Canadian Micah Zandee-Hart embraces PWHL captaincy in city that never sleeps

Micah Zandee-Hart doesn't feel intimidated wearing the captain's 'C' in one of the biggest sports markets in the world.

The 26-year-old defender from Victoria is the first captain of New York's Professional Women's Hockey League team.

The unnamed club — none of the PWHL's six teams have been assigned names yet — will try to carve out a niche in an area with multiple NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball franchises, as well as Major League Soccer, WNBA and National Women's Soccer League teams.

"You've got to work to build that fan base and build that support, especially in such a big area like New York City when there's so much going on," Zandee-Hart said. "The fact that we have not only other professional sports teams but other very successful professional women's sports franchises, using those connections and trying to build those connections within those different franchises and kind of sharing the fan base and stuff like that, I think is going to be a huge asset to us.

"It might take some time off the hop to build that."

Zandee-Hart won both an Olympic gold medal and a world championship with Canada in 2022, as well as silver medal at the 2023 world championship.

The five-foot-eight, 150-pound defender was among New York general manager Pascal Daoust's first three free-agent signings in September when Zandee-Hart agreed to a three-year contract.

She's among 30 Canadians sprinkled across rosters of the PWHL's three teams in the United States.

Zandee-Hart and alternate captains Alex Carpenter and Ella Shelton were introduced to the public in New York style just before Christmas at glitzy Rockerfeller Plaza with its towering, glittering tree as a backdrop.

"Everyone kept saying it feels like we're in a Hallmark movie,"