Vancouver's Sophie Jaques becomes first defender in PWHL history to hit 50 career points, as Hayley Scamurra gets a late and very quick hat trick in an attempt to tie it for the league-leading Victoire.
Even with the Goldeneyes’ playoff hopes dashed, fans descended on the Pacific Coliseum to cheer on the team in their penultimate game. They were hosting the league-leading Montreal Victoire, who were trying to gain points to secure home ice advantage in the playoffs, while Vancouver was seeking to gain meaningful ground in the Gold Plan ahead of an anticipatedly star-studded PWHL draft.
The team was also hosting a South Asian Heritage Celebration night, which included traditional Punjabi giddha and bhangra dance performances during TV timeouts, and Abbotsford Canucks forward Arshdeep Bains dropping the puck in a pregame ceremony. Bains, whose parents immigrated to Canada from India’s Punjab region in the 1980s, donned Goldeneyes forward Jenn Gardiner’s jersey, as the two had grown up together in Surrey, BC’s second-most populated city a half-hour drive southeast from the Coliseum in Vancouver.
Both teams got off to a quick start, trading possession across both ends of the ice. The early Vancouver standouts were starting goaltender Kristen Campbell, who made key saves to the chants of “soup” from the Coliseum faithful, along with the line of Tereza Vanišová, Sarah Nurse, and Michelle Karvinen. Vanišová in particular had a number of stellar chances, putting pucks on the net of Sandra Abstreiter.
The scoring began with just under five minutes to go in the first period. Vanišová threw the puck towards Abstreiter, with Nurse getting a tip on the shot that passed the Victoire goalie, giving the Goldeneyes the lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy. The Vancouver crowd buzzed as the minutes counted down in the opening frame, and while the Goldeneyes left the ice down 10-4 on the shot clock, they were cheered off with the 1-0 lead.
Vancouver were considerably more active in the shot tally in the second period, mirroring Montreal’s first period 10-4 results. Campbell did have to rush to save the Goldeneyes from time to time as the Victoire tried to level the score, though the home team was able to extend their lead on the powerplay.
Montreal defender Jessica DiGirolamo took a tripping penalty at 7:36 in the middle frame, and Goldeneyes captain Ashton Bell was able to capitalize on the player advantage. Vanišová and Nina Jobst-Smith shuffled the puck just inside the Montreal blue line, where Jobst-Smith sent a pass along the boards to Bell, who skated towards the Victoire net and rifled the puck past the glove of Abstreiter.
The Victoire and Goldeneyes continued to trade shots before the second period buzzer went, and continued that course of action as the third began. After a shot from Montreal’s Abby Roque bounced off Campbell’s blocker, it was picked up by Karvinen, who passed it to Vanišová at centre ice. Vanišová crashed the net, cutting past the Montreal defence and chipping the puck up and over the shoulder of Abstreiter, further extending Vancouver’s lead 91 seconds into the final frame.
“It’s one of those nights you have sometimes,” Vanišová commented post game. “We created some offensive rushes and good zone entries and that’s what I think I’m good at.”
Claire Thompson scored a few minutes later, giving the Goldeneyes a 4-0 advantage that had seemingly secured their victory. Thompson’s goal was assisted by Abby Boreen and longtime teammate and Goldeneyes scoring leader Sophie Jaques, the latter earning her 50th career PWHL point, the 17th overall and first defender in league history to reach that marker.
“[Jaques] is such a special player and teammate and I think that it’s a testament to her offensive ability that she’s the first defender ever to reach 50 career points,” Thompson commented post-game about Jaques’ record-setting performance.
“She’s so gifted offensively, but I think she also players a really good game defensively […] while she has a cannon, I think she does so many things without the puck that deserve a lot of credit as well.”
“First and foremost, that's a huge accomplishment,” Goldeneyes head coach Brian Idalski said of Jaques, “That's just a microcosm of the kind of impact player she is and her shot and ability to create offense from the blue line.”
The Victoire weren’t done for the night, however, as head coach Kori Cheverie called netminder Abstreiter to the bench with just under eight minutes remaining, giving her team the extra attacker while down four goals. Hayley Scamurra would plant herself in front of the net of Campbell, waiting for a shot from one of her Montreal teammates. Erin Ambrose would deliver, firing the puck towards Campbell, with Scamurra tipping it past the Vancouver netminder.
“It was done against us early on and you know, it worked,” Cheverie said of the early goaltender pull, “I thought, well, it's 4-0, let's try to get a push here. Let's try to shake something up.”
One minute and 16 seconds later, Scamurra scored yet again as Montreal continued pressuring with the extra skater in the Vancouver zone. This time, it was a shot from Lina Ljungblom, which Scamurra tipped past Campbell yet again. This was Scamurra’s fourth goal against the Goldeneyes, having previously earned her sole multi-goal effort this season in the April 1 game in Victoire territory.
Coach Idalski called a timeout after the 4-2 marker, saying post game, “[We were] just making sure we went through some of the structure, reminded them what that looks like six on five, what we wanted to execute and how we wanted to handle that. And just to, you know, for everyone to take a deep breath and relax and know that we were going to be able to figure it out down the stretch there and do what we needed to do.”
Still, the two-time Olympian wasn’t done scoring.
Within a span of two minutes and 44 seconds, Scamurra had scored her first career hat trick, turning a 4-0 comfortable lead for Vancouver into a frantic one-goal advantage with a flurry of tipped pucks finding twine.
“To get three [6-on-5 goals] is pretty big. It felt really good for our group and obviously we knew what was kind of working,” Victoire defender Erin Ambrose, who assisted on two of Scamurra’s goals, said post game, “Put it in the area and [Scamurra] will tip it.”
The crowd in the Pacific Coliseum, which had been lively prior to the late Montreal push, paused their wave as the remaining noise buzzed with anxiety. Still, the crowd stayed in it, cheering their team on towards victory — even if it was markedly less certain than before.
The ancient building was rocking with energy as the clock ticked down, Campbell continuing to make key saves as “soup” chants were interspersed with cheers as Vancouver tried to get an insurance goal on the empty Montreal net. Goldeneyes fans were able to leave the building happy, as though Montreal won the final defensive zone draw with 1.9 seconds left, Vancouver were able to hold on for the three points, not only upsetting Montreal’s path to playoff advantage, but also gaining important ground in the Gold Plan.
“When we look back at the third, there were a few minutes there where we really didn't stick to our team identity, but I also think that there were a lot of good things that happened in the beginning part of that period,” Thompson commented post game, “We need to fight more in front of Soupy [Campbell]. We need to get blocks on those pucks coming in from the point, but I think it was I was proud of our group to hold out till the end.”
Kristen Campbell added on to that, saying, “We've gone through a lot of adversity as a team this year. And I think in those final minutes, you're just doing everything you can that's in your control and just trying to get that win. So, I'm proud of everyone for sticking with it, and those were a big three points for us tonight.”
The Goldeneyes play one more game of their inaugural campaign, a Saturday afternoon matchup at home against the playoff-bound Minnesota Frost, who are searching for their third consecutive Walter Cup victory. Vancouver fans will have one more chance to cheer on their team ahead of an uncertain offseason, as the draft, potential expansion, and free agency may vastly change the team donning the blue, cream, and gold for the 2026-27 season.