Long before PWHL expansion, the Vancouver Griffins were the city’s 1st women’s pro hockey team [Video]

When Diane Nelson decided to start a women’s pro hockey team, her mother warned her of the risks. 

“The advice she gave me was like something you would give a gambler: You’ve got so many quarters, once you use it up, promise me that you won’t go beyond,” said Nelson.

Nelson, then a West Vancouver school principal, owned the Vancouver Griffins, a short-lived women’s professional hockey team that played in the National Women’s Hockey League from 2000 to 2003. 

More than two decades after the Griffins played their last game, Nelson says she is delighted that the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced that Vancouver would be home to its first expansion franchise.

Nelson’s mother, now 96 years old, was also excited by the news.

“It kind of validates that it wasn’t a crazy idea,” Nelson told CBC News. “It is something that has tremendous possibility and I’m just glad that I’m able to share it with my mom.”