The Vancouver Goldeneyes have gone from the bottom of the league to tied for fifth after Sunday’s 3-1 win over Seattle.
Vancouver faced off against the Seattle Torrent in the PWHL Takeover tour in Denver in front of a crowd of 11,612.
Goldeneyes forward Jenn Gardiner opened up the scoring off the faceoff with only five seconds left in the first period. Izzy Daniel and Michelle Karvinen also scored for Vancouver, and goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer saved 33 out of 34 shots on net.
Daniels spoke about her scoring success in the past two games.
“My teammates are putting me in a good position. On tonight’s goal, (Hannah) Miller made a great play to me and I was just standing back door and put it in, so I think it’s a collective team effort and I’m just the one on the receiving end of the goals right now. It’s all credit to my teammates and my coaches for putting me in a good spot.”
Sarah Nurse had her first assist of the season on Karvinen’s goal and has points in all four games she has played this season.
Jessie Eldridge scored the lone goal for Seattle on a breakaway, and goaltender Hannah Murphy saved 28 out of 31 shots.
Seattle Head Coach Steve O’Rourke’s said,“I thought the first period didn’t have a great flow to it. After that though, I thought we had more emotion in the second period and got rolling. I like the way we played in the second and even in the third we had some good chances. Our faceoffs are a strength and for the first time tonight, I thought we missed some assignments and then we were playing catch up in the last little bit, but we had some chances. I liked a lot of our game but there are little details that you always have to sharpen with how tight this league is.”
The Goldeneyes have one more game on Wednesday (Jan. 28) against the Minnesota Frost before the Olympic break.
Eight Goldeneyes players will represent four countries at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Nina Jobst-Smith will play for Germany, Tereza Vanišová for Czechia, Michelle Karvinen for Finland, and Jenn Gardiner, Claire Thompson, Emerance Maschmeyer, Sophie Jaques, and Sarah Nurse for Canada.
The PWHL entered its third season on Nov. 21 with its original six teams: Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost, Boston Fleet, and New York Sirens, along with the two new teams, Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent.
About the Author: Anna Burns
I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com Follow Anna on Twitter.