“The opportunity is a privilege”: Emma Maltais on playing for Team Canada and the impact of the PWHL
Whether she’s representing Team Canada or her PWHL team, the Toronto Sceptres, Emma Maltais has become a fan favourite for her scrappy style of play and her big personality on and off the ice.
Maltais made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, where she helped Team Canada bring home the gold medal. She has represented Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championship four times, winning three gold and one silver medal. She is set to don the maple leaf once again at the upcoming world championship in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia, starting April 9, as Team Canada mounts a defense of their title.
Olympic.ca chatted with Maltais about life as a pro athlete, the impact of the PWHL as a league, and how the Olympic Games changed her life.
Milano Cortina 2026 will be the first Olympic Games since the development of the PWHL. What impact do you think the league will have on Olympic play?
I think just more eyes and more responsibility to try and perform at our best. But I think that’s always been there with the Olympics.
I also think the competition of making the roster [will be heightened]. We are all playing in this league, and you get to see these young faces come up, and they’re so talented. Keeping your position, there’s a lot of pressure with that, and then how to create a team dynamic with that pressure.
There’s a lot of things that go into it, but I think overall the competitiveness will go way up. And I think that not only draws a lot of attention to our game from the Olympics, but also the PWHL will draw even more attention to the Olympics. I think of the [PWHL] viewership and how engaged they are in every country, and that’s really important. For example, Tereza Vanišová [who is from Czechia and plays for the Ottawa Charge] is a top goal scorer for the PWHL. North American fans will be tuning in to watch her.
READ: Team Canada set to defend title at women’s world hockey championship
Could you talk a bit about your career trajectory, and then, how that might be different for young girls that are dreaming of playing professional hockey now?
For me, I never thought this would be possible. I’m really getting challenged every single day to improve my game, and I think that’s something that’s so special.
When you get to play all the time and you get that exposure to coaching every day, it’s really cool to see the gaps in your game, to try to improve them, to learn from other players on a daily basis—and you get to see different players shine. So I think that’s really changed the trajectory of my career.
And then for young girls, I think the biggest thing with the PWHL is just keeping girls in sport all over the world. I think seeing it on TV, wanting to be like Natalie Spooner, or wanting to be like Sarah Nurse, even if you’re not a hockey player, even if you’re not competing at the highest level, I think that keeps young girls in sports wanting to go to the rink or go to the field and talk about what they saw on TV.
There’s so much value with staying in sport as long as you can, and really putting the work in, and what that teaches you as a woman. I think that’s the best thing that is coming from this league.
How does it feel to be a part of the first cohort of players that are really taking up that space for people?
I feel a responsibility, just because I lucked out in my timing. There’s so many women who came before me that worked so hard for this league to happen and I’m just lucky. I feel so much gratitude to be able to be a part of this league. It’s definitely challenging. But I think having the opportunity to even navigate that is such a privilege.
I think also just realizing how far some of our actions go, it has been eye opening to me. I run a camp every summer with Renata [Fast] in Burlington, and the difference between the year before the PWHL and after the first year of the PWHL with the girls was crazy different. Their engagement, let alone them wanting an autograph versus their parents wanting an autograph. It’s a different type of feeling. And it’s really cool to see their eyes light up when they see you. And it’s a different type of responsibility that we feel.
It’s also cool to see the older women too, who never got this opportunity. It’s been super touching to talk to a lot of older women who’ve signed up for hockey at 55 years, 60 years old, and they’re like, “Oh, I just want to try it now. I see you girls doing it,” or “I played hockey growing up, and I stopped because there was no reason to play it.” I think that is touching almost as much as the young girls.
READ: Team Canada women’s hockey veteran Brianne Jenner offers wisdom and leadership
Do you have a favorite memory of your own career thus far?
I mean, it’s hard to compete with the Olympic gold medal! I just think that whole year and how quickly everything happened, and being around my role models on a daily basis, and getting that experience, it’s hard to compete with that. It motivates me every day to try and make the next [Olympic team].
It was such a substantial point in my career—it changed my life. So it’s hard not to say that one.
Do you have a favorite memory as a fan of your sport?
When I won the Olympic gold medal, I had to take the year off of going to Ohio State [University]. My teammates were so supportive, my coach was so supportive. They actually went and ended up winning the national championship that year for the first time in program history, and I went back to watch the semifinal and the final game.
[There was] so much emotion, so prideful to be a part of that organization and how far the organization came. I think just watching them win, and a lot of my best friends, basically family members, winning, that was definitely my favorite fan moment.
Rapid fire with Emma Maltais
Any pre-game rituals or routines?
I like to have fun! I have my basic routine where I eat at a certain time, eat certain things, but in the PWHL I’m on aux, so setting up the playlist. Both with the national team and the Sceptres, I just love to have a blast. We’re always dancing. We’re always laughing, chatting before the game. So definitely keeping it fun.
What’s on the pre-game playlist?
I have to be very versatile. We have a lot of different age ranges so I definitely change it up quite a bit. But lately it’s been like a lot of girl rap and throwbacks.
An athlete that you look up to?
Well, I’ve always answered this as [Marie-Philip] Poulin. I don’t know if I should stop anytime soon, because she’s one of my best friends now, but I really look up to her. I think that even now, she’s making strides in her game that are just incredible. It’s really inspiring to see how someone so talented has such an equally hard work ethic and is so humble.
If you weren’t playing hockey, what sport would you do?
Gymnastics probably. I think at a young age, my career could have gone one of two ways and ended up going towards hockey. But, people always say I’ve got the body for it—short and powerful.
Best advice that you’ve received from a coach or a teammate?
I think embracing when things get really hard. I think that as athletes, we tend to come to a certain point where we think we deserve a certain result, or we think things are going to be easier. And I think that the best advice I got was: why would you even want it to be easy anyway?
