Meet Tereza Vanisova - the Brady Tkachuk of the PWHL's Ottawa Charge
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The list of firsts keeps growing for Tereza Vanisova.
On Mar. 18, 2024, the 29-year-old Czech became the first player acquired in a trade by Ottawa Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld, a one-for-one deadline deal for solid defender Amanda Boulier that could go down as the biggest steal in PWHL history.
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Meet Tereza Vanisova - the Brady Tkachuk of the PWHL's Ottawa Charge Back to video
On Feb. 20 of this year, Vanisova was involved in the league’s first-ever fight when she went toe-to-toe with Jill Saulnier in the third period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Boston Fleet.
Last Saturday, Vanisova became the first PWHL player to record multiple hat-tricks in the same season when she netted three goals for the second time in nine games, leading the Charge to a very big 5-2 victory over the New York Sirens.
The performance made her the league’s First Star of the Week.
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How unique is Vanisova?
As far as the numbers go, she is the Charge’s very own Brady Tkachuk.
With 13 goals and 36 penalty minutes, Vanisova is first on her team in both categories by a wide margin, a distinction she shares with Sirens rookie sensation Sarah Filler, who has 10 goals and 31 PIMs.
While no player came close to wearing both crowns in the PWHL’s inaugural year, Vanisova was tied with Boston’s Hilary Knight and two behind Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin in the goal-scoring race heading into Tuesday’s clash with the Sirens at TD Place.
She is also the betting favourite to become the first player to top the entire league in both goals and PIMs — especially given the fact that, before Tuesday, Ottawa had six games remaining while New York had just five.
Asked if she is most proud of being the first player to score two hat tricks in one season, or being the first player to get into a fight, Vanisova paused, then laughed.
“That’s a tough question,” she said. “I mean, both are great. The fight is good for the league, you know? But I don’t think it’s going to happen every night. The hat-tricks feel good too, obviously.
“When I was younger, I had a temper,” Vanisova added, expanding on her nature. “I used to be worse, I feel like. Also, I didn’t want to fight (Saulnier), just to clarify, but she kind of asked for it. I had no choice.”
Charge coach Carla MacLeod initially became familiar with Vanisova when she became coach of the Czechia national team in 2022.
MacLeod’s first impression of the player?
“She was a dynamic skater,” MacLeod said. “You can see that. Her ability to pull away and her acceleration … she’s just got a good engine. She was fast then and I think she’s even faster now.”
But it’s Vanisova’s heart and drive that make her the player she has become.
“She’s a competitor that’s done the homework,” MacLeod said of Vanisova, who in her rookie year had two goals, 10 assists and 37 penalty minutes in 23 games split between Montreal and Ottawa. “Last off-season, she was training at home with the boys’ team in Czechia, and you just look at how strong she’s come back into this season. So she took it upon herself to do her homework, to give herself the best starting point and, like I said, she’s just a natural competitor.
“It’s like here’s like a beacon between her and the net, and she just wants to get herself there. She wants to get there, she wants puck to get there, and she’s been rewarded for that.”
Vanisova, who has represented her country in seven world championships, played with the University of Maine Black Bears from 2016-21, when the PWHL was three years from its inception.
She didn’t get selected by Montreal until the seventh round because the league’s GMs basically had a short, two-week window in which to do their scouting before the league’s first draft.
“I think coming into this league, the only opportunity to see European players play was at the world championships,” Hirshfeld said. “You just aren’t sure … there’s no analytics, there’s no stats at this point. So it’s all based on what you see. And I just think GMs were cautious about what the level of competition you’re playing against is when you only see players playing in a short tournament, whereas if you come out of the NCAA, you can see their whole career in four years.”
Worth noting is that while GMs both win and lose trades, sometimes they just miss the boat on players — both in the NHL and the PWHL.
Hannah Miller, for example, was drafted by the Toronto Sceptres in the 13th round last year and, after scoring seven goals and seven assists in 2024, she is now tied with teammate Daryl Watts as the PWHL’s third-leading point-getter with 23, on 10 goals and 13 assists.
But back to Vanisova, whose husband, Adrian Holesinsky, also is a graduate of the Black Bears program and has played pro hockey in Europe for the past five seasons.
But it’s Tereza’s brother, 33-year-old Marek Vanis, who can take credit for is her falling in love with the game as a kid.
“He taught me a lot, but not really on the ice,” she said. “I remember we were playing more off the ice, with sticks and roller blades and stuff like that.”
Playing with guys back home, she says, is how her style of play was born.
“I love the physicality,” she said. “I think that’s what makes the game unique. I just wish we could be allowed to do more.”
Vanisova’s reputation also has worked against her.
In a home game against Boston earlier this month, she delivered a textbook hip check that sent Saulnier, of all people, flipping through the air and onto the ice.
It was a spectacular clean play that generated a roar from the crowd — yet Vanisova was given a tripping minor.
“I don’t want to get those penalty minutes,” she said. “Some of the penalties, I take ownership of. Like, I shouldn’t have done it. But also, I think some of the penalties are not penalties, they shouldn’t be called. This is my opinion.
“I think this league is pretty physical and the basic body checking should be allowed. And I think they’re just paying more attention to me right now. I feel like anything I do I get called for.”
Vanisova shrugs when asked if she was surprised to get drafted so late. Bothering her more was being moved from Montreal, where she was starting to settle in and get comfortable.
“The trade sucked, for sure,” Vanisova said. “Like, it was very unexpected. I had no idea what was going on. I just got told, basically, in the last minute, after the trade deadline that I’m being traded. So yeah, it was tough. But I made it through.”
She has since risen to stardom in the PWHL — without being consumed by her statistics.
“When it comes to getting the points, sometimes you have a good season, sometimes you don’t,” she said. “It’s just how it is. I don’t think about it, really.
“Obviously it’s nice that I’m able to score and help the team win. But it’s not like I’m thinking I need to get more goals to be the top scorer.
“I would love to make the playoffs. I’d like to play more games.”
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