From Oakville Jr. Hornets to Ohio State, Olympic Gold, and the PWHL — a candid conversation on leadership, fitness, bioethics, and rewriting the story of women’s professional hockey

Emma Maltais, she is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward for the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and member of the Canadian national team. Maltais studied health sciences at Ohio State University and has interned at the Ohio State Neurological Institute.

Growing up in southern Ontario, Maltais began skating at the age of two and began playing hockey at the age of four. During high school, she played for the Oakville Jr.

Hornets in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (Prov. WHL), where she served as team captain in the 2016–17 season, a season in which she was the league’s leading scorer and the Hornets won a ‘triple crown’ of first place finishes in the regular season, league playoffs, and provincial championship. Her career totals of 55 goals and 92 assists are among the most in Prov. WHL history, and her 147 points are the most in Hornets history.

Having committed to Ohio State University as a high school freshman, she played her first season with the Buckeyes in the 2017–18 season.

She scored 40 points in 37 games during her rookie NCAA season, leading the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) in points-per-game and breaking the record for most WCHA Rookie of the Month awards, winning four times.

Her production increased to 43 points in 35 games the following season, again leading Ohio State in scoring and being named to the All-WCHA First Team.

In the 2019–20 season, she set an Ohio State record for points with 59 points in 38 games, picking up her 100th collegiate point against Bemidji State University on November 2, 2019. That year, she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award and was named to the All-WCHA First Team for the third consecutive season.

In her senior year, the 2020–21 season, Maltais recorded five goals and 16 points in 20 games, leading the Buckeyes with 11 assists. She recorded her 100th career assist against the University of Minnesota on January 29, 2021. She set a Buckeyes record for career playoff points with 14, and for the second consecutive season she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

For the 2021–22 season, Maltais was centralized with the Canadian national team.

Returning to Ohio State in the 2022–23 season, Maltais recorded 48 points in 39 games, becoming the first Ohio State player to reach 200 career points.

One of the youngest players entering the inaugural draft of the newly-created Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), Maltais was selected in the second round, 11th overall by Toronto.[12] On January 5, 2024, she scored her first PWHL goal, a shorthanded game-winning goal in a 3–2 victory over New York to secure the first win in franchise history. With the goal, she became the first player to invoke the league’s ‘jailbreak’ rule, where a minor penalty ends after a shorthanded goal is scored.Totaling four goals and nineteen points and playing on Toronto’s power play and penalty kill, Maltais was recognized one of the league’s top first-year professionals, earning All-Rookie team honors and a nomination for Rookie of the Year.

Maltais represented Canada at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship, scoring a total of nine points in ten games and winning silver twice.

She was named to the senior national team roster for the first time in 2019, suiting up for the 2019-20 Rivalry Series against the United States. In May 2021, she was one of 28 players invited to Hockey Canada’s Centralization Camp, which represents the selection process for the Canadian women’s team that shall compete in Ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

On January 11, 2022, Maltais was named to Canada’s 2022 Olympic team. On January 9, 2026, she was named to Canada’s roster to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Emma Maltais has had an incredible journey—from setting scoring records with the Oakville Jr.

Hornets and Ohio State Buckeyes to becoming an Olympic gold medalist and a fan favorite with the Toronto Sceptres. What makes her story even more compelling is how she’s balanced elite athletics with pursuing a Master’s in Bioethics, interning at a neurological institute, and becoming a role model for the next generation of players.

Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Emma Maltais, an exceptionally talented she is a Canadian professional ice hockey player, she is two times Olympian and three times member of World Champion Team Canada. Here she talks about her, playing career, fitness regime, and her success story.

Namita Nayyar:

You started skating at two and playing hockey at four.

What is your earliest memory on the ice, and what kept you falling in love with the game throughout your childhood in Burlington and Oakville?

Emma Maltais:

My earliest memory of hockey whether it is because I actually remember or because I’ve seen pictures/ my parents have talked about it is when I played Tim Hortons hockey in Burlington. Many of the girls I played with are still my friends now which are crazy to think about. I had pretty advanced skating for being only 4 years old and I remember them telling me to play defense which I thought meant I wasn’t allowed to go past the offensive blue line. So I remember having breakaways and stopping at the blue line and trying to score from there.

Namita Nayyar:

Your time with the Oakville Jr.

Hornets was legendary, especially the “triple crown” season in 2016-17. As a captain and the league’s leading scorer, what was the mindset of that team, and what did it teach you about leadership at such a young age?

Emma Maltais:

That is actually funny, one of my strength coaches for the Sceptres asked me if thats ever been done again (triple crown) because it was back in a time where they didn’t keep track/post about it but now he works for Etobicoke (the powerhouse organization) and was explaining how they haven’t been able to!
So I am curious to see if that is the only team, and when you look at it, it was a crazy roster!! I honestly don’t remember much about that time aside from how hard working our team was and how great our coach was. Bradi Cochrane is still someone who I look up to with the way she handles her relationships and she was a hockey mind that introduced me into so much.

I think the way she was able to motivate me and teach me, allowed me to perform my best at that level.

Full Interview is Continued on Next Page

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