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Julia Gosling scores first goal in Seattle Torrent history in team’s debut
Forward Julia Gosling made history as the first player to score for the Seattle Torrent in the new professional women’s hockey team’s debut.
SEATTLE - On opening night of season three of the Professional Women's Hockey League, the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes will square off to begin their expansion campaigns.
While the Seattle Kraken remain the 32nd and final addition to the current NHL, the Torrent will be one of the foundational franchises in the women's game. Seattle and Vancouver join the original six teams in New York, Minnesota, Boston, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa for the league's third season.
Just two weeks removed from officially debuting the names of the two newest teams to the league, Seattle and Vancouver will take the ice for early bragging rights among the expansion rivals. In a pair of preseason scrimmages last week, the two teams split the two games, with the Goldeneyes winning the first by a 3-0 margin, and the Torrent taking the second, 4-2.
Despite a relatively short amount of practice time together, the Torrent now have games starting for real. But head coach Steve O'Rourke has been happy with the early development from his group.
"There's no advantage starting with 26 fresh faces that have never played together," O'Rourke said. "I walk in here and they have to understand, every single person has to understand the expectation. No one's played for me before, no one knows what I'm about."
"I gave them pretty much everything up front so they can feel right as home as much as possible."
It helps that the Torrent are led by perhaps the most decorated American women's hockey player in history in Hilary Knight.
Knight has appeared in four Olympics and 15 IIHF Women's World Championships for the United States, winning one Olympic gold medal and three silvers, and 10 gold medals and five silvers at the World Championships. She was the first player signed by the Torrent in June after being left unprotected by the Boston Fleet.
Knight was named as the first captain of the Torrent and is helping to get the team up to speed as quickly as possible.
"I think there's different touchpoints away from the rink too that we're kind of honing in on and making sure that we feel connected off the ice and prepared as well," Knight said. "I think our staff has done a great job of that. There's been a lot of information that's been thrown at us. It's been awesome to be able to learn different systems and what not, and being a support system for one another too. I think if we can have those identity prices in place, we're in a really good position."
It certainly helps that it's not all new faces across the board. Knight has played with assistant captains Alex Carpenter and Emily Brown elsewhere. Knight and Carpenter are teammates on the U.S. National Team, while Knight and Brown played together with the Fleet.
"It's making sure that people you know feel familiar with one another, comfortable with each other, and we have sort of that common communication of knowing when we can really get into it with one another and push," Knight said. "But at the end of the day being ready to compete when we get out on the ice and support each other and play together."
The PWHL has a few differences in rules compared to the NHL that will make it an intriguing watch, particularly around penalties. A team that is called for a penalty cannot change their players on the ice for the start of the ensuing penalty kill. Additionally, if a team that is short-handed manages to score, the penalized player is allowed to leave the penalty box immediately with the penalty coming to a close.
The PWHL allows for more physicality than previous women's leagues have entertained and the Torrent want to play fast and with an edge.
"From a playing style, yeah, we want to play fast," general manager Meghan Turner said. "And that's how these practices have been going, and that's what we're going to expect from this group. So it's going to be a physical game, and I expect our opponents to feel it."
Added O'Rourke: "Really super excited just how well the group picks up what we're asking them to do. It's just it's such a high-level group, and their professionalism is outstanding."
The Torrent will have been on the ice together for under two weeks when they begin their season Friday night in Vancouver. They won't be a finished product on night one and the bonding and chemistry development will continue throughout the season.
But the Goldeneyes are in the same boat for opening night as well.
With the expansion rules for the league, general sentiment is that both Vancouver and Seattle could be contenders to win the league in their very first seasons. That journey begins now.
"It's making sure that people you know feel familiar with one another, comfortable with each other, and we have sort of that common communication of knowing when we can really get into it with one another and push," Knight said. "But at the end of the day being ready to compete when we get out on the ice and support each other and play together.
"There's a lot of problem-solving on the fly and the person to the left or the right of you is going to support you as best they can."
2025-26 Seattle Torrent Roster:
Forwards (13):
Lexie Adzija
Hannah Bilka
Brooke Bryant
Jenna Buglioni
Alex Carpenter
Lily Delianedis
Jessie Eldridge
Julia Gosling
Mikyla Grant-Mentis
Hilary Knight
Danielle Serdachny
Natalie Snodgrass
Marah Wagner
Defenders (7):
Cayla Barnes
Emily Brown
Megan Carter
Mariah Keopple
Lyndie Lobdell
Aneta Tejralová
Anna Wilgren
Goaltenders (3):
Carly Jackson
Hannah Murphy
Corinne Schroeder
Reserves (3):
F - Jada Habisch
F - Sydney Langseth
D - Emily Zumwinkle
Staff:
General Manager: Meghan Turner
Head Coach: Steve O'Rourke
Assistant Coach: Christine Bumstead
Assistant Coach: Clayton Beddoes
Video Coach: Johnathan Moran
Goalie Coach: Sheldon Goertzen
Player Development Coach: Karl Linden
Head Athletic Trainer: Aisha Visram
Assistant Athletic Trainer: Sarah Robinson
Head Strength and Conditioning: Joel Becker
Assistant Strength and Conditioning: Emma Schmid
Massage Therapist: Emily Chard
Dietician: Shelly Guzman
Mental Performance: Dr. Liz Boyer
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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