CWHR’s PWHL Opening Weekend Recap
The 2025–26 PWHL season opened with everything you’d want from a league that keeps leveling up: a banner raising in Minnesota, a sold-out debut in Vancouver, the first shifts of a generational Czech #1 overall pick in New York, and an anticipated pro debut in Montreal.
Here’s how opening weekend looked through a ČWHR lens.
Minnesota vs Toronto: An Unexpected Reunion in St. Paul
The first shock of the season for us didn’t even happen on the ice. It happened in the final hours of the preseason.
Just days before puck drop, Minnesota pulled off a unexpected move: Denisa Křížová was coming back. In a one-for-one trade that sent prospect Anna Segedi to Vancouver, Křížová returned to the Frost after being lost in the expansion draft this summer. From everything we’ve heard, Minnesota’s staff never really saw her as expendable. Křížová is exactly the kind of depth piece contending teams obsess over: relentless on the forecheck, trusted defensively, and beloved in the room. So when the banner went up in St. Paul to celebrate Minnesota’s second straight Walter Cup, it suddenly included a new emotional layer: Denisa was on the ice to watch it. A few dozen hours earlier, that didn’t look likely.
From a Czech perspective, the Frost lineup felt wonderfully familiar: Křížová slotted back into a bottom-six role and looked like she’d never left, buzzing on the forecheck and doing all the little denial plays in the neutral zone that never make the highlight pack but always make coaches happy. Klára Hymlárová again looked like the all-situations Swiss-army-knife forward who closed out last year’s Cup run playing her best hockey.
The game itself, of course, refused to follow the script. Minnesota raised the banner… and then lost 2–1 to Toronto. Rookie Kiara Zanon scored the game-winner, and Natalie Spooner put up a multi-assist night. Goaltender Raygan Kirk turned away more than 30 shots to spoil the party, including a penalty shot from Kelly Pannek.
For Minnesota’s, it was a frustrating result, but the story for us is that the Frost chose continuity. They actively moved to re-add Křížová because they know who she is in their system. For a national team that’s about to lean heavily on cohesion heading into an Olympic cycle, that continuity matters.
Vancouver vs Seattle: Vanišová’s Heroics and Tejralová’s Scare
Night two gave us pure chaos in the Pacific Northwest, in front of a sold-out crowd of 14,958 in Vancouver. The Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent gave the league exactly the kind of “new era” energy you want when unveiling two expansion markets.
From a Czech point of view, the storylines were loaded before the puck even dropped: Tereza Vanišová, fresh off her heroics with Ottawa and with a Walter Cup-tying goal on her 2024–25 resume + a Gordie Howe Hattrick in her back pocket, arrived as one of Vancouver’s marquee signings. Aneta Tejralová, captain of the Czech national team and one of the best shutdown defenders in Europe, made her Seattle debut after leaving Ottawa in the offseason.
The game was as tight and chippy as you’d expect from two teams trying to define themselves. For Tejralová, it was exactly the kind of start Seattle needed: steady exits, quiet gap control, and that calm presence she brings when games threaten to go off the rails.
Then came the moment nobody wanted.
Midway through the second, Tejralová was hit hard in the corner behind the net, by none other than national team teammate Vanišová. She stayed down, clearly in discomfort, and had to be helped off the ice, putting no weight on one leg. Immediately fans were understandbly horrified at the thought of losing one of their pillars of consistency this early. Miraculously, as the third period started, we saw Tejralová back on the ice for a shift. But that was all, and she eventually existed for good. The broadcast later confirmed it as a lower-body injury and said she would not return.
There’s been no detailed update from Seattle yet beyond “we’ll assess” and the usual lower-body vagueness. Understandably, there’s been plenty of speculation online, but until the team gives real info, guessing doesn’t help anyone. What we can say with certainty is that an extended absence would be a huge blow both for Seattle and for Czechia’s Olympic build-up. This is the player you want on the ice for every tough shift against Canada and USA.
The game did go on, and Vanišová, in the most Vanišová way possible, wrote herself into Vancouver’s history.
In overtime, she turned a hard defensive effort into offense, hunting the puck on the backcheck, forcing a turnover, then finishing off the sequence after a slick spin-move pass in the offensive zone to net the first OT winner in Goldeneyes history. If you’re a Vancouver fan, she’s already the chaos engine you hoped you were getting: pace, creativity, relentless puck pressure, and yes, the occasional penalty that makes both benches yell at the refs. For a brand-new franchise trying to build an identity, having a Czech player as one of the faces of that identity feels very on-brand for this league’s international flavor.
And for Czech fans? It was the most bittersweet possible combination: one of “ours” winning a game of the year candidate; another leaving that same ice in visible pain.
New York vs Ottawa: Kaltounková Arrives, Mrázová Looks Free
Game three belonged to New York and in many ways, it belonged to the Czech player whose name has hovered over this league for months: Kristýna Kaltounková.
