Vancouver claims inaugural home ice victory in a hard-fought, sold-out showdown against the Seattle Torrent.
The Seattle Torrent faced off against the Vancouver Goldeneyes on November 21st for their first regular season match up. Featuring the PWHL’s first two expansion teams, the historic match up sold out the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
Seattle’s Julia Gosling scored the first goal in Torrent history 14:40 into the first period. Speaking on it later she admitted, “We were working really hard that period…then to get one in and realize it was the first Torrent foal was super special.” Three minutes later, Sarah Nurse put Vancouver on the board and went down in history for her effort, as well. The teams battled back-and forth throughout three periods, and the Goldeneyes’ Claire Thompson leveled the score the final time with just two minutes remaining in the third period.
The first game between the newly-formed rivals went into overtime. Unfortunately for Seattle, Vancouver came out on top with a goal from Abby Boreen 1:46 into the five-minute overtime period.
After the game, Seattle Coach Steve O’Rourke spoke highly of the team’s performance despite the loss, telling the press they expect a high-level of physicality in their game and “that’s going to be a trademark. We want an identity that’s hard to play against. I thought we established that tonight.”
The win for Vancouver is the first inaugural, home-ice win in league history. They recorded it in front of a sold out crowd of 14,958, which according league records is the 8th-highest attendance in league history (and the largest for a team on their home ice).
The Torrent return to Seattle for their first match up on home ice November 28th.