For the first time, girls playing hockey in B.C. will have a local team of professional female skaters to idolize.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League announced in April that PWHL Vancouver would be its newest franchise for the 2025-26 season.
Over the course of the year, news has trickled out about the team, which has included the signing of Hannah Miller to the team’s inaugural roster, and the drafting of Nina Jobst-Smith to the organization. Both ofNorth Vancouverites have impressive hockey resumes, which include previous experience in the PWHL, as well as world championship and collegiate play.
On Thursday, PWHL Vancouver held a summer youth camp event at the North Shore Winter Club. There, young skaters were joined by the team’s head coach Brian Idalski, as well as defender Ashton Bell.
Bell was Vancouver’s first overall selection in the 2025 PWHL Expansion Draft. Previously, she played two seasons with the Ottawa Charge, and she is a three-time World Championship winner with Team Canada, helping the team claim gold at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
PWHL Vancouver's top pick now living in North Vancouver
When she thinks back to playing hockey as a kid, Bell said she didn’t have the kind of exposure to professional athletes like the Winter Club summer camp.
“You never had female role models to look up to on the ice and get that one-on-one time and be out on the ice with them,” she said. “It’s definitely very important for us, just to get out there with them and to show them we used to be their size and their age as well.”
Bell said it’s a great opportunity to do the summer camp before her team’s inaugural season.
“Being there so they can look up to us and have role models and inspire them to potentially wear the Vancouver PWHL jersey one day,” she said.
Bell said that she’s been settling into her new home of North Van, where she lives with her partner, and now future teammate, Jobst-Smith.
“We’ve been together for three years now, so I’m actually staying at her place, which kind of worked out well with us both ending up here,” she said. “We didn’t really know that was going to happen.”
Bell added that she’s also had the opportunity to play hockey with Miller on the national team and at training camp.
“She’s one person that I’m excited to be on a team with. Her shot and her IQ is like no other,” Bell said. “And I’m just excited to get to know her more as a person. She’s going to be great for this team.”
Idalski, who has more than 20 year’s experience coaching teams at the collegiate and international levels, said the summer camp shows kids what’s possible if they continue their hockey journey with a love for the game.
“From a grassroots standpoint, to be out in the community and to have that impact on young female players, our players get that,” he said. “They’re great role models, and they’re super good with the kids.”
Idalski said that he’s well aware of the world-class talent coming out of youth programs on the North Shore.
“Working at North Dakota, we always considered Western Canada … our backyard,” he said. “It’s a long, rich tradition of players coming out of here, and I don’t see that slowing down. In fact, I think it’s even going to take a jump up with our presence here in the PWHL. So yeah, looking forward to helping that continue to grow.”
The 2025-26 PHWL season schedule has not yet been released. Last year, the 30-game season ran from late November to May. Vancouver's home ice will be at the Pacific Coliseum.
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