A rundown of the history of women’s hockey cards and what it means for fans and the PWHL
The IX: Hockey Friday with The Ice Garden, July 11, 2025
Hello everyone, I am Giselle Velazquez from The Ice Garden and welcome to another edition of Hockey Friday! This week I am changing things up a bit. Since it’s summertime and the offseason I thought it would be great to talk about hobby trading cards, specifically women’s hockey cards.
Continue reading with a subscription to The IX
Get unlimited access to our exclusive coverage of a varitety of women’s sports, including our premium newsletter by subscribing today!
Already a member?
Login
Trading cards have been around for a very long time. They began in the early 1900s as a little treat in cigarette and candy packs in order to drive up sales. Companies took advantage of the popularity of baseball to garner interest in their products by including a trading card in products.
Save 30% when you order “Becoming Caitlin Clark”
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Click the link below to order and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout.
Hockey cards have a similar backstory as they were also made available through tobacco products. In the 1950s, Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee made hockey cards available through bubblegum packs. Even Sports Illustrated used to have perforated cards in their magazines. Sports trading cards have been widely available to fans for over 100 years. But it’s mostly been cards of men’s players especially in hockey.
So when Upper Deck released the first traditional set of Professional Women’s Hockey League cards in January, it was monumental.
The release coincides with the rise of the ever-growing PWHL. The league recently expanded to eight teams, held its 2025 draft, and continues to grow its audience after completing its second season. These cards aren’t just cards to lifelong collectors and fans of women’s hockey, they’re a huge step in the right direction.
Upper Deck had previously released digital packs twice in 2024. The first physical set they released included 50 base cards and 22 cards that were part of the Young Guns set. Each hobby box had six cards per pack and 12 packs per box. There were also color and design variants that were limited editions which made for fun surprises in every pack. The price was originally set at $90 but skyrocketed in price after the release. A quick search on eBay showed a box set on sale for $339 and another that sold months ago for over $700.
Fans want these cards.
There have been cards released before. Manon Rheaume was the first women’s hockey player to have her card released in 1992 after she signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and appeared in a preseason exhibition game at goaltender. She became the first woman to ever play in a preseason game in the NHL and in a major North American pro sports league.
The moment was commemorated by Classic Games who released her card in the 1992-93 release of the Classic Draft Picks set. One of those cards sold online for over $500. Rheaume has the most cards of any women’s hockey player as she spent a lot of time playing in men’s leagues throughout the 1990s.
But there were women’s hockey cards during this time — you just had to look for them. In 1994, there were women’s hockey players insert cards in the release of the 1994 Classic Hockey Draft Picks set. Of the 40 cards, half were of members from Team Canada and the rest of Team USA who played at the 1994 Women’s World Hockey Championship. Some of the players available were Rheaume, Cheryl Pounder, Angela James and Cammi Granato.
Now, there weren’t professional women’s hockey leagues in the late 1990s so most cards released during this time were limited. Canada’s Olympic players set was released through Esso in 1997 and a 20-card subset of Canada’s 1997 Women’s World Championship team was found in the Upper Deck NHL Collector’s Choice Series release according to former Canadian women’s national team member Andria Hunter’s site, whockey.com.
The 2007-08 O Canada set was released by In The Game Trading Cards. This set featured the Canadian National Women’s Team alongside the U 18 men’s team and the men’s junior team. Some notable names in this set come in dual cards that included Hayley Wickenheiser and Jennifer Botterill on a card and Danielle Goyette and Vicky Sunohara on another.
The 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee set includes various members of the Canadian women’s national team. Players include the likes of recent PWHL MVP Marie-Philip Poulin, Ottawa Charge head coach Carla MacLeod and executive vice president of hockey operations for the PWHL, Jayna Hefford.
During this time there were also smaller collections released in other series. Upper Deck released World of Sport in 2010 which included athletes from all over different sports. This one included members of the gold medal winning U 18 Canadian team and also included former Olympians. Topps issued a US Olympic and Paralympic Team and Hopefuls set in 2014 which included Hilary Knight.
The late Mandi Schwartz was commemorated with her own card in Upper Deck’s Series One set that included her in the Heroic Inspirations insert found within the packs. These special cards also have a piece of her Yale jersey within the card. Schwartz passed away from cancer in 2011 at age 23 and the card honored her memory. Upper Deck also made more cards available through The Mandi Schwartz Foundation.
Upper Deck then released a Team Canada Juniors collection in 2014. Though it mostly included men’s players, some members of Team Canada were also included in the release including Brianne Jenner, Sarah Vaillancourt and Natalie Spooner.
So far most of these cards have been limited to the usual trading card providers like Upper Deck and weren’t widely available unless you were looking for them. That all changed in 2022 when Tim Horton’s along with Upper Deck launched the Team Canada set that was available for purchase in person. It included 15 cards from stars of the women’s side of Team Canada. This marked the first time women were featured in the Tim Horton’s release!
