Saturday, January 3, 2026 | 7 p.m. ET | Little Caesars Arena - Detroit
WATCH LIVE: TV 20 Detroit, NESN, TV 38, TSN 5, TSN.ca, TSN App, PWHL YouTube & thepwhl.com (U.S. / International), More
Ben Holden (Play-by-Play), Alexis Huss (Analyst), Natalie Kerwin (Reporter)
VANCOUVER GOLDENEYES
2-1-1-5 | 9 PTS | 7TH PLACE (TIED)
Top Scorer: Claire Thompson – 8 GP, 2-4-6 PTS
Last Game: 2-0 L at NY on Dec. 31
BOSTON FLEET
6-0-1-1 | 19 PTS | 1ST PLACE
Top Scorer: Megan Keller – 8 GP, 3-5-8 PTS
Last Game: 3-2 SOL at OTT on Dec. 27
2025-26 SEASON SERIES: BOSTON LEADS 3-0 IN POINTS
Dec. 3 at BOS: 2-0 BOS | Jan. 3 at BOS (DETROIT) | Mar. 10 at VAN | Mar. 24 at BOS | Apr. 7 at VAN (EDMONTON)
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The PWHL returns to Little Caesars Arena for the third time following a Takeover Tour game in Detroit on Mar. 16 of last season where New York beat Minnesota 4-1. Exactly one year earlier during the inaugural season, Boston beat Ottawa 2-1 in a shootout in the very first PWHL neutral site game as part of a Takeover Weekend with Pittsburgh.
Six Goldeneyes played last season in Detroit, including Michela Cava, Mellissa Channell-Watkins, Sophie Jaques, Brooke McQuigge and Claire Thompson on Minnesota, and Gabby Rosenthal on New York. McQuigge and Jaques assisted on the Frost’s only goal of the game.
Aerin Frankel backstopped Boston to its shootout win over Ottawa in Detroit in Season One with a 25-save performance opposite Vancouver’s Emerance Maschmeyer who also stopped 25 shots. Hannah Brandt and Megan Keller both had assists on Boston’s goal and are two of the nine players on this year’s team who competed in the game. Goldeneyes captain Ashton Bell also suited up for Ottawa.
This is the second of five Takeover Tour games this season for Vancouver, tied for the most in the league. The Goldeneyes lost 2-1 in overtime against Minnesota in Edmonton on Dec. 27. They’ll play in Québec and Denver later this month before returning to Edmonton in April.
This is the first of three Takeover Tour games for the Fleet this season, who will host Ottawa in Halifax on Jan. 11 before a rematch with the Goldeneyes in Edmonton in April. Boston won its first two Takeover Tour games last season in shootouts (in Seattle and Buffalo) before losing 2-1 to Ottawa in St. Louis.
These teams met on Dec. 3 at Agganis Arena in Boston, with the Fleet earning a 2-0 win, one of Boston’s league-leading three shutouts this season. The Goldeneyes have scored 12 goals in their four games in Vancouver this season (3.00 goals per game) but have just three in five games outside Vancouver (0.60). The Goldeneyes do not have a road win yet this season.
Five players from these teams were named to Olympic rosters Friday, including a third straight Team USA nod for Keller and debuts for Frankel and rookie Haley Winn. Vancouver’s Michelle Karvinen was named to Team Finland for her fifth Olympics alongside Boston’s Susanna Tapani for her third.
There are 88 American players in the PWHL representing 19 different states, including 13 players from Michigan, which ranks second in the PWHL behind Minnesota’s 27. The Fleet have three Michigan natives on their roster in Keller (Farmington) and rookies Riley Brengman (China Township) and Amanda Thiele (Milford). Only New York (four) has more. The Goldeneyes are represented by Channell-Watkins (Plymouth) and rookie Anna Segedi (Commerce Township).
Keller played five seasons with Honeybaked at the U14 (2009–10), U16 (2010–11) and U19 (2012–14) levels before attending Boston College. The Fleet captain is currently riding a career-high five-game point streak and leads all defenders in scoring.
Brengman, Boston’s fourth-round pick, and Thiele, the Fleet’s sixth-round selection in June’s draft, are playing together for the ninth consecutive season. They won three Club State titles together with Little Caesars U16, Belle Tire U19 and then two NCAA National Championships at Ohio State University.
Channell-Watkins played for the Detroit Little Caesars U16 and U19 teams and was an alternate captain on a U19 squad that won a State Championship. She later returned to Little Caesars as a coach, winning back-to-back National Championships as an assistant with Little Caesars 16U (2020-21) and Little Caesars 19U AAA (2021-22).
Segedi was born in China but grew up in Commerce Township. She played with Belle Tire in Detroit, captaining the U19 team to three straight State Championships and a National Championship in 2017. During her time at St. Lawrence University, she represented China at the 2022 Olympics, playing for head coach Brian Idalski. Her family owns a local catering company, Szegedi's.
Idalski grew up just outside Detroit in Warren and attended Notre Dame High School. He played junior hockey for the Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings of the NAHL, two hours west of Detroit. He is a long-time Red Wings, Lions, Tigers and Pistons fan.
The Fleet’s starting lineup will be read in the locker room pre-game by Kaylani, who attended back-to-back Megan Keller Summer Camps (2024, 2025). She is celebrating her ninth birthday by attending this game.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“I'm super excited, especially with all the friends and family that are coming to the game. It's going to be super fun. It's exciting to see girls in the stands who are wearing the same jerseys as I did growing up, and now they can see something to strive for and know that there's a place for them to have a future.” – Goldeneyes defender Mellissa Channell-Watkins
“I'm really excited to be back home in front of friends and family. We had the opportunity to play here a couple years ago and it was an amazing experience seeing all the young girls in the crowd. It was a super special game to be a part of and we're all excited to do it again.” - Fleet Captain Megan Keller
SATURDAY’S GAME: The first-place Boston Fleet take on the expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes for the second time this season as part of the PWHL Takeover Tour™ presented by Ally Financial. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a scarf upon entry, courtesy of Ally Financial. Detroit is one of four returning Takeover Tour markets along with Denver, Edmonton and Québec City, and one of five markets to host multiple Takeover Tour games this season along with Chicago, Denver, Edmonton and Halifax. The Tour returns on March 28 for a game between the New York Sirens and Montréal Victoire. Little Caesars Arena is one of 30 venues to host a PWHL game all-time, including one of 16 venues with a current NHL team. Each of the first two PWHL games in Detroit set U.S. professional women’s hockey attendance records, with 13,736 fans during the inaugural season, followed by a crowd of 14,288 last season when the PWHL celebrated its one millionth fan. That record was broken this season during the inaugural home opener of the expansion Seattle Torrent with 16,014 fans at Climate Pledge Arena in November. The PWHL has partnered with local nonprofits including Detroit USO, Special Olympics, Clark Park Coalition, ESCH, and Detroit Performance Hockey – Jack Adams Memorial for today’s game to promote gender equity and empower the next generation of female leaders by offering access to live women's sports experiences. Prior to tonight’s game, the Detroit Red Wings host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena for a double-header in Hockeytown. The Penguins lineup includes Anthony Mantha, whose older sister Élizabeth Mantha, is a PWHL official and one of tonight’s referees. This is also the first time in PWHL history that two Takeover Tour games will occur on the same day, with Seattle and Toronto battling in Hamilton this afternoon.