All of these individual stories are part of a bigger project highlighting Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey alumnae in the PWHL. For information about the individual teams click here. The articles reflect the 2025-26 season rosters.
VANCOUVER GOLDENEYES
Vancouver Goldeneyes is one of the two new teams in the PWHL, introduced for the 2025-26 season. The team plays in the former rink of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks — the Pacific Coliseum.
At the start of their first season the Goldeneyes rostered two former Quinnipiac players, defender Emma Greco ‘17 and forward Maddy Samoskevich ‘25.
Greco has since been traded to the Ottawa Charge on Jan. 18 as part of a six-player trade between the two teams, leaving Samoskevich — Vancouver’s fourth 2025 draft pick from the 39th place — as a sole former Bobcat on the team.
“I was at home in my living room with my parents and when my name got called, everyone started cheering,” Samoskevich recalled. “It was something really special and it was something I’ll never forget. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole night.”
Samoskevich played five years with the Bobcats, four as a defender and her final year as a center. Even at the back of the line, she wanted to contribute to the offensive part of the game, with her speed and her shot giving her an advantage. The switch would also prove valuable, as she set her sights on the PWHL.
She wanted to move up to offense a year earlier, but according to Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey’s head coach Cass Turner, the team didn’t have the depth to allow that.
“The only good thing that was gonna come of it is she was gonna continue to grow, and that’s what we both decided was important,” Turner said. “We wanted to rid her of some of the stress of defending and let her be able to show what she could do offensively. She has such a great shot and I think it really helped her game to evolve. I don’t know whether she’s gonna play d or forward this year, but she’ll do great in either position.”
Samoskevich and her siblings are a hockey family through and through. Her dad played all throughout high school and her twin brother, Matthew, is a forward for the NHL’s Florida Panthers, selected as the 24th overall draft pick in 2021, and after last season, a Stanley Cup winner.
“At first I hated it, but my parents’ took me to all of my siblings’ games because they knew that I was eventually gonna fall in love with the sport,” Maddy said. “Being part of it with my siblings, it bonded us so much and we have so many great memories from it.”
Her older sister, Melissa Samoskevich ‘19, is a former Bobcat forward as well, playing alongside Greco and opening up her collegiate career on a seven-game point streak.
After Melissa’s professional career — where she played for the PHF’s Connecticut Whale and represented the U.S. at the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship — she worked as the program’s director of player development and operations and now serves as assistant coach at University of Delaware.
“We’re all each other’s biggest fans,” Maddy said. “I watch every game of my brother’s that I can and I know he watches my games too because he texts me all the time.”
“We love the family, but I remember really distinctly talking to Maddy about becoming her own person, if she were to come to Quinnipiac, not being Melissa’s little sister,” Turner said. “I wanted her identity to be different, not to be compared to her sister. I think for her it was really transformative.”
At first, Maddy didn’t consider Quinnipiac because she didn’t want to just follow in her sister’s footsteps.
“When I was going through the recruiting process, I didn’t want anything to do with Quinnipiac,” Maddy laughed. “And then my sister begged me to just visit once. So I went. The second I stepped foot on that campus, I just felt like home.”
Across her four years as a defender, Maddy recorded 114 blocked shots. As a forward in her graduate season, she noted 22 points and led the team in faceoff wins with 353.
“I grew so much as a player throughout my five years,” Maddy said. “The little things that I learned at Quinnipiac, it’s really prepared me for this next step and I’m excited to use everything that I’ve learned at Quinnipiac in this league.”
As many other Quinnipiac players echo as well, Maddy praised the culture at Quinnipiac and it seems like that same sentiment is echoed by her new teammates as well.
“So far this summer I’ve been really nervous,” she said. “A couple of girls on Vancouver have reached out to me, and just their support is helping me through it. There’s so many great girls in this league, on and off the ice. I’m really excited about Greco, she’s my sister’s best friend, so it’ll be fun.”
She has yet to record a point on the season as of Jan. 20.
SEATTLE TORRENT
The Seattle Torrent is the second new addition to the PWHL franchise in the 2025-26 season. The team shares its home ice with Seattle Krakens.
Alongside their general manager, former Quinnipiac forward Meghan Turner ‘17, the Torrent signed two additional former Bobcats, goaltender Corinne Schroeder ‘22 and forward Lexie Adzija ‘23.
Schroeder played her undergraduate career at Boston University, before transferring to Quinnipiac for her extra year of eligibility.
“I had talked with Cass Turner back in grade 10, she recruited me the first time around too, but for goalies it’s really hard to find positions because you have to slot yourself in perfectly,” Schroeder said. “Cause there’s only three spots on a team. So it didn’t work out the first time, but the second time around she was like ‘We gotta have you.’ And that was really nice to reconnect with her and I had a great year at Quinnipiac.”
She started 25 games as a Bobcat and recorded six shutouts. She finished her five year career in Quinnipiac’s double-overtime loss to Ohio State in the NCAA Regional Final, tallying 73 saves — the most saves in a single game in program history and sixth in the all-time NCAA. She also tallied the program’s first shutout victory in the NCAA Tournament against Syracuse.
In her very first game with the Bobcats, she became the first female college goaltender to be credited with a goal in NCAA history.
“The team was great and it was a very easy transition,” Schroeder said. “We played really well that year which is always fun.”
Schroeder was drafted by the New York Sirens in the 2023 draft, starting the first ever PWHL game.
“New York was the only one that didn’t sign a goalie for three years,” Schroeder said. “So it seemed like they’d want me there. But as (the draft) went on I was like ‘Am I gonna get picked this round or is someone gonna take me as a back-up?’ It was a bit stressful but it worked out.”
She also recorded the league’s first ever shutout in that same game.
“It was pretty nervewracking,” Schroeder said. “Obviously you’re playing against a select group of players that were all the best of their college teams. You’re facing better shooting, better playmakers. The speed of the game is much quicker, you have to be much more alert, reacting to what they do.”
In her first year with the Sirens, she ended with a .930 save percentage and .919 in her second year.
In early 2025, Schroeder was one of the five players that Seattle signed during its exclusive signing window.
“I didn’t even fully transition to being a goalie until like 12-13,” Schroeder said. “I played games here and there and they were like, ‘You’re not afraid of the puck, you keep doing that.”
She has started six games for the Torrent so far and as of Jan. 20, records 147 saves with a .907 save percentage.
Adzija is another addition to the Sirens in her third season with the PWHL. In the inaugural draft, she was picked by Ottawa 65th overall, also being the first drafted player to sign with the Charge.
She spent five years with the Bobcats, becoming a co-captain in her final year alongside former defender Zoe Boyd, who plays for the Boston Fleet.
“They’re very different from one another,” Turner said. “They’re both very confident in who they are, but I think they found common ground and got along well. They’re both great.”
The St. Thomas, Ontario native netted 43 goals and recorded 109 points in her Quinnipiac career.
In the 17 games with Ottawa, Adzija posted five goals and three assists, before being traded to the Boston Fleet for another former Bobcat Shiann Darkangelo ‘15, where she finished the season off with additional four points. In June, she signed a two-year contract with the Torrent and two goals for the team as of Jan. 20.
