B.C. players surge onto Canadian women's hockey team after drought

Donna Spencer · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 12, 2025 1:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Women's hockey successful British Columbia is having a long-awaited moment.

Three players from the state connected Canada's satellite title roster is the astir ever. It was initially 4 until Hannah Miller ran afoul of planetary transportation rules.

"It's been a agelong clip coming to get a fewer much players connected this team," said defender Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton, B.C.

Jennifer Gardiner of Surrey, Chloe Primerano and Miller of North Vancouver and Zandee-Hart represented a veritable B.C. detonation erstwhile Canada's 25 players were announced successful March.

There wasn't a B.C. subordinate connected the women's squad for astir 2 decades aft goaltender Danielle Dube successful the 1997 satellite championship.

The state hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2014 Four Nations and the 2016 satellite title without a homegrown subordinate successful those tournaments.

Two games into this year's satellite championship, Gardiner has 2 goals and an assist, Zandee-Hart scored her archetypal planetary extremity and 18-year-old Primerano became the third-youngest subordinate to suit up for Canada aft Hayley Wickenheiser (15) and Cheryl Pounder (17) successful 1994.

"I'm definite those 3 girls are going to person an unthinkable showing astatine worlds," Miller predicted.

She was recovered to beryllium ineligible due to the fact that she was nether a pro declaration to a Chinese nine little than 2 years ago, which ran against International Ice Hockey Federation transportation rules.

Canadian squad wide manager Gina Kingsbury has indicated Miller remains successful the excavation of players nether information for the 2026 Olympic team.

Canada (2-0) faces the United States (2-0) successful Pool A connected Sunday earlier finishing the preliminary circular Monday against big Czechia (1-1).

Zandee-Hart and sisters Sarah and Amy Potomak of Aldergrove were B.C.'s wedge into the nationalist squad successful precocious 2016 for a bid against the archrival Americans.

Zandee-Hart and Sarah Potomak continued to bump up B.C.'s beingness erstwhile they helped Canada triumph 2022 satellite title golden successful Herning, Denmark.

"Micah was 1 of the archetypal to play for Canada and specified a large relation exemplary for everyone successful B.C.," Primerano said.

WATCH | Hockey North previews the women's satellite championships with Natalie Spooner:

Boosting B.C.'s buzz was the 19,038 who attended the Professional Women's Hockey League Takeover Tour crippled Jan. 9 astatine Vancouver's Rogers Arena, which outdrew the NHL's Canucks to that constituent successful the season.

BC Hockey declared a blackout connected girls' games and practices, truthful they could attend.

"It's awesome for our state to spot much players astatine that level," said Miller, who played successful the crippled with the Toronto Sceptres.

Ontario and Quebec historically predominate Canada's rosters and there's ever been a prairie subordinate oregon two. Atlantic Canada broke done with 3 successful the 2016 satellite title lineup, including existent guardant Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton, N.S.

How girls were treated successful hockey started to alteration astatine the grassroots level conscionable implicit a decennary ago, said Brianna Davey, who is BC Hockey's vice-president of subordinate services for the insignificant and pistillate ranks.

"I started with BC Hockey successful 2014 and took connected fundamentally the Program of Excellence successful 2015 and astatine that stage, we weren't doing good astatine nationals. We weren't making it to the Hockey Canada stage," Davey recalled. "There was just, determination was nary gumption."

Minor hockey associations connected the Lower Mainland and successful the Okanagan led the complaint successful devoting much clip and resources to make girls' teams, she said.

"When you get girls successful a much comfy area, they thin to bash a small spot amended erstwhile they're not trying to ticker their backmost erstwhile they spell into the boards," Davey said. "They tin really skate good and stickhandle and bash each the accomplishment movements that they request to."

Davey oversees the programme that sends a B.C. rep to the Canada Winter Games and the nationalist women's under-18 championship.

"We truly conscionable started to mimic what the process was to marque Team Canada," Davey explained. "Our camps, we started to mimic the practices oregon accomplishment development.

"The large happening we started to truly bash was supply feedback. These girls would instrumentality these forms backmost to their coaches and say, 'Hey, this is what I've been identified to enactment on."'

Populating rosters

B.C. players began populating NCAA assemblage rosters and Canada's under-18 teams.

"It's beauteous chill to spot 4 B.C. players named to the roster and 3 astatine the tourney close now," Gardiner said. "We're seeing a batch much players from the West Coast spell play successful the NCAA and play connected the East Coast successful those schools, which is simply a stepping chromatic to playing nonrecreational and making the nationalist squad 1 day.

"The players person ever been there. Finally, there's a batch of coaches that are going retired westbound and realizing that and recruiting and spending the clip and committing to those players."

Miller and Zandee-Hart predate BC Hockey's shift. They were teammates connected the Okanagan Hockey Academy's under-18 prep squad successful 2013 and 2014, which planted seeds for their eventual emergence to the nationalist team.

Zandee-Hart recalls playing with Miller and against the Potomaks influenced the trajectory of her career.

"Being surrounded by those players astatine an integral age, which was precocious school, and deciding whether I wanted to prosecute the adjacent level of hockey oregon prosecute thing else, seeing them and what they did ... helped maine benignant of enactment connected the way and enactment connected the course," said Zandee-Hart.

"There wasn't precise galore of america that were looking to spell to the adjacent level, which was this level."