Vancouver PWHL team names Princeton coach Cara Gardner Morey as GM
“It’s a privilege to help bring the best women’s hockey to one of the greatest cities in the world,” Gardner Morey says.
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Cara Gardner Morey has been named the first general manager of Vancouver’s Professional Women’s Hockey League expansion team, adding to a resume that also includes eight years as the head coach at Princeton University and starring as a player with both the ice and field hockey teams at Princeton’s Ivy League rival Brown University.
The Vancouver squad starts play in the PWHL next fall and will be based out of the Pacific Coliseum. Gardner Morey, 46, who is from Hensall, Ont., will be in charge of finding a head coach and other support staff. There is also an expansion draft June 9 for Vancouver and Seattle, the league’s other new team.
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Each of the existing six clubs can protect only three players initially, so Vancouver and Seattle should have stronger lineups than fans traditionally see from expansion teams.
The protected lists for the draft are due June 3. Vancouver and Seattle then each have a five-day window during which they can sign up to five players, which includes both free agents and players left off any protected list. The idea is that the signing period gives players more power to decide on their destination if they think they might be chosen in the expansion draft.
Existing teams can protect a fourth player once they have lost two players through either the signing window or the expansion draft. The league hasn’t announced whether Seattle or Vancouver will pick first in the draft, but the teams will alternate selections until they both have 12-player rosters.
The league is currently wrapping up its second season, with the Minnesota Frost and Ottawa Charge meeting up in the best-of-five championship for the Walter Cup.
The league currently owns and operates all the teams. Mark Walter, who is the primary owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, also owns the PWHL. Teams played 30-game regular seasons that began on Nov. 30.
Gardner Morey’s hiring follows Meghan Turner, who had been been the assistant general manager with the Boston Fleet, being named GM of Seattle.
Princeton is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, N.J., and players during Gardner Morey’s time there included forward Sarah Fillier and defender Claire Thompson, both members of the Canadian team that won gold at the Beijing 2022 Olympics and were the No. 1 and No. 3 selections in the 2024 PWHL entry draft by the New York Sirens and Minnesota, respectively.
Gardner Morey’s Princeton teams went 120-82-24.
She played two seasons in the National Women’s Hockey League, which was a precursor to the PWHL. She was a teammate there on the Brampton Thunder with Jayna Hefford, who is the PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations.
“It’s a privilege to help bring the best women’s hockey to one of the greatest cities in the world,” Gardner Morey was quoted as saying in a league media release on Friday. “We’ll build a team that reflects Vancouver’s passionate spirit — one that competes for the Walter Cup and becomes part of the city’s fabric. I can’t wait to get started.”
Hefford said in the news release: “Cara brings exceptional experience at all levels of the game, a deep understanding of player development, and an unwavering passion for advancing women’s sports.”
Gardner Morey was an all-American in both field hockey and ice hockey at Brown, an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island. A defender in ice hockey, she was part of Team Canada selection camps for both the 2000 Four Nations Cup and the 2001 world championships.
Her husband, Sean Morey, was a wide receiver at Brown and he went on to play nine years in the NFL.
In 2008 with the Arizona Cardinals, he went to the Pro Bowl as a special teamer. In 2006, he was a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers team that beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Cara received media attention that week, with Sean admitting to the media that, “She’s the best athlete in the family — there’s no doubt about it.”
Gardner Morey has had various Hockey Canada assignments as coach and has been a development camp coach for the Philadelphia Flyers. She was an assistant for six years at Princeton before moving to the head job.
“This is a bittersweet moment for me, but an exciting one,” Gardner Morey said in a Princeton news release Friday.
Princeton has begun a search for a new coach.
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