On Oct. 10, during the second intermission of a 3-1 Sharks loss, a group of reporters huddled in the hallway behind the SAP Center press boxes, waiting for their first chance to hear from PWHL San Jose players in the new team’s home market.
The four players who talked to the media that afternoon — at PWHL San Jose Day at SAP Center — were an eclectic group. A third-string goaltender. An Olympic gold-medal-winning defender. An NCAA championship-winning rookie. A fourth-year forward with just two PWHL goals.
But while Abbey Levy, Rory Guilday, Sloane Matthews, and Brook Bryant had taken very different journeys to get to the future home rink of PWHL San Jose, their answers to a repeated question from the media — What will be the on-ice identity of the inaugural iteration of PWHL San Jose? — were remarkably similar.
Youth Movement
“I think we are a naturally really young team,” Matthews said. “Bringing that energy every game, we’re going to outwork the other teams, and we’re gonna bring a lot of skill and new talent to the league. I’m excited to see what we can do.”
While Matthews — a 22-year-old rookie — best embodies San Jose’s youth out of the four players interviewed, the topic was on the mind of everyone on the team.
Guilday, coming off her Olympic debut and PWHL rookie season, will play on her fourth team in three years and has seen plenty of different locker room compositions.
“We’re young, but I think that’s going to be a strength of ours,” Guilday said. “I think we’re going to come in with a lot of energy, a lot of passion, and just like willing to learn and willing to get better.”
On most teams, players in their mid-20s might expect to sit back and let older veterans lead, but Guilday, Levy, and Bryant won’t have that luxury. Levy, 26, joked that she felt uncomfortable with the “veteran” label because she still felt “like one of the young ones.”
While Levy will help third-round draft pick and fellow goalie Tia Chan adjust to professional hockey, Guilday will have a similar role: trying to help rookies (including one of her former college teammates, Mckenna Van Gelder) settle into the pros.
“I’m just going to continue to be myself. I’m not going to change who I am,” Guilday said when asked about how she plans on being a leader in the locker room. “I think just being compassionate, being a good teammate, being kind, and caring, and kind of observant.
“I like to make people laugh, so that’s part of my gig, too.”
Experience behind the bench
With an average age of 24.61, San Jose has the youngest roster in the PWHL by over a year, according to Elite Prospects. With a combined 600 games of PWHL experience, the roster has 66 fewer games under its belt than the next closest team (and 171 fewer games than the next closest non-expansion team).
But compared to the other three expansion teams, San Jose does have one advantage: Troy Ryan.
“I think our experience will kind of be led by Troy, who’s been around the block,” Guilday said.
After spending the first three seasons of the PWHL’s existence as Toronto’s head coach, Ryan has taken the unprecedented combined role of head coach and general manager with San Jose. His impressive resume includes two Olympic cycles as Canada’s bench boss, almost 20 years in the Canadian women’s hockey junior system, and multiple stints as a head coach/general manager in the Maritime Junior Hockey League.
What does he see as the identity of his inaugural San Jose roster?
“I’ve heard him speak on it,” Guilday said. “We’re just going to be hard to play against. I think we’re going to be structured and work as a team.”
Bryant, whose 71 PWHL games are the fourth-most on the roster, can feel the team starting to come together.
“It feels like we’re already jelling right away, so it’s pretty cool,” Bryant said. “I think everyone has the same kind of mindset and the excitement for this upcoming season.”
