Emma Woods and Madison Packer are getting used to a whole new relationship now that they’re teammates with the PWHL team in New York. Once intense on-ice rivals, the forwards are not only on the same side these days, they’re even roommates.

That irony is not lost on them.

“You build up rivalries over the years, and Packer and I used to go at it on the ice all the time,” Woods told Clutch Points. “And now I’m living at her place. It’s too funny.

“We were just talking about it the other day. She said, ‘If anyone would have told me a year ago that Emma Woods would have been in my cold plunge at my house, I probably would have laughed.’”

Emma Woods, Madison Packer become teammates, roommates with PWHL New York

Yet, here they are. After some heated moments against one another in the NWHL and PHF — previous professional women’s hockey leagues in North America — Woods and Packer are moving forward together in the inaugural season of the PWHL. New York visits Toronto in the new league’s first game Jan. 1, kicking off an abbreviated 24-game regular-season schedule.

Woods, who helped the Toronto Six win the Isobel Cup championship in the PHF last season, had a strong preseason with New York. The 28-year-old scored four goals in three preseason games at the PWHL Evaluation Camp in early December, including a hat trick in a 6-4 win against Toronto.

Related NewsArticle continues below
Sabrina Ionescu is introduced before the game between the Toyota Antelopes an the New York Liberty Matthew Knight Arena May 12, 2025 in Eugene.
Liberty news: Sabrina Ionescu sends powerful message to Oregon after homecoming
UConn student-athlete Azzi Fudd addresses the crowd while her teammates UConn student-athletes Paige Bueckers, KK Arnold, Sarah Strong and Ayanna Patterson look on during the Final Four champions victory parade and rally outside of the XL Center in Hartford, CT
UConn women’s basketball news: Azzi Fudd opens up about balancing sports, mental health for Kevin Love Fund
US Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan (13) celebrates the teams win after the game against the Korea Republic at Allianz Field.
Ex-USWNT star Alex Morgan becomes league’s latest investor

Packer, who played eight seasons for the New York Riveters in previous leagues and was captain the past four, has been limited during training camp with a shoulder issue. The 32-year-old did not play in the preseason.

But Packer has been bonding with her new teammates, nonetheless. And Woods has been enjoying every second of getting to know her former rival better.

“It was always a battle against Packer,” Woods said. “A funny story, though. I remember last year, I took a whack at her or something and she turned to retaliate and all I said was ‘Sorry ‘Packs’.’ And just last week she told me, ‘You said sorry Packs like we were buddies, and we weren’t even buddies, but it made me not want to hit you back!”

There was no laughing at the time. But now, with a burgeoning friendship as teammates and roommates, Emma Woods and Madison Packer can look back and share quite a few laughs on their previous rivalry.