VANCOUVER, BC – PWHL Vancouver today announced that goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer has agreed to terms on a two-year Professional Women’s Hockey League Standard Player Agreement to join the team through the 2026-27 season. Maschmeyer, who spent the past two seasons as a member of the Ottawa Charge, is the third player to sign with PWHL Vancouver ahead of the team’s inaugural campaign.
“Emerance is quite simply one of the best in the world at her position and Vancouver is fortunate to have a goaltender and Olympian of her calibre between the pipes to launch our inaugural season,” said Cara Gardner Morey, PWHL Vancouver General Manager. “Her veteran leadership, relentless compete, and poise under pressure are contagious qualities that our team will feed off of and will give us a chance to win every game.”
Maschmeyer was originally one of Ottawa’s three foundational signings and, across two seasons, amassed 15 wins with two shutouts, with a career goals-against-average of 2.42 and save percentage of .914. She led all goaltenders with 23 appearances and 548 saves during the inaugural season and played in 18 of the Charge’s first 22 games in 2024-25 before suffering a season-ending injury. In her last game on Mar. 11, the 30-year-old from Bruderheim, AB, became the first goaltender in PWHL history to surpass 1,000 career regular-season saves. Prior to the PWHL, Maschmeyer attended Harvard University and played six professional seasons between the CWHL and PWHPA. On the international stage, she won Olympic gold with Canada in 2022 and is an eight-time World Championship medalist.
“Joining Vancouver is an incredible opportunity, and I’m thrilled to be a part of such an exciting chapter of the league’s expansion,” said Maschmeyer. “Vancouver has proven to be a vibrant hockey city and I’m thrilled to play in front of such passionate fans. I’m aligned with Cara’s vision and values and honoured to have the opportunity to help build this organization’s culture from the ground up.”
Maschmeyer joins a PWHL Vancouver lineup that already features two of the league’s top defenders in former Minnesota Frost teammates Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson.
Expansion teams have been granted an exclusive window to sign a maximum of five players up until Sunday, June 8 at 5 p.m. ET. The 2025 Expansion Draft presented by Upper Deck will take place on Monday, June 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET where Seattle and Vancouver will select a minimum of seven players each until each has reached a 12-player roster.
Fans can place a time-stamped deposit for PWHL Vancouver to secure priority access to season tickets for their historic inaugural season, once ticket packages are released. For the latest news and updates, fans can subscribe to the Vancouver newsletter.
