Campbell Riverite Olivia Knowles has helped Toronto clinch a spot in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) playoffs.
The team nabbed a playoff spot on April 20 after beating Montreal 3-2, with three games left to play in the regular season.
“It feels really good. I think we had that goal, and every team has dreams of making the playoffs. I think it’s really nice that we have this extra time to know that we’re secure and just hone into the details and get ready for the playoffs,” she says.
The defender has appeared in 17 games this season, the first of the PWHL’s existence. She has recorded one assist, eight hits, and six penalty minutes.
“I think there’s a lot of growth that’s happened so far,” she says. “A lot of education. It’s definitely different at the pro level working on individual skills and that sort of thing but, just like our team, we grow as we go and get stronger with the amount of time we’ve been here for.”
Her ultimate goal for the playoffs though, is making sure her teammates and her own names are etched onto the cup at the end of the playoffs.
She says she has had a lot of support from Campbell River.
“I went home at Christmas, and the outpouring of support has been huge,” Knowles says. “I don’t go on Facebook much… but every once in a while I receive messages from old friends, and it’s really nice to see the support and see how proud people are. It’s been very uplifting.”
Knowles’ Toronto has three games left in the regular season. They took on New York on April 28 winning 6-2. They will play Minnesota today, May 1 (4 p.m.), and Ottawa on May 5 (4 p.m.).
Prior to joining Toronto, Knowles was a member of the Minnesota Whitecaps in the Premier Hockey Federation (originally the National Women’s Hockey League) before the league ceased operations in June 2023. The PHL was purchased by the Mark Walter Group, with the intent to start a new unified professional women’s league after the collapse of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League in 2019 after a failed merger. Dissatisfied players started boycotting any professional leagues in North America and formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in hopes to organize a unified league with better livable full-time salaries, health insurance, and other benefits. After the purchase of the PHL, the Mark Walter Group worked with the PWHPA to create the PWHL with new ownership and management.
Toronto was one of six locations chosen as franchises in the PWHL. None of them have any team names this season.
Only four teams will make the playoffs, with Montreal being the only other team qualified so far (on April 24). New York has been eliminated from playoffs already, only winning three games. However, Minnesota, Ottawa, and Boston are still chasing the last two spots.
The number one seed (Toronto) can select either the third or fourth seed as their semi-final opponent in a best-of-five series. The second seed (Montreal) will play the other team in a best-of-five series. The winners of each series will go to the Walter Cup finals, playing in a best-of-five series.
A playoff schedule is yet to be released.