Pro hockey a perfect fit for Vasko
St. Catharines native Alexa Vasko recently scored her first goal with Toronto of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Photo: SPECIAL TO BPSN.
Being a trailblazer suits Alexa Vasko just fine.
The 24-year-old St. Catharines native is living her dream as a member of the Toronto franchise of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The league began play Jan 1. and has taken the sports landscape by storm.
“It’s pretty crazy, I’m not going to lie,” the Governor Simcoe graduate said. “I would say some days I have to pinch myself.
“I know it was a long time coming. A lot of girls have put in the work before us and we’re just fortunate enough to play at this point in our career. From playing in front of thousands of people, to watching others play on TV in front of thousands of people, it’s quite amazing. It’s insane.”
The Toronto franchise have already sold out all 12 home games for their inaugural season at Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly Maple Leaf Gardens. While the arena has a listed capacity just over 2,600, with standing room, suites, and additional seating options, home capacity for those sell outs is 3,850. Overall, the league is averaging 4,848 fans per game through the first month of play.
“It’s incredible. I know years back women’s hockey was great, yes, but now everybody is involved and everybody has caught wind of it,” Vasko said. “It’s on TSN, it’s on Sportsnet, it’s on CBC.
“It’s amazing.”
Off the ice, it can be just as frantic as the players begin to become household names.
“It gets crazy at some points. You go up (in the stands) after the game to see your family and there’s an autograph table and sometimes you don’t get as much family time as you would like but you wouldn’t trade that for the world. You have girls of all ages, boys of all ages, moms, fathers, coming up to you and asking to sign their stuff and chat and have pictures.
“It’s pretty cool.”
Vasko, who graduated from Mercyhurst University with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Athletic Management before being drafted, loves the lifestyle the PWHL is affording the players.
“It’s pretty much almost like a 9-5 job,” she said. “We get to the rink at around 10, we do video meetings, practice, lift. We get fed at the rink and then come home and do it all again.
“(Earlier) in January we had three games in a week so it was a bit crazy with the travel, but honestly this is what we asked for, this is what we wished for, so we wouldn’t change anything.”
The Toronto franchise is off to a 3-5 start and Vasko said the level of play has been off the charts.
“The quality of the play is insane,” she said. “It’s fast, it’s physical. You have the best players in the world on the ice all the time. You have players from Canada, the U.S., you have international players. It’s definitely world class and you can feel it out there for sure.”
With so many top players, ice time in key roles can be difficult to come by.
“It comes with the territory. You have the best players in the world having to play on six teams so not everyone is going to have that top three or top six player role,” she said. “Whether you’re on the first line or the fourth line, you role is just as important.
“Every shift matters. The game is so fast and so physical, the game can change so fast. It’s happened to us a few times already. At the beginning it’s going to take getting used to for everybody. There’s a lot of great players.”
Vasko recently scored her first goal in a win over New York.
“Obviously, it was pretty special. It’s a cliche but when the puck popped out I sort of blacked out and shot it pretty quick. We were pretty excited but I think overall in that game versus New York we were just excited to get our first win of the season and as a franchise. That was pretty special.”
Vasko also loves being able to play close to home.
“I was just fortunate enough to be part of the draft and whoever drafted me I would have been super excited to go there. When Toronto drafted me I thought it was pretty special. My parents and my sister are able to come down to almost every home game. I see them in the stands and my neighbours came the other day and they’re talking to the other people and fans and honestly they’re probably having more fun than I do at some points.
“It’s pretty awesome for them.”
The PWHL is comprised three teams in Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa) and three teams in the United States (New York, Minnesota, Boston) and replaces the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly the National Women’s Hockey League), which was bought out and dissolved in July 2023 to make way for the creation of the new league.
Under the collective bargaining agreement between the PWHL and the PWHL Players’ Association, players’ salaries are to range between $35,000 and $80,000, excluding bonuses.
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