A month prior to the Tim Horton’s release Upper Deck had announced a multi-year partnership with the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) to produce the first-ever sets of professional women’s hockey cards. It was the first time Upper Deck was partnering with a non-men’s league to produce trading cards. Unfortunately the deal never came to life as the PHF folded in June 2023 before any traditional sets were released. They were able to release the 2022 PHF All-Star Showcase set as e-pack that could be converted to a physical card afterwards.
When the PWHL was created in 2023, it provided a new professional league and set the stage for a new partnership with Upper Deck which happened in March of 2024. The exclusive license with Upper Deck meant full sets of women’s cards were on the horizon both in physical and digital format.
Upper Deck released free digital trading cards the day the deal was announced. The e-pack was based around ‘Inspirational Icons’ and it featured decorated American and Canadian Olympians such as Kendall Coyne Schofield, Sarah Nurse and Abby Roque. Another e-pack was released in May of 2024 that highlighted the PWHL’s inaugural season. Some of these cards included New York shutting out Toronto in the first game of the season and Grace Zumwinkle recording the first hat trick in league history. Another e-pack was then released in August of 2024. They included the first cards for players like Emma Maltais, Nicole Hensley and Ann-Renée Desbiens.
The first traditional set of cards were released in January with the 2025 Upper Deck PWHL Hockey set being released later. The newer set added the chance of collecting autographed cards. These sets include cards like portraits with a gold variant and a separate purple one as well. The newest edition also includes ‘Elevated Talent’ which also includes different colored cards such as blue and red along with gold and purple.
Don’t worry, Tim Horton’s included the PWHL in this year’s release of the Retrospective Rookies series which included 15 PWHL players.
Canadian national players have had way more cards printed over the years as opposed to American players and Manon Rheaume has had an incredible share of cards released over the decades too! Even Cammi Granato had cards printed of her during her time at Providence College.
What does this all mean?
Well for starters, the world of professional women’s hockey cards feels like it’s just getting started. While the cards from years past have been of national team members, this is the first time a league had their own full set cards with the PWHL release earlier this year. Printing only national team cards for so long means some players still do not have cards of their own and hopefully Upper Deck will release sets that will end up resulting in each PWHL player having their own physical card in existence. But that also means that so many legends have numerous cards available which is awesome for collectors who want to expand their collection and show it off too. (Like womenshockeycards on Instagram who has a whole page dedicated to cards and also includes a brief history of each player showcased on the page!)
With Upper Deck and the PWHL working together, there are endless possibilities for new card ideas. Something to start with would be cards for players of the newest teams in the league. A release of a few PWHL Seattle and PWHL Vancouver before next season’s end would be cool. Sooner than that, there could be an insert set of moments from the 2025 draft or even better there could be duo cards with hockey siblings. It would be awesome to have J.T. and Jesse Compher on a card or even Alex and Abby Newhook too.
Want women’s hockey content? Subscribe to The Ice Garden!
Here at The IX, we’re collaborating with The Ice Garden to bring you Hockey Friday. And if you want the women’s hockey goodness 24/7? Well, you should subscribe to The Ice Garden now!
Trading cards are cool. They’re fun and creative and commemorative and even the chase to find and collect them is fun too. But what makes them the most fun when it comes to women’s hockey is knowing so many people whether young or old will have a section in their collection just for women’s hockey.
If you have been thinking about collecting cards or curious to see what’s out there, I recommend giving it a look as a new hobby during the offseason.
Around the hockey world
Five PWHL players who are guaranteed Hall of Famers — The Ice Garden
Last week, Melissa Burgess wrote about five women who are eligible for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in this newsletter. Now Melissa continues her recognition of eligible players with current PWHL players who can easily be inducted into the Hall.
Surprise players who can push for a Canadian Olympic roster spot — The Ice Garden
It’s never too early to think about the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games, so Geremy took a look at players who could earn a roster spot next year.
2025 PWHL Draft recaps — The Victory Press
Nicole Haase over at The Victory Press has been writing draft recaps for all eight PWHL teams over the past few weeks. If you’re curious who went where or want to get to know new players entering the league from overseas or college, these recaps have you covered.
Top undrafted players who could get PWHL training camp invites — The Ice Garden
On that note, I recently wrote about the undrafted players who may find themselves getting a chance in the league via training camp invite. There were many players who went undrafted, and this is a story that could be bookmarked and returned to later if these players get signed.
Hometown hero Chanreet Bassi is ready to start her journey with PWHL Vancouver — The Hockey News
Izzy Cheung wrote a piece about PWHL draft pick Chanreet Bassi who became the first South Asian player to be selected in the draft after being chosen by PWHL Vancouver as the last pick. Bassi played her collegiate career at The University of British Columbia and grew up there as well.
| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
| Wednesdays: Basketball |
| By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next |
| Thursdays: Golf |
| By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX |
| Fridays: Hockey |
| By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden |
| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
