The Vancouver Goldeneyes are celebrating one year in existance as the league announced Vancouver would be home to the PWHL's seventh franchise on April 23, 2025.

One year later, the Vancouver Goldeneyes have had a plethora of memorable moments and highs, and perhaps more lows than anyone originally anticipated.

Here's a look back at five memorable moments from the team's inaugural season.

The Vancouver Goldeneyes were the first team out of the gate in the exclusive signing window inking Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques. They rounded out their signings in the period with Emerance Maschmeyer, Sarah Nurse, and British Columbia product Jennifer Gardiner. But the roster building didn't stop there. When it came time for the expansion draft, Vancouver had the first pick, and they chose Ashton Bell. Bell was later named the first captain in team history, another milestone in the foundation of the Vancouver Goldeneyes. By the time they were finished, the Goldeneyes had a roster envied across the league.

The Pacific Coliseum was the envy of the league. It's not the newest venue, but the PNE sunk money into the venue to bring it to life for the PWHL. At every turn inside the venue, you know you're at the home of the Vancouver Goldeneyes, not at the home of an NHL team where a PWHL also plays. Images of players adorn the walls, team logos and colors are splashed throughout, and for the first time ever a PWHL team played with their logo at center ice for the duration of the season. When concerts and other events came to town, you could spot Goldeneyes insignia in images. It was the dawn of a new era for the league, and the response in Vancouver was incredible as the Goldeneyes averaged over 11,000 fans per game, second only to their expansion counterparts in Seattle.

It was a trifecta. Vancouver's first ever game, inaugural home opener, and first win. Coming against fellow expansion club, the Seattle Torrent, Vancouver played to a 4-3 overtime win in their first game. In front of 14,958 fans, Abby Boreen scored the overtime winner for the Goldeneyes, and Emerance Maschmeyer recorded the win in net. Earlier in the night, Sarah Nurse, one of the team's marquee acquisitions in the offseason scored the first goal in franchise history.

Before the puck had dropped on the inaugural PWHL season, the Vancouver Goldeneyes made a trade sending Denisa Krizova back to Minnesota for Anna Segedi. In mid-January however, the team shocked the league making a blockbuster deal with the Ottawa Charge. Not only was the six player deal a major shake up for both rosters, it was the most players ever involved in a PWHL trade. Vancouver acquired Mannon McMahon, Anna Shokhina, and Anna Meixner, while sending Brooke McQuigge, Michela Cava, and Emma Greco to Ottawa.

From the preseason favorite to win the Walter Cup, to the second team eliminated from playoff contention, things didn't go as planned for the Vancouver Goldeneyes in year one. But they're a franchise filled with promise both on and off the ice. The team has now had a full year to plan for a draft, to evaluate the league, and to build rapport among fans and the community in their market. Perhaps nothing was more indicative of the way things could be than Vancouver's back-to-back wins over Seattle in the final week of the season. They beat the Seattle Torrent 4-1 in regulation, eliminating the Torrent from playoff contention, followed by one of the wildest comebacks anyone has seen in a 6-5 overtime game on April 18. In that game, hometown heroes Jennifer Gardiner and Hannah Miller gave Vancouver fans something to cheer, and hope for. Gardiner set a PWHL record becoming the first player in the league's three-season history to score four goals in a game, including the overtime winner, and Miller scored the other two goals and assisted on two of Gardiner's. Ideally Vancouver fans had hoped their season would end with a Walter Cup, or at least a long playoff run. But the promise of a bright future that still exists in Vancouver was on full display with Gardiner's record breaking night.