When Abby Boreen joined the Vancouver Goldeneyes, she understood what came with it. Expansion teams don’t begin with identity, but are built over time through experience, mistakes, and a shared understanding that develops gradually rather than all at once. Of course, everyone involved wants to see success as early and often as possible, but tempering those expectations is just as important to keep front of mind.

It was something Abby had already lived through once before as a member of Minnesota’s inaugural season in the PWHL. Now, in Vancouver, she found herself back in that same position, with a new roster, a new environment, and the same process of figuring out what the team would become.

When she joined me on Rinkside Rundown, Abby spoke about the reality of that process and how different it feels from the outside compared to what players experience internally.

Before Vancouver ever played a game, expectations were already forming. There was speculation about how strong the roster would be and how quickly the team might establish itself. But inside the room, the focus was much simpler.

“It is year one,” Abby said. “We all came from different teams, fresh out of college or overseas or whatever it may be. So once we get that group together, it is starting from square one.”

That reset happens whether a team is talented or not. Players arrive from different systems, with different habits and roles, and part of the early season is spent aligning those pieces. The results, especially early on, can reflect that adjustment period.

“As you can see, in the first half, we have been very good, and we have been very bad,” Abby said. “So I think just learning from that, we have learned a ton as a team.”

Those stretches are part of establishing culture. Consistency doesn’t appear immediately. It develops as players grow more familiar with each other and more comfortable within the structure the team is trying to establish.

For Vancouver, that process has included difficult stretches, including travel and losses that tested the group early in the season. But those moments also helped define how the team responds.

“We have gone through a lot, a lot of travel, a lot of losses, and we have stuck with it,” Abby said.

What follows those stretches is often where growth becomes the most visible. It’s where systems feel more natural, players begin to develop chemistry, and the team’s structure begins to fall into place.

Abby believes Vancouver has reached that point.

“As of late, I think things are really going well for us, and we can just build off of that,” she said.

Expansion seasons rarely follow a straight line, despite how much everyone involved would like it to. Progress happens with ups and downs, and a team’s identity takes time to form. But for the players involved, that process is part of what makes the experience meaningful, and success feels even better.

For Abby Boreen and her Vancouver Goldeneye teammates, they are not just joining something established, but are helping define it for years to come.

You can watch my full conversation with Abby Boreen from the Vancouver Goldeneyes on YouTube.