The PWHL is heading west by selecting Vancouver as its first expansion franchise on Wednesday as part of the six-team league’s objective to broaden its reach across North America.
A member of the Vancouver Angels under-11 girls team, with her teammates holding up signs reading “PWHL we want a team,” made the announcement official during a news conference by saying: “We got a team.” The PWHL then cut to highlights of the league's “Takeover Tour” neutral site game in Vancouver in January, and closed with a visual of the PWHL Vancouver logo.
“The momentum behind the PWHL continues to grow and the fans have made it clear. They’re ready for a team here and now. Today is a great day for a city that passionately supports its teams,” vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said. “This expansion brings greater visibility to the West Coast, expands our geographic footprint, and most importantly, grows the game.”
And the addition of a second expansion team — with Seattle a candidate — is on the horizon, vice president of business operations Amy Scheer told The Associated Press.
“While some might say Seattle is the obvious shoe to drop, that doesn’t mean that’s what we’re going to do,” Scheer said of pairing the two Pacific Northwest markets.
“So we’ll see what the following weeks or months bring,” she added, while saying it would be reasonable to expect the PWHL to expand by two teams for the start of next season.
Though the league is targeting Seattle, an agreement has not been finalized, a person with knowledge of the discussions told the AP and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Should a deal not be reached, the PWHL would consider other markets, the person said, with Denver and Detroit serving as likely candidates.
The addition of Vancouver represents a major milestone for a league that's brought together the sport’s top players since being established in June 2023 and is in the midst of completing its second season.
Though Detroit was regarded as a prime expansion market, the PWHL looked west in taking the next step toward evolving into a true North American league beyond its concentration of five northeastern-based teams — Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto — and one in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Vancouver became an obvious choice over the six months since the PWHL announced it was preparing to evaluate more than 20 markets in a bid to expand by as many as two franchises.
Aside from being Canada’s third-largest city with a large corporate base to serve as potential league sponsors, Vancouver is enjoying growth among its youth girls hockey programs, and offers two venues that will make Vancouver the PWHL's first franchise serving as the primary tenant.
The yet-to-be named team will play out of the Pacific Coliseum, former home to the NHL's Canucks, and practice at the Agrodome. Both are located on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds east of the city’s downtown, and easily accessible by a major highway connecting Vancouver's suburbs.
The PNE has also committed to upgrading the locker room and training facilities at both venues to meet PWHL standards.
Another boost in Vancouver’s favor came with the PWHL’s Takeover Tour game generating a crowd of 19,038 — the fourth-largest turnout in league history.
Scheer noted fan engagement on social media leading up to the game was the largest for any of the PWHL’s nine Takeover Tour events this year. She also cited 70% of those in attendance were making first-time visits to the Canucks current home, Rogers Arena.
Another plus was the interest expressed by local officials, with Scheer saying PWHL officials were floored by how comprehensive the PNE bid was to land a team.
"When that puck drops at the Coliseum, the roar of approval, the roar joy is gonna be so loud and it’s gonna feel so great. I can’t wait to be there to do that with you all," B.C. Minister of Tourism, Arts Culture and Sport Spencer Chandra Herbert said. “Hallelujah, celebration, throw babies in the air, not too far. Clap your hands stomp your feet. This is a great day for hockey in British Columbia.”
The payoff has quickly been apparent. Within hours of the announcement, Scheer said Vancouver already sold out of premium season ticket deposits. Vancouver’s premium founding membership program includes seating in the center sections, access to a private lounge and additional benefits.
Scheer said Vancouver was still accepting regular season ticket deposits. The arena’s capacity is listed at 17,713, but that figure is expected to drop because of upcoming renovations.
The team will initially go by PWHL Vancouver, and its colors will be Pacific blue and cream. The PWHL plans to announce the date of an expansion draft and how Vancouver will be integrated into its entry draft on June 24 at a later time.
