Goldeneyes fine tuning

VANCOUVER, BC - The Goldeneyes will officially drop the puck on their inaugural season when they host the Seattle Torrent at the Pacific Coliseum on Friday, November 21. But first, Vancouver head coach Brian Idalski has had his team working through training camp this week as the Goldeneyes prepare to play Seattle in a pair of closed-door exhibition games this weekend. 

The Goldeneyes first roster cuts will be made following the two exhibition games. Vancouver has four goaltenders in camp and they will carry three required netminders this season.  

Emerance Maschmayer is coming with the potential to be no.1 goalie for the Goldeneyes, but she is not ready to anoint herself as the top option in net for Vancouver. The 31 year-old knows that there’s still a competition and a battle to be won with fellow goalie Kristen Campbell.  

“Each goalie is an incredible goalie,” Maschmayer told reporters earlier this week. “I think that’s the special thing about this league. There are not a lot of teams, but there is a lot of great goaltending. It’s about earning ice and never being complacent with where you are. I think we have a bunch of great characters within the goalie group. It will be competitive. It’s a tryout, so you’ve got to bring your best everyday.”

Goaltending and defense are two areas where Vancouver has an abundance of depth. The foundation of the Goldeneys will be built on shutting down the opposition and in turn, attacking from the back end off the rush. 

Things might not be so clearly settled on offense. They'll be successful if they can get timely goals from throughout their core group of forwards. 

That group is led by Finnish forward Michelle Karvinen who says she has always wanted to play professionally in Vancouver ever since her Olympic debut.

“It goes back to 2010,” Karvinen told reporters in Vancouver. “My Olympic dream came true here. For me to be able to come back here and actually getting my pro dream become real, it’s quite unique. I feel like it was just meant to be that I ended up here.”

The Goldeneys will be depending on Karvinen to put pucks in the net this season and that’s a role that the 35 year-old is happy to take on in her first season in the PWHL.

“I love that,” Karvinen admitted. “That’s why I’m here. I like to challenge myself and that’s also why I’m here. I feel like I’m excited to see what I can do in this league and more than anything, also be a great teammate and help everyone raise their best levels.”

The Goldeneys are expecting a sold out crowd when they host Seattle next week for their opener at the 15,000 seat Pacific Coliseum. Goldeneyes Director of Business Operations, Tania Richards told the Victory Press that the ticket base is around 7,500 season tickets sold, which is believed to be the largest season ticket group in the league. The lower bowl at the Pacific Coliseum is completely sold out.

Vancouver has a unique advantage as the primary tenant of their home rink at the Pacific Coliseum. They are the only PWHL team with a permanent logo at center ice. They will also have their own practice rink at the PNE Agrodome once upgrades are complete. 

“This is our facility,” Idalski said. “Locker room, training room, weight room, all right here enclosed and we’re not sharing it with someone else. It’s huge for the ownership of the facility and having a sense of being a part of the building.” 

There is an advantage in having first priority and a set ice time. Especially when visiting teams make the journey to the west coast and have to adapt to the travel and time change. 

“We’re really grateful to be the primary tenant at the Pacific Coliseum,” Goldeneyes defender Claire Thompson said. “It’s really special to have our logo at centre ice. We’re the first team in PWHL history to have that. We’re really grateful to have our own space in our own building.”

The Goldeneyes will be back on the ice for practice on Monday following their two exhibition games as the team looks to fine tune things ahead of the opening faceoff against their Northwest rivals.