Vancouver sports teams, including the Canucks, are rallying around the Goldeneyes as they embark on their inaugural PWHL season.
The support for the Vancouver Goldeneyes throughout BC has been extensive, with fans sharing their excitement all across the lower mainland. The Vancouver Canucks are no exception to this group, joining the list of BC sports teams in helping represent the PWHL in Vancouver.
For starters, four members of the Canucks showed up to their game against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night wearing Goldeneyes jerseys. Jake DeBrusk wore the jersey of Goldeneyes captain Ashton Bell, Kiefer Sherwood sported Walter Cup champion defender Claire Thompson’s, while Kevin Lankinen donned Surrey-local Jenn Gardiner’s number.
Another player who represented the Goldeneyes at Thursday night’s game was Aatu Räty, whose means of acquiring the jersey came about in a funny way.
“I saw a couple of guys had them in the locker room,” Räty told DailyHive on Thursday. “I asked around and they didn’t have any, so [the team] Ubered one for me today, which is pretty cool.”
The Canucks center, who has represented his home country of Finland in World-Junior competition, specifically cited PWHL rookie and Finnish hockey icon Michelle Karvinen as a player he was excited to see. An even neater tie-in is that Karvinen won her first Olympic medal in Vancouver back in 2010.
“I’ve never seen a super high-level women’s game, so I’m definitely interested to see that,” Räty had said.
True to his word, Räty repped the Goldeneyes on Friday night by showing up to the game in a jersey and sporting a hand-written sign with Karvinen’s name on it. Joining him at last night’s 4–3 overtime win for Vancouver were Thatcher Demko, Teddy Blueger, and Nils Höglander.
The Canucks were represented by more than just their current players. Former Canucks, who also took their turns playing at the historic Pacific Coliseum during their residency from 1970 to 1995, were also in attendance on Friday night. Darcy Rota, Dave Babych, and Nathan Lafayette were three Canucks alumni who donned both NHL and PWHL merch for the game. One of the Sedin twins also made an appearance.
As vast as the Canucks representation was during the Goldeneyes’ home-opener, they weren’t the only Vancouver sports team to show up and support the PWHL on Friday. Members of the BC Lions, the Northern Super League champion Vancouver Rise, and the Vancouver Bandits were spotted at last night’s game. While the Vancouver Whitecaps were not in attendance, likely due to their big match against Los Angeles FC tonight, club captain Ryan Gauld wished the team good luck in a video on the team’s social media accounts.
The Goldeneyes garnered support from many individual athletes as well. Olympic gold medalist figure skater Patrick Chan attended last night’s match, while former women’s national team icon Meghan Agosta made an appearance on the ice. Of course, no athlete received more love than Canadian soccer legend Christine Sinclair, who proudly flexed her Goldeneyes jersey before dropping the puck during the team’s ceremonial faceoff.
“It just goes to show the community here in Vancouver,” Goldeneyes assistant captain Sarah Nurse said of the support from the rest of Vancouver’s sports world. “From day one, not only have the fans embraced us, but it just seems like every other sports team has been here for us and been cheering us on and are really excited for us. I haven’t seen that in my previous places that I played in, but just to see Rise, the Canucks, Lions, everybody really being there for us is huge.”
With both the Canucks and the Goldeneyes now hitting the rinks, Vancouver hockey fans will have no shortage of on-ice entertainment to pick from.
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