If Team Canada forward Sarah Nurse had the opportunity to try another winter Olympic sport, it would be on a sled.
“I really like roller coasters, so maybe one of bobsled or luge,” Nurse told TSN.ca. “I say that in theory, but I think it would be pretty terrifying going down that mountain.”
Nurse, who is happy to keep her day job as a hockey player with the Vancouver Goldeneyes of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), is an ambassador for RBC Training Ground, a talent identification program that aims to find athletes with Olympic potential and provide them the funding and resources to get to the Games.
Through the program, Nurse says she has had the opportunity to meet Olympians from other sports, including the likes of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes, who are the first women to medal for Canada in beach volleyball after taking home silver at the 2024 Olympics.
Nurse was able to be in Paris to watch the duo compete.
“It’s pretty awesome because we’ve been able to do fun events with them but also get to meet other Olympians and have that the contact with them and really create lifelong friendships with athletes that I wouldn’t normally have much contact with,” said Nurse. “I have so many good friends who are Summer Games athletes who I probably wouldn’t have any contact with otherwise.”
The landscape of women’s hockey has changed dramatically in the four years since Canada captured gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and Nurse has been one of the most prominent players leading the way.
The 30-year-old helped found the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association in 2019 after the dissolution of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Nurse also served on the PWHPA’s board of directors.
The PWHL was founded in 2023, with the inaugural season kicking off on Jan. 1, 2024. After starting with six teams in the first two years of existence, the PWHL has already added two expansion franchises this season in Vancouver and Seattle, with more teams set to be added in the coming years.
“I think it’s just blown up so much,” said Nurse, who serves on the PWHL Players Association executive committee. “I think that in 2022, there were so many factors in play. It was COVID. People weren’t out and about as much as they usually were and so many people were able to watch our gold-medal game and have stories about that game. I really think that really highlighted us as women’s hockey players. And then having the next year going in and having a league to play in in that first inaugural season.
“And it just feels like the momentum has been building, building, building, and I think we’re really gaining some traction and some ground and some normalcy with the PWHL.”
Nurse spent the past two seasons as a member of the Toronto Sceptres but now she finds herself as a member of the Goldeneyes.
She wasn’t one of the three players protected by Toronto in the expansion draft, but after speaking with Goldeneyes general manager Cara Gardner Morey, Nurse was sold by the vision and was excited to sign.
For Nurse, a Hamilton, Ont., native who had played her professional career in Toronto up until this point, it’s the furthest she’s been from home in her hockey career since her days at the University of Wisconsin.
Nurse says the Goldeneyes have been embraced in the city.
“On the East Coast, we’re very spoiled with professional sports, and a lot of us are from that area with professional women’s hockey as well,” said Nurse. “I don’t think that the West Coast has really been given a chance.
“But having spoken to so many people, so many fans, so many people who have been in the hockey community for a long time, there’s been a huge want and a huge need for professional women’s hockey here, and so the community has just embraced us with open arms, and it’s been such a great experience.”
Since scoring the first-ever goal in Goldeneyes history in the opening game against the Seattle Torrent, Nurse has been out with an undisclosed injury that’s landed her on the injured reserve but says she will be ready for the Olympics.
With the PWHL in existence, the Canadian women’s team is no longer centralizing in Calgary ahead of the Olympics with players remaining with their club teams. Canada and the United States also faced off in a four-game Rivalry Series this fall as an Olympic tune-up. The Americans got the upper hand, winning all four games.
Nurse was the breakout star in Beijing as she set the record for most assists (13) and points (18) in a single Olympic women’s tournament. She also became the first Black female hockey player to win Olympic gold.
After chasing gold in 2022, Canada goes into Milan as the defending champions looking to stay on top.
“I think that, obviously, the circumstances going in are different,” said Nurse. “I don’t think the mentality is different. After 2018 obviously we wanted a gold medal, and so we wanted to get to the top of the mountain. And in 2022, being at the top of the mountain, it’s hard to get there, but it’s harder to stay.
“We want to do everything in our power so that we can stay the Olympic champions, and I think we’re all excited at the opportunity to do that. Everybody’s been working extremely hard. We’ve been all very diligent and disciplined. The circumstances are definitely different, but I think our mentality going in is the same. We want to win a gold medal.”
