Playing hockey no longer a 'hobby' with 10 p.m. practices for PWHL's Sarah Nurse

Playing hockey for a living has changed the way some women in the Professional Women's Hockey League see themselves in the game.

The PWHL's third season opens Friday with the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent squaring off, and the Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost hosting the Toronto Sceptres.

As the league has evolved since the first game Jan. 1, 2024, so have players. Their dream of more games and practices, a living wage, and the competitive support their male counterparts have finally come true, but it also meant wrapping their heads around it.

"For so long, I was an Olympic athlete, I am an Olympic athlete, I'm at the top of my top of my game, I'm one of the best players in our country, the best players in the world, but hockey still felt like a hobby almost," recalled forward Sarah Nurse, who signed with the expansion Goldeneyes in the summer after two seasons with the Sceptres.

"We didn't have great ice times, we didn't have access to the best resources, the best people, and you're practising at 10 o'clock at night. You kind of start thinking, 'Is this real? What are we doing?'

“It felt like a hobby prior to the PWHL and now like just with the travel, with games, with practices, with the pressures of the media, with the pressure of the fan bases that we've been able to establish, it's all good, but it changes the way that you really view the game and it really does become a job."

For Canada's top players, pressure to win is no longer confined to world championship and Olympic Games tournaments, and a handful of international games against the United States each winter.

Competition to earn a PWHL job, keep a PWHL job and satisfy a fan base that wants the Walter Cup has upped the hockey ante in their