The first overall pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft finally pulled on a New York Sirens jersey, and if you’ve watched her play for Colgate or Czechia, nothing about her debut surprised you. She played exactly the kind of game that made her a consensus top pick:
Explosive acceleration off the wall.
Heavy, direct entries that force defenders onto their heels.
Zero hesitation about throwing her body around.
That last part showed up early. In the first period, Kaltounková took a boarding penalty for hammering Ottawa rookie Sarah Wozniewicz into the end boards. It was reviewed for a major, but she ended up with a minor, an outcome that felt… generous. It was a very “welcome to the PWHL, the physical side travels too” kind of hit. For New York, the risk–reward equation is clear: you live with some time in the box because she tilts the ice when she’s out there. For Czechia, the opening weekend takeaway is that her game absolutely translates. Against pro defenders, she still looked like the one creating chaos rather than reacting to it.
On the other bench, Ottawa’s Czech heartbeat is still beating strong in Kateřina Mrázová. Last year, she missed chunks of the season with a lingering injury and returned just in time to drag Ottawa into the playoffs and then the Walter Cup Final. Even then, there were moments where you could wonder if she was really at 100%. In this opener, that doubt finally felt gone. Mrázová looked light, moving well, pivoting crisply on zone entries, and engaging in battles without any visible hesitation. There were no telltale “protect the body angles”, no half-speed routes to the puck. Just Mrázová playing her usual high-IQ, east-west game in a tough 4-0 loss where New York simply overwhelmed Ottawa, powered by a Taylor Girard hat trick and a Kayle Osborne shutout.
The Charge have lost big names (including Vanišová and Tejralová) and will need new voices and playmakers to step forward. A fully healthy Mrázová is exactly that, and opening night suggested she’s finally there.
Montreal vs Boston: Mlýnková Debuts, Pejšová Looks Ready
The weekend wrapped in Lowell, where Boston opened their season and quietly, so did a huge chapter for Czech hockey.
After a long “will they, won’t they” summer of cap gymnastics, Montreal finally signed 12th-overall pick Natálie Mlýnková on November 20, just days before the season opener. Sunday, she made her PWHL debut.
Montreal lost 2-0 to the Boston Fleet thanks to a third-career shutout from Aerin Frankel and goals from Susanna Tapani and captain Megan Keller. Discipline was a major problem for the Victoire, they spent far too much time killing penalties, which limited the amount we could actually see of Mlýnková and the team’s offensive rhythm in general.
Even in limited even-strength time, Mlýnková made a strong first impression. Smart routes along the boards to create soft passing options. Quick, deceptive hands in tight spaces. Strong positioning on the defensive side of the puck, she wasn’t cheating for offense. One sequence that stood out: a long, grinding shift on the penalty kill where she was stuck on the ice but still managed to keep lanes sealed and pressure the points, helping Montreal survive another disadvantage. For a rookie whose calling card is offense, seeing her trusted with any PK time in her first game is a very good sign.
On the Boston side, we got our first look at Daniela Pejšová’s sophomore campaign. The minutes weren’t huge, but the body language was. She looked calm, decisive, and much more confident jumping into plays when the door was open. For a young defenceman, “you didn’t notice her in a bad way” is often exactly the review you want in game one.
With Boston’s blue line headlined by Keller, Pejšová doesn’t have to be a star right now. She just needs steady progression. Opening night suggested she’s on that path.
What Opening Weekend Tells Us About Czechia’s PWHL Footprint
Step back from the individual storylines, and a bigger picture starts to emerge. Czech players are no longer just “nice depth pieces” in this league. Vanišová is the offensive engine and one of the overtime heroes for a brand-new franchise. Kaltounková is the face of a rebuild in a major market. Mlýnková is a core piece in Montreal’s forward group, not a fringe extra. Tejralová is literally the captain of her national team anchoring an expansion blue line.
Teams are actively fighting to keep or bring back Czechs. Minnesota didn’t shrug and move on after losing Křížová; they went out and got her back at the first opportunity. That says a lot about how front offices value these players now. For the national team, PWHL minutes = Olympic preparation. The more these players drive top-six minutes, special teams, and late-game situations in the PWHL, the more battle-tested they’ll be when Czechia tries to defend (and upgrade) its place among the world’s elite in 2026.
There are worries, of course, none bigger right now than Tejralová’s health. Until we get clearer news from Seattle, the only honest position is cautious concern and respect for how much she means to both her club and her country.
But overall, opening weekend felt like confirmation of something we’ve been saying for a while at ČWHR:Czech women’s hockey isn’t just “catching up” anymore. It’s helping shape the identity of the best league in the world. From St. Paul to Vancouver, from New York to Montreal. Year three of the PWHL is here. The Czechs are in the middle of it. And we’re just getting started.