Expansion coincides with a talented group of college and European prospects expected to join the PWHL over the next two years. It's a group that includes Wisconsin senior Casey O'Brien, college hockey's MVP last season, and the Wisconsin junior tandem of Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards.
“It adds just another reason why this is the right move now. The depth of talent is really good," Hefford said, noting expansion also opens more opportunities to develop coaches and support staff.
For Hefford, Vancouver’s selection brings back a host of memories. In attending the Takeover stop in Vancouver, the former Canadian women’s national team star was joined by former teammate Charline Labonte, and Canucks assistant GMs, Cammi Granato and Émilie Castonguay.
The 2010 Vancouver Winter Games is also where Hefford, a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, won her third of four Olympic gold medals.
“I think those Vancouver Games left a real imprint on Canadians for many reasons,” Hefford said, noting Canada won a then-national Winter Games record of 26 medals, including gold for the men’s hockey team. “I just think that was such a pivotal moment for our country, and to be able to bring the PWHL there is something we’re all very excited about.”
AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
Member of the Vancouver Angels girls ice hockey team help announce that the PWHL will be expanding to Vancouver for the 2025-26 season during a press event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday April 23, 2025. (Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP)
FILE - Montreal Victoire's Claire Dalton (42) and Toronto Sceptres' Allie Munroe (12) vie for the puck during first period PWHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Fans gather to watch the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Sceptres warm up before a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump warned Iran against reconstituting its nuclear program Monday as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his home in Florida for wide-ranging talks.
The warning comes after Trump has insisted that Tehran's nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June. But Israeli officials have been quoted in local media expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters soon after Netanyahu arrived at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We'll knock them down. We'll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
Trump’s warning to Iran comes as his administration has committed significant resources to targeting drug trafficking in South America and the president looks to create fresh momentum for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The Gaza deal is in danger of stalling before reaching its complicated second phase that would involve naming an international governing body and rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory.
Iran has insisted that it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program. But Netanyahu was expected to discuss with Trump the need to potentially take new military action against Tehran just months after launching a 12-day war on Iran.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s warning.
Trump criticized Iran anew for not making a deal to completely disarm its nuclear program ahead of the U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
“They wish they made that deal,” Trump said.
Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he wants to get to the second phase of the Gaza deal “as quickly as we can.”
“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump added.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.
The truce's first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.
The Israeli leader, who also met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza.
Gvili’s parents met with Netanyahu as well as Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Florida on Monday. The Gvilis are expected to meet with Trump later in the day, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that advocates for families of abductees of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
“They’re waiting for their son to come home," Trump said of the family of the young police officer known affectionately as “Rani,”
The path ahead is certainly complicated.
If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.
It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.
Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.
Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday's meeting is unclear.
A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force's mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.
All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven't been made public.
The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.
Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.
The two leaders, who have a long and close relationship, heaped praise on each other. Trump also tweaked the Israeli leader, who at moments during the war has raised Trump's ire, for being “very difficult on occasion.”
Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.
Trump has previously written to Herzog to urge a pardon and advocated for one during his October speech before the Knesset. He said Monday that Herzog has told him “it’s on its way" without offering further details.
“He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?" Trump said.
Herzog's office said in a statement that the Israeli president and Trump have not spoken since the pardon request was submitted, but that Herzog has spoken with a Trump representative about the U.S. president's letter advocating for Netanyahu's pardon.
“During that conversation, an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which the request currently stands, and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures,” the Israeli president's office. “This was conveyed to President Trump’s representative, exactly as President Herzog stated publicly in Israel.”
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington, Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, and Lee Keath and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump greets Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks before a luncheon with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as President Donald Trump speaks before a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seated before a luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump listens as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an arrival at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during a NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Tracks Santa Operation call at his Mar-a-Lago club, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference after a trilateral meeting with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Citadel of David Hotel in Jerusalem, Monday Dec. 22, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
Amal Matar, 65, sits next to the oven as she cooks for her family in the Al-Shati camp, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian youth walk along a tent camp for displaced people as the sun sets in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
