.' On Tuesday night against Switzerland, Edwards played over 19 minutes, second among U.S. defenders, and looked better on the blue line than she did against Canada, breaking the puck out of the zone and making plays from the offensive blue line. 'The pieces are all there for her to be an unbelievable defender,' Wroblewski said, while later adding that Edwards will be given a runway for this change. Still, it's hard to overlook Edwards' bona fides as a forward. No player scored more goals in the NCAA last season – including five current national team forwards in Abbey Murphy, Lacey Eden, Tessa Janecke, Joy Dunne and Kirsten Simms. Only six-time world champion Alex Carpenter scored as many as Edwards' six goals at last year's world championships. With a combination of size and skill, Edwards is one of the most unique and exciting prospects in the game. In 2023, Wroblewski even said, 'I don't think there's another woman like her in the game right now.' Everything about Edwards suggests that she is, at the very least, one of the top 14 forwards in the United States. Five years from now, by the 2030 Olympics, she could be the face of the program. But for now, she's trying to learn a new position on the fly, with another potential gold medal against Canada looming in the next four days.
Boston Globe
15-04-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
With the possibility of expansion looming, PWHL announces 2025 draft will take place in Ottawa
In the league's current format, competition for roster spots is stiff, with top players from the NCAA and around the world competing for just a handful of available spots on the league's six teams. Should the league expand, it would also hold an expansion draft. The final regular season game is on May 3, and prospective players have until May 8 to declare their eligibility for selection in the 2025 draft. Additional details about the draft, including format and ticketing information, are to be announced. Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien, a native of Milton and the winner of this year's Patty Kazmaier Award, is expected to be a top selection. Advertisement The PWHL is currently on a break, as many of the league's top players are representing their countries at the IIHF Women's World Championships in Czechia. The regular season will resume April 26 with three regular-season games left to play for each of the six teams. The top four will make the Walter Cup playoffs. The Fleet (8-6-4-9, 40 points) currently sit in third place in the standings, just one point ahead of fourth-place Ottawa and two points in front of fifth-place Minnesota. Montreal (11-6-3-7, 48 points) is the only team to have clinched a playoff spot. Advertisement The 2025 PWHL Draft will begin at 7 p.m. at the Ottawa Hard Rock Hotel's new theater venue, which is part of a $350 million renovation and expansion project. Emma can be reached at
NBC Sports
15-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
PWHL picks Ottawa to host 3rd draft in June, with Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien among top prospects
The PWHL will hold its third annual entry draft in Ottawa on June 24, the league announced on April 15, with University of Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien anticipated to be one of the top selections following her MVP senior season. What's yet to be determined is how many teams will be participating in the draft with the six-team league having yet to announce its decision on whether to expand by as many as two franchises. The draft will take place at Ottawa's newly expanded Hard Rock Hotel and Casino set to open this spring, and serve as the first event held in the facility's theatre. O'Brien is among the prospects who have already met the May 8 deadline to declare being eligible for the draft. The 23-year-old from Massachusetts is coming off winning her third national title with the Badgers, and was this season's Patty Kazmaier Award winner. The second-year captain led the nation with 88 points (26 goals, 62 assists), and set a school record with 274 career points (97 goals, 177 assists) in 182 games. DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE - MARCH 22: Casey O'Brien #26 of the Wisconsin Badgers looks to make a play during the Division I Women's Ice Hockey Championship held at Whittemore Center Arena on March 22, 2024 in Durham, New Hampshire. (Photo by Gil Talbot/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Gil Talbot/NCAA Photos via Getty Images The draft order has yet to be set with the second-year league's announcement coming during a three-week break coinciding with the women's world championships being held in the Czech Republic. Each of the six teams have three games remaining following the break, with league-leading Montreal the only one to have already clinched a top-four playoff berth. Toronto sits second and is a regulation win from clinching. Two points separate the next three teams, with Boston sitting third, Ottawa fourth and defending champion Minnesota fifth. New York sits last, six points out of contention and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for a second straight season. Other top U.S. prospects declaring themselves as eligible include Clarkson's Haley Winn, currently competing in her third world tournament, and Cornell's Rory Guilday. Top Canadian draft-eligible prospects include Boston College's Abby Newhook and the Clarkson tandem of Anne Cherkowski and Nicole Gosling, who's sister Julia was selected by Toronto in the first round of last year's draft. Colgate's Hannah Murphy, who is from Kingston, Ontario, is regarded as the top goalie prospect after setting a school record with 15 career shutouts. Among the top European draft-eligible prospects are two members of the Czech Republic national team: Natalie Mlynkova, who completed her senior season at Minnesota, and Colgate's Kristyna Kaltounkova.
