Long after the last puck drop of the year, despite still being months away from next season — UBC women’s hockey history was being made this summer. On June 24, Chanreet Bassi became the first Thunderbird to be drafted to the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). She’ll be joining PWHL Vancouver, an expansion team formed alongside a new Seattle team this spring.
In her six years on the team and five seasons on the ice, she’s racked up more than a few accolades. She helped the T-Birds win three consecutive Canada West championships, even scoring the game-winning goal in overtime in the 2022 Canada West Final. As head coach Graham Thomas described, her talents on the ice have been a major factor in the team’s success.
“She's got a lot of grit, she has a lot of skills,” he said. “She can make plays. [She is a] great playmaker [and a] great skater [with] great hands and a great shot.”
Bassi is a four-time Canada West All-Star and is the current all-time career point leader for the ‘Birds, tied with Tatiana Rafter. Now, she is setting PWHL records before the season has even started — she’s the first South Asian player to be drafted to the league.
“[I’m] so happy for her. I think she's a very hard worker. She's come from a tough background where she has really had to put in a lot of work and earn … everything that she's gotten,” said Thomas. “She's been training like a pro for a long time now, so it's great for her to be given this opportunity.”
Thomas sees UBC as a great training ground for women who might be considering going pro, especially with the PWHL now having a Vancouver-based team.
“We're really excited to have a team in our backyard,” said Thomas. “It's motivating for the young players out there, but it's also motivating for our athletes.”
Although Bassi is the first Thunderbird to be drafted to the PWHL, she’s not the first to play in the league. Former T-Bird Rylind MacKinnon played for the Toronto Sceptres last season — making the roster in training camp after going undrafted — and will now be joining the Boston Fleet next season.
“There is a pathway for players, especially right in UBC, right in Vancouver,” said Thomas. “This is a place where you can have a lot of success. You can get a great education, but you can also have a chance to further your career and play professionally.”
The pandemic allowed Bassi an additional year of eligibility, giving her extra time to grow as an athlete.
“I needed a little bit of time to mature,” Bassi said. “Especially with the [PWHL] getting announced two years ago, it solidified me … being able to use my extra year.”
Even as she departs from the Thunderbirds, Bassi’s education continues. One of the things she is most looking forward to about the PWHL is observing how the women on her new team — many of them seasoned professionals — approach the sport.
“They have a few Olympians, a bunch of girls that have won in a lot of different leagues,” she said. “Just learning and taking from what those girls bring to their day-to-day basis is what I want to do.”
“It's a little bit of an adjustment, with the pace of play. But I think … having a lot of time this summer, it's nice to get up to that pace a bit, and obviously try to train with some of the girls that are already in the league to get my foot in the door and get up to speed.”
This summer, alongside training for the upcoming season, Bassi will be coaching youth hockey — passing along her knowledge to the girls on the team, while also standing as a testament to the new, exciting opportunities available to them in the future.
“The girls that announced the PWHL Vancouver team [were on the team] that I coached in spring hockey, which is pretty cool,” she said. “It was a little full circle moment there.”
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