Even before the puck has been dropped for the 2025–26 regular season, expansion franchise PWHL Vancouver appears to be Walter Cup champion favourites. Two gold-medal goaltenders, a star-studded blueline, and a speedy, forechecking forward core make up the powerful roster. All the tools are there for head coach Brian Idalski to help coach his new team to their first championship in their inaugural season.
“I’ve had a fair amount of rebuilds in my career, so the fact that I get the keys to something that has the opportunity to be special right from the get go, it’s really something I’m looking forward to,” Idalski told the media after one of the team’s youth summer camps.
The former St. Cloud State women’s head coach brings over 20 years of experience to PWHL Vancouver, accumulated through both NCAA and international coaching stints. Players such as Kristen Campbell, Hannah Miller, and Michela Cava have all spent time under Idalski and will continue to grow their game alongside him. Familiarity throughout the roster was one of many things that ultimately drew the head coach to Vancouver.
“I’ve experienced lots of things, and I’m very familiar with the player pool, having worked with a lot of these players since they were young kids. To see them grow, develop, and become the players and the strong women that they are, it’s fun to be a small piece in that journey.”
Something else that stuck out to Idalski was the city itself, as he spent time in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“I just thought the city was awesome,” Idalski explained regarding what it was about Vancouver that stood out to him. “I thought that was a great vibe, a great energy. Loved some of the restaurants and just the overall city feel. I’m a Flatlander kid from the Midwest, so it’s a different energy. And I thought that that was great.”
Idalski also cited the overall reception that the city has given the team as something that has made the move to Vancouver all the more exciting. With 19,038 fans having packed themselves into Rogers Arena for the Takeover Tour back in January, the support for the PWHL in Vancouver, team or no team, has been felt in waves.
“It’s very impressive already, with season ticket drives and the amount of people and the involvement and the facility, you can really see the energy when you talk to people about the opportunity and our club and the potential. It’s going to be fun to get started.”
The fans, already eager to see a team regardless of how they perform, will be in for a treat in 2025–26. Agile goaltenders, mobile defenders, and skilled, speedy forwards make up the inaugural roster. PWHL Vancouver will be playing with a gritty, sharp edge right out of the gates — a style of hockey that’s enjoyable to watch no matter the result.
“Our clubs always compete hard, always work hard, are physical, are disciplined, and Cara [Gardner Morey] has done a great job of giving us lots of players who can play at a high level, so it’ll be fun to put them together. That’s my job when training camp hits — to start to put some of those pieces together and develop some chemistry among the lines and see who’s where.”
With so much talent flooding the roster, Idalski cited his biggest challenge as “creating four lines.
“There are a lot of people that could play on a top line, but they could also be in a physical fourth line energy role,” he noted. “The depth of our forward group and talent is super. I’m not sure that a lot of teams are going to match that out of the chute.”
One thing that stands out about PWHL Vancouver as a whole is the venue that they’ll be calling home. The history of hockey at the Pacific Coliseum spans decades, with the PNE itself being a staple in local history. Despite not being from Vancouver, Idalski was “blown away” by the expansion team’s home arena from both a historical and on-ice perspective.
“Just that old style, like Madison Square Garden, Utica, New York. Those facilities are all very similar with their design. It has great bones, there’s a lot of space, and the fact that we get to call that ours is huge. It’s huge because of schedule and being able to be consistent with our practice times, how we do things day to day, and just having a place that you call your own and being the number one tenant — that’s pretty special.”