Sarah Nurse eager to get back on the ice, defend Canada’s gold medal

Sarah Nurse realized early in the Professional Women’s Hockey League season that she wouldn’t be able to show on the ice why she deserves to be part of Canada’s Olympic team.

The Goldeneyes’ star forward suffered an arm injury in Vancouver’s first-ever game back in November and hasn’t played since.

“I just had to turn my focus and be confident in what I have brought in the past few years, and know what I bring to that lineup and trust in that,” she said Wednesday. “Because at the end of the day, I had no control over making that team or not.”

Nurse already boasts a storied Olympic resume.

She made her debut at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang where Canada took silver, then put up a record-breaking performance in Beijing in 2022. There, she contributed five goals and 13 assists, setting a new high mark for points in the tournament, and helped Canada capture gold.

The contributions were recognized Friday when Nurse was named to Canada’s 23-player roster for the Milan Cortina Games, despite appearing in just the one PWHL game this season.

“At the end of the day, I knew that I needed to recover to be my best possible self,” she said. “And I couldn’t rush anything, because at the end of the day, not only are the Olympics in February, but [the Goldeneyes] still have a season to play.

“We’re hoping to go into June this year, and so it’s a long season, and I wanted to be at my best.”

Nurse will be joined by four Goldeneyes teammates in Italy. Goalie Emerance Maschmeyer and defender Claire Thompson are set to return for their second Olympics, while defender Sophie Jaques and forward Jenn Gardiner are set to experience the Games for the first time.

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“I feel like it truly … hasn’t even set in yet, that I get to be an Olympian,” Jaques said. “But I mean, the group of girls we have going over there is incredible, so I’m just excited to get started with them.”

The Canadians all got the calls last week, shortly after landing in Ottawa ahead of a game against the Charge.

“We’d had a long travel day, and so everyone was a little bit on edge and a little bit nervous,” said Maschmeyer. “But when we all found out who was on the team, there was lots of screaming in the hallway and lots of excitement.”

Making the team is always exciting added the goalie, who was part of the gold medal-winning team in 2022.

“I felt the exact same feelings when I got told the first time around,” Maschmeyer said.

“I’m just so, so thrilled also to have my family coming with me, because last time, the circumstances were a little bit different with the Olympics being during COVID. We couldn’t have fans or our family. So I’m just excited to also share that experience with them, and they’re a huge part of why I’m at where I’m at.”

Maschmeyer, Nurse and Jaques could come up against some of their Goldeneyes teammates when the tournament begins.

Forward Michelle Karvinen is set to play in her fifth Games for Finland, while Tereza Vanisova will play for Czechia and Nina Jobst-Smith represents Germany.

Whether Nurse will play again before joining Team Canada remains to be seen.

“It’s frustrating,” she said. “I go out in the home opener, and a couple minutes into the game, I get hurt. And it came became apparent after the game, the next morning, that things weren’t looking very good.”

For eight weeks, she has been healing and recovering, rehabbing and strengthening. She’s been skating the entire time, and started working with pucks again in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, she joined her Goldeneyes teammates for a full practice.

Getting her back in the lineup will be a major addition for both Vancouver and the national team, Jaques said.

“I think [Nurse] just brings a whole new energy,” she said. “Her skill and hockey IQ is incredible, and just having her be reliable, the 200-foot game she brings, I think will really help with our line depth.”

Vancouver, which sits at the bottom of the eight-team league’s standings with three regulation wins, one overtime win, one overtime loss and seven regulation losses, has four games to go before the Olympic break, starting with a tilt against Nurse’s former team, the Sceptres, in Toronto on Saturday.

Asked whether she’s eager to return for that game, the veteran forward said she simply wants to play.

“I’m just ready to go when I get the call,” she said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of decisions to be made, based on how I’m feeling, what the medical staff say, when the coaches want to put me in the lineup as well. And so I’m just ready to go whenever I get the call.

“But very excited to get back in the lineup and participate.”