Heading into the Goldeneyes inaugural season, Madison Samoskevich was high on my list for players that I was excited to see. Her versatility on the ice made her a great pickup for the Goldeneyes in their first draft, and she only grew throughout the season. She was able to support on defense or forward, and finished the season with her first PWHL goal.
Now that all of the dust has settled on expansion and free agency, Samoskevich is the only player from the Goldeneyes’ inaugural draft to remain with the team. The Goldeneyes extended a qualifying offer to Samoskevich and she re-signed on a one-year deal with the team.
Earlier this moth, I sat down with Maddy Samoskevich to talk about her time in college, her rookie season in the PWHL, and what she’s looking forward to for her sophomore season. Before the interview, I asked a couple of her biggest fans on X (Dani and Jamie) if they had any questions for her. Those questions are mixed in with mine in this article.
Madison Samoskevich played her college hockey at Quinnipiac University. Through her five years with the Bobcats, Samoskevich scored 19 goals (six of which were game winning goals), and had 65 assists to finish with 84 points. Her 65 assists were the sixth highest in program history. While in college, Samoskevich alternated between playing defense and forward, giving her a lot more versatility to her game.
I asked Madison how her time at Quinnipiac helped to prepare her for her rookie season in the PWHL.
“I would say my time at Quinnipiac helped me to kind of learn how to be a really good teammate. We’re big on culture building at Quinnipiac, you know, we always were saying we have to be each other’s biggest fans and like root for each other always. So I would say that Quinnipiac kind of helped me to, you know, always kind of like bring the energy in the locker room and on the ice and stuff. I think that’s a big part of being a successful team,” she told me.
Samoskevich added that her biggest adjustment to the PWHL was around the physicality, and the type of hockey that they played at Quinnipiac helped her to feel more confident in that area, “I think that at Quinnipiac, we put so much into our battles and our battling and how you have to be resilient in every battle, so I think that also helps me get ready for the pro level.”
After college, Samoskevich declared for the PWHL Entry Draft and was drafted in the fifth round by the Vancouver Goldeneyes. Going into training camp, she was unsigned, which brought a lot of pressure.
When I asked about how her rookie season was, she told me, “I went into last year unsigned so like going to training camp was a lot of anxiety and stuff. So to make the team, that was just like so many emotions, so much excitement around it.”
But once she was officially on the team, there was a lot of excitement and a lot to adjust to. Travel, scheduling, and just getting used to the playing at the pro level took some time to get used to.
“I think that towards the end of the year is when I started to feel comfortable and confident and like fully just like being myself and not having all these question marks and trying to adjust to anything,” Samoskevich told me, “Now I actually feel so comfortable and going into next year, I can actually be confident and just learning, too.”
Going into her rookie season, Samoskevich was in a unique position. As a member of an expansion team, even the veterans were heading into a brand new situation. Did that make the transition any easier?
“I think [everyone being new to the team] helped a lot. I think that, you know, everyone at the beginning of last year was just trying to figure stuff out and there’s so much of that, like being an expansion team, that the coaches had to adjust to, the management had to adjust to,” She said.
Samoskevich added that it helped to feel like everyone was all in it together and that they could lean on each other for support, “I’d say that that’s definitely a different rookie experience than other rookies.”
One of the biggest things that stood out to Samoskevich about her rookie season with the Goldeneyes was the fan experience. When I asked her if she had a memorable fan experience, she was so excited to tell me about it.
“So Anna Segetti, she would always like, in warmups, the fans would always be throwing candy and stuff. So it became a thing where like, we always before the game would try and bet like ‘oh I wonder what candy we’ll get today’ or like we’d be like ‘who can get the most candy’?,” Samoskevich said, smiling, “And I think Segetti and I, we kind of bonded over that and so it was something really special.”
She echoed these sentiments when I asked her why she thought so many Vancouver Goldeneyes players decided to stay in Vancouver, rather than go elsewhere during expansion. The Goldeneyes lost the least amount of players in the expansion process.
“I think that the fans in Vancouver are pretty amazing,” Samoskevich explained, “They’re just, like they’re special. We go to other rinks and stuff and it’s just like the energy that our fans bring from the city is really legit.”
Samoskevich also believes that the city is another reason that players chose to stick around.
“The city of Vancouver is beautiful and just like, everything about it, I get so excited talking about it because I’m so excited to go back there,” Samoskevich said as we spoke over Zoom from Delaware where she was visiting family.
To see and hear more of this interview with Madison Samoskevich, listen to the IX Sports Podcast Hockey Edition on your preferred podcast platform, or watch on YouTube.
