Erin Ambrose
Position: Defence
Hometown: Keswick, Ont.
Age: 27

The Canadian women’s hockey team has seen a lot of transition on defence since the 2018 Olympics.

With Jocelyne Larocque and Renata Fast the only returning blueliners on the roster who played in PyeongChang, it opens the door for Erin Ambrose to seize a big role at the Women’s Worlds in Calgary.

In 2008-09, Ambrose began a four-year stint with the Toronto Aeros of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League. While the Keswick, Ont., native played well in the PWHL, it was on the international stage where she really shone.

In her first appearance at the 2010 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship, she had nine assists in five games as Canada won gold.

At the 2011 World Women’s U18s, she recorded two assists in five games in a silver medal effort and was named a top-3 player on the team.

In her third stint at the tournament in 2012, Ambrose captained Canada to gold, earned best defenceman honours, and was a top-3 player on the team.

Ambrose kicked off her NCAA career at Clarkson University in 2012-13, putting up six goals and 36 points in 34 games as a rookie.

In 2013-14, she had a career season, collecting 14 goals and 50 points in 37 games as Clarkson won their first-ever national championship. Ambrose was also a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist for top collegiate women’s player.

In her junior and senior seasons at Clarkson, Ambrose was an assistant captain. In 2014-15, she became the ninth player in program history to reach 100 points.

Her senior season saw her miss the first nine games with an injury but she rebounded with seven goals and 28 points in 30 games.

After her NCAA career wrapped up, Ambrose was drafted seventh overall by the Toronto Furies at the 2016 CWHL Draft. In her first year of pro, she had eight assists in 17 games.

In 2017, Ambrose made her Women’s World Championship debut. She had a goal and an assist in five games as Canada took home silver.

Ambrose also centralized with Team Canada ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in 2017 but was cut from the final roster.

When she returned to the CWHL after being cut from the Olympic team, Ambrose was traded from the Furies to Les Canadiennes on Dec. 13, 2017 for a package of picks. She had two goals and 14 points in 16 games with Montreal in 2017-18.

In 2018-19, Ambrose wore the ‘A’ with Les Canadiennes. She had six goals and 24 points in 26 games, earning her CWHL defenceman-of-the-year honours. The CWHL would fold after the 2019 season.

At her second Women’s Worlds appearance in 2019, Ambrose had two goals and seven points in seven games as Canada lost in the semifinal against Finland. The Canadians would settle for bronze with a 7-0 win over Russia.

After the CWHL folded, Ambrose joined the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association and has been a part of the Montreal region the past two seasons.

Most recently, she won the 2021 Secret Cup as part of Montreal’s Team Bauer at the weeklong showcase in Calgary.

Despite the overall lack of playing time the past year and a half for the players, Ambrose is confident heading into the Women’s Worlds on Friday.

“I think we’ve done a really good job as a group,” Ambrose told TSN. “You look at us and how we’re moving the puck right now in practices, I think it’s phenomenal for us to have been off for so long, out of the groove of being in full practices and we look really good. Our tempo is higher, our execution’s great right now and that’s something I think we’re all really excited as a group about.”

Aside from her playing career, she has also taken her talents to the coaching side, having been an assistant coach with Concordia University the last three seasons.

Off the ice, Ambrose opened up about her struggles with anxiety and depression as well as her sexual orientation in an open letter posted on Hockey Canada’s website last fall.