From goals to road wins, here are five things the Vancouver Goldeneyes are hoping for in 2026.
2025 was a fantastic year for women’s hockey in Vancouver. From seeing a record-setting 19,038 fans swarm Rogers Arena for BC’s first-ever Takeover Tour stop to Vancouver becoming the PWHL’s first-ever expansion team, there was no shortage of wins for women’s hockey fans in BC. Now that the Vancouver Goldeneyes have taken flight for their first PWHL season, it’s time to check some more boxes off their wish list in 2026.
A Hannah Miller Home Goal
There’s only one local player on the Goldeneyes who has yet to score her first goal as a member of her hometown team on home ice. While Jenn Gardiner and Katie Chan have both found the back of the net at the Pacific Coliseum, Hannah Miller is still waiting on her first with the Goldeneyes. This isn’t due to lack of effort — herself, Chan, and Michelle Karvinen have played well together so far this season, driving play and bringing effort and physicality in the opposition zones. A Miller goal is bound to be at the top of Goldeneyes fans’ wish lists heading into 2026.
More Success On The Road
The Goldeneyes have played their first eight games but have yet to record their first road win. The disparity between the Goldeneyes’ home-ice play compared to their road performances has been startling; Vancouver has scored a league-high 13 goals at home, collecting nine of a possible 15 points (note: one of these games took place as a ‘home game’ during the Takeover Tour). On the road, Vancouver has yet to register a single point, making them the last PWHL team to do so this season. They’ve scored a league-low two goals through three road games and have allowed the second-most with 12. If the Goldeneyes want any shot at a Walter Cup this season, they’re going to need to put up some wins away from the Pacific Coliseum.
Offensive Support For Emerance Maschmeyer
The collective opinion among the Goldeneyes' fan base seems to be that, regardless of the score at the end of a game, Emerance Maschmeyer has undisputedly been Vancouver’s best player. Even when Vancouver was dropping games by scores of 5–1, Maschmeyer still performed well. As much as it is a goaltender’s job to stop pucks, it’s also on the team in front of them to be able to score when needed. Vancouver has done a better job of late, but for a while, generating shots on net proved to be a struggle for the team.
In games that Maschmeyer has started, Vancouver has been outshot in all but their home opener, in which they tied the Seattle Torrent with 27 shots. These performances include final shot totals of 35–19 in favor of the Ottawa Charge on November 26, as well as their most recent 35–28 shot deficit to the Minnesota Frost on December 27 in Edmonton. Again, Vancouver has improved this effort slightly compared to the start of the season, but they still have work to do when it comes to providing Maschmeyer with the offensive support needed to win more games.
Nina Jobst-Smith’s PWHL Debut
It’s no secret that the Goldeneyes miss Sarah Nurse in their lineup, but another player who has remained out due to injury is Nina Jobst-Smith. Selected in the third round of the 2025 PWHL Draft, Jobst-Smith signed a two-year Standard Player Agreement prior to the start of the season and is expected to make her PWHL debut once fully recovered from her current injury. The 24-year-old was known for her excellent play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where she spent five seasons and put up 13 goals and 54 assists in 172 games as a defender. It will be interesting to see how Jobst-Smith’s play transitions from the NCAA to the PWHL level once she makes her debut.
Expansion Out West
This one may be a bit of a hot take. The PWHL has been very open about their upcoming expansion, which could see anywhere from two to four teams joining the league by 2026–27. As many PWHL fans have already seen, expansion is an overall positive for the game, extending the sport into markets that don’t traditionally have access to it (see: Takeover Tour in Dallas). The negative for those already in the league, specifically newer teams like Vancouver and Seattle, is that players will be taken from teams that they’ve only had one year to settle into. Both the Goldeneyes and Torrent have required a little extra time to gel and put their systems into place, so roster movement due to expansion would only make this a bigger issue.
Despite this, expansion — particularly to the west — may actually be preferable for Vancouver in the long run. As it stands, only Vancouver and Seattle play on the west coast, with the Minnesota Frost the next closest team to these two. Adding a couple of teams closer west (say, Denver and Alberta) minimizes the extra time to adjust to travel for these two teams. Instead of needing to hop on a plane to get to New York within a day or two, these teams could end up with a more favorable trip to Edmonton. The idea has pros and cons, but ultimately could be seen as a net positive for the Goldeneyes.