The Northern Super League returns to the nation’s capital for the 2026 season as the Ottawa Rapid FC kick off their home opener against the Calgary Wild FC.

Celebrating Pride Night, Rapid FC delivered an outstanding performance for their home fans with a 5-2 victory over Wild FC.

With NSL Co-founder Diana Matheson in attendance for the ceremonial coin toss, Rapid FC didn’t waste any time to open the scoring. With only 35 seconds played, Melanie Forbes would score the first goal of the game off a rebounded shot from Delaney Baie Pridham.

However, Wild FC would go on an offensive push for the next 10 minutes and secure two goals back to back to take the lead. The first goal to tie the game would come from a penalty kick from Meggie Dougherty Howard after a foul by Rapid FC captain Olivia Scott. Just one minute later Howard would then assist Taegan Stewart for Wild FC’s second goal of the game to take a 2-1 lead.

The lead wouldn’t last long. In the 25th minute, Ottawa native and celebrating her 23rd birthday, Keera Melenhorst scored a top corner goal assisted by Florence Belzile to tie the game. Belzile would then get a goal for herself soon after to regain the lead 3-2. Thanks to an unforced error between Wild FC goalie Molly Race and her defenders, Melenhorst was able to secure a brace and extend the Rapid FC lead to 4-2 before the half as fans sang her happy birthday from the stands.

To cap off the night, Choo Hyojoo would make an exclamation and score Rapid FC’s 5th goal of the day off a through ball from Melenhorst.

While Wild FC had a good start to the first half, they were unable to get past Rapid FC goalie Melissa Dagenais in the second half who made save after save. The depth from Rapid FC was on full display with their solid defense lead by captain Scott, fast wingers in Forbes, Belzile and Hyojoo, and dominant midfield with Pridham and Melenhorst.

Ottawa Rapid FC move up the standings to 4th and will face Vancouver on May 6th at TD Place, Ottawa.
Calgary Wild FC will return to Calgary and look to get their first win of the season against the Montreal Roses on May 16th.

Check out our favourite photos of the match below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!

NSL OTTAWA RAPID FC v CALGARY WILD FC

All Photo Credit: Kieran Delport

Fresh off a gutsy win against Seattle, the Vancouver Goldeneyes returned to the Pacific Coliseum to host the league-leading Montréal Victoire in front of a packed crowd of 10,946. Despite a late Hayley Scamurra hat trick, the Goldeneyes held on to win 4-3 in regulation, earning three valuable gold plan points in the race for the first overall draft pick.

As It Happened

On Tuesday night, the Goldeneyes celebrated the South Asian Heritage and South Asian communities across British Columbia and beyond. The Abbotsford Canucks’s Arshdeep Bains, a high school classmate of fellow Surrey native Jenn Gardiner, was here at the Rink on Renfrew for the ceremonial puck drop.

The “Souuuup!” and “Holy moly what a goalie!” chants broke out early in the first period as Kristen Campbell made a pad save against Catherine Dubois. Vancouver and Montréal both put up 14 shots through the first two periods, but it’s Vancouver with the two-goal lead heading into the dressing room. The Goldeneyes opened the scoring fifteen minutes into the game. Tereza Vanišová took advantage of a Montréal turnover and set up Sarah Nurse’s eighth goal of the season. A tripping penalty to Jessica DiGirolamo gave Vancouver a power play at 7:36 of the second period. Vancouver’s captain Ashton Bell converted it with a stunning snipe to double the lead.

The third period turned into an emotional roller coaster for the fans on both sides. Vanišová, already with two assists under her belt in this game, drove the net to get past Sandra Abstreiter, extending Vancouver’s lead to three. Less than four minutes later, The Goldeneyes added a fourth goal with Claire Thompson firing a mesmerizing one-timer. With the assist on this goal, Sophie Jaques became the first PWHL defender to reach 50 career points. Desperate for a goal, the Victoire pulled the goaltender with more than eight minutes left in the game. Hayley Scamurra put on a show to score three goals in just two minutes and forty-four seconds to stun the crowd. Suddenly, it’s a one-goal game. The fastest hat trick in the PWHL history made the final five minutes of the game a nerve-wrecking time for the home fans. “Everyone got their money’s worth, on the edge of the seat right till the end,” Vancouver Head Coach Brian Idalski commented at the post-game press conference. As the final horn went off at the Pacific Coliseum, Montréal ran out of time for an equalizer, receiving their first regulation loss in seventeen games. Kristen Campbell held on with 25 saves, becoming the third PWHL goalie with 30 career wins.

The victory marked Vancouver’s first win against the Montréal Victoire and the first time winning three games in a row.

Three Stars
★Tereza Vanišová (#13) Vancouver Goldeneyes (1G 2 A)
★★ Hayley Scamurra (#16) Montréal Victoire (3G)
★★★Ashton Bell (#21) Vancouver Goldeneyes (1G)

Up Next

The Victoire remain on the road for the final game of the regular season against the Seattle Torrent. The Goldeneyes will wrap up their inaugural season this Saturday as they host the two-time defending Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost on the Pride celebration.

Vancouver: Saturday, Apr. 25 vs. Minnesota at 4 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. ET
Montréal: Saturday, Apr. 25 at Seattle at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET

Check out our favourite photos of the game below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!

PWHL VANCOUVER GOLDENEYES v MONTREAL VICTOIRE

All Photo Credit: Cindy Shi