Carly Jackson trained all summer like she had a hockey job, even though she didn’t.
The goaltender had just signed a one-year, $60,000 contract extension with the Toronto Six in June when it was announced that the Premier Hockey League was being bought out to make way for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
“That was pretty shocking because it turned into ‘I know exactly what I’m doing’ and then a big ‘I have no idea what I’m doing and we don’t know what this is going to look like,'” Jackson said.
But the 26-year-old from Amherst, N.S., hired Six’s former strength coach and hit the gym. She skated with a group of male players in Atlantic Canada before hitting the ice with the Amherst Ramblers Junior A men’s team.
“I was preparing for a season and that hasn’t changed, even though it was a little more unknown to me at the time,” Jackson said.
Following the PWHL’s early September free agency window and the September 18 draft, Jackson received an invitation to training camp from Gina Kingsbury, the general manager of the PWHL club in Toronto.
“I was pretty excited when I got a call from Toronto after the draft,” Jackson said.
PWHL training camps begin Wednesday and bring together a total of 184 players, as well as coaches and support staff, in each of the league’s six cities for the first time.
The PWHL announced the locations of its training camps in a press release on Monday.
Toronto will train at the Ford Performance Center on the east side of the city. The center is the practice facility for the Maple Leafs of the NHL and the Marlies of the American Hockey League.
Ottawa will hold its camp at TD Place Arena, home of the 67ers of the Ontario Hockey League.
Montreal will train at Center 21.02 in the Verdun Auditorium. It is the only recognized high-performance hockey center for female players in Canada.
The yet-to-be-named teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Minneapolis-St.-Paul will have a minimum of 28 and a maximum of 35 players on their rosters.
The final squads on December 11th will be limited to 23 plus two reserve players.
Salaries range from a minimum of $35,000 to a maximum of $80,000. The PWHL’s 24-game regular season is scheduled to begin in early January.
The PWHL’s training camp rosters are a mix of the first 18 free agency signings, 88 draft picks and 78 camp invites. A total of 76 players were signed.
Mikyla Grant-Mentis was the PHF MVP and top scorer and one of the league’s highest-paid players when she signed an $80,000 contract to play for the Buffalo Beauts in 2022.
Much like Jackson, the 25-year-old forward from Toronto trained and skated throughout the summer without a clear picture of her hockey future.
Her name was not mentioned in the PWHL draft. Grant-Mentis says she received several invitations to a training camp and chose Ottawa in part because her childhood friend Daryl Watts was drafted and signed by the club.
“I was a little disappointed not to get drafted, but at the same time I think it definitely worked in my favor because now I could basically decide where I wanted to go,” Grant-Mentis said.
“I often had to prove myself in my career. My off-season was really good and I’m looking forward to competing in camp and showing what I can bring to the team and what I can do for Ottawa.”
The training camp rosters are a mix of former Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA) members, including several national team players from Canada and the United States, former PHF players and some college and university graduates.
Alex Poznikoff spent the last three seasons with the PWHPA after a collegiate career with her hometown Edmonton Pandas. She also received more than one camp invitation and chose Montreal.
“I would have liked to have been drafted, but I had my heart set on getting camp,” Poznikoff said. “I will compete with the same mentality I always do.
“Work hard and if they think I’m a good addition to the team, hopefully that will happen.”
The Albertan is one of the many women who leave their homeland to work in training camps.
“Nothing is guaranteed. Not many of us have contracts,” Poznikoff said. “So you kind of go and hope for the best, and when you do, you’re like, ‘Okay, now I’m here.’
“Honestly, it’s really hard to plan anything, but I had to come to terms with it.”
The first two games of the Rivalry Series between Canada and the United States featured 36 players currently on the PWHL roster.
One of the Canadian women’s team’s goalkeepers, Kristen Campbell, is ranked No. 1 on Toronto’s goaltending list and enters camp as the only draft pick among the four and has signed a three-year contract.
Jackson will compete with Campbell and two other camp invitees for the two jobs in Toronto.
“I’ve never been in a specific situation like this, where you show up and you can be fired or made the team at any time,” Jackson said. “It was probably this bad before college.
“No matter who you are, no matter what your resume is, I think you have to show up every day and be a good person and work your butt off. There’s this quote: “Success is not a given. It’s earned and the rent is due every day.'”
Rosters must be reduced to 27 by November 29th before the first waiver window. During the second waiver window, December 8-10, teams will submit a list of their final releases to PWHL headquarters for distribution to all clubs.
Players eligible for waivers may be contacted by teams and offered contracts before December 11th.
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