6 takeaways from Week 1 of PWHL: Vancouver shows out, Sirens start strong

We might be just a few days into the 2025-26 season, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to talk about.

We had stellar performances from new and returning faces, a legendary debut out west, and a couple of surprising results from the team’s first few games of the year.

Sounds the Sirens

Tell me if you’ve heard this before: the New York Sirens have won the first game of the season.

Of the original six franchises, New York is the only team to win each of its three season openers. Just like they did on the PWHL’s first day in 2024, the team grabbed a 4-0 north of the border, this time at the expense of the Ottawa Charge.

Apparently, the Sirens like coming away with a bunch of goals in the third period in Ottawa. Almost eight months after scoring six goals in the final 20 minutes against the Charge, Taylor Girard’s natural hat trick in the third powered New York to victory. Girard became the first player in league history to accomplish the feat.

On top of that, rookie Maddi Wheeler assisted on all three goals, recording the most points in a PWHL debut.

The third-period onslaught slightly overshadowed goaltender Kayle Osborne’s stellar outing. The Westport, Ont. native, whose first pro win came as a shutout against the Charge, turned away all 28 shots she faced.

While we all know that hot starts for New York don’t necessarily mean long-term success, another promising start could help give the team some early optimism that it needs after a pair of last-place finishes.

“They can do that?”

In that game in Ottawa, the Charge seemed like they scored first in the opening period, after Gabbie Hughes deflected a Fanuza Kadirova shot on the power play. However, the league initiated a video review. The fans, viewers and broadcasters were confused about why the review was taking so long, as everything about the goal looked clean.

So, when the referee came out and waved the goal off, the 7,100-plus fans at TD Place were outraged. It wasn’t until the public address announcer revealed that the officials found that the Charge had six players on the ice when the goal was scored…even though they had too many players for about 10 seconds.

The immediate reaction from the Ottawa faithful was anger, questioning why the league could take a goal back in that fashion. However, according to Rule 38, on-ice officials can initiate a review for a “missed game stoppage event in the offensive zone leading to a goal.”

The no-goal call proved to be as close as Ottawa came to scoring. Thanks to Osborne’s performance and some bad puck luck, the Charge ended up getting shut out.

Micah, you can’t do that

One final notable moment from Saturday night’s clash in the nation’s capital came not long after the goal reversal. Just over 30 seconds later, Hughes was going to be called for an illegal body check on New York’s Jamie Bourbonnais. However, Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart came over to her teammate’s defense and cross-checked Hughes in the face.

Zandee-Hart ended up getting a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct. Though the brief melee led to some 3-on-3 action in regulation, the Charge were unable to cash in on an extended power play.

As of now, the league hasn’t issued any supplementary discipline, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t since Zandee-Hart missed the majority of the game for her actions.

You wanted Vancouver, you got Vancouver

Now, to some of the other action around the weekend. We saw the highly anticipated debut of the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent at the renovated Pacific Coliseum. The game was sold out, with 14,858 jamming into the former home of the Vancouver Canucks, giving a very playoff-like atmosphere between the regional rivals. The fans were treated to an exciting game. Though Julia Gosling scored twice for Seattle, Vancouver rallied to tie the game in the third, with Abby Boreen finishing off a sick feed from Tereza Vanišová in overtime, giving the home side a 4-3 victory.

If there were any doubts that Vancouver could support another pro sports team, the massive crowd last Friday night proved them wrong.

Some sort of revenge

The opening game of the 2025-26 season saw a matchup of the past two semifinals, with the Minnesota Frost and Toronto Sceptres meeting on another banner night in St. Paul. Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield sparked the home crowd with the first goal of the season minutes into the game. Yet, the turning point came later in the first, as Kelly Pannek was awarded a penalty shot. That resulted in Sceptres netminder Raygan Kirk making a big save to keep her team in the game.

That spurred her team to turn things around. Toronto defender Ella Shelton scored her first goal with her new team, with Kiara Zanon’s first PWHL goal pushing the visitors to a 2-1 win.

While it won’t erase the disappointment from the team’s last two playoff exits, the Sceptres picking up a win over the Fleet is a good way to start the new year. For a Toronto team that lost many key players in the expansion process, showing they can grind out a win on the road early on can give the new group some confidence.

The Green Monster is back

After playing each other twice in the preseason, it only made sense to have the Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet renew their rivalry again on Sunday. While the Victoire still has one of the league’s top offenses, Fleet netminder Aerin Frankel showed that she’s the same caliber of goaltender that made her an MVP candidate last season. The American star stopped all 25 shots she faced, guiding her team to a 2-0 victory.

As I said before the season, Boston will live and die based on the level Frankel is at. If she’s at the top of her game on most nights, the Fleet is going to be tough to beat.

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