TSN Hockey's All-Time Women's Team Canada

Steve Dryden

TSN Hockey Contributor

Archive

Defining players and defining moments define the TSN All-Time women’s Team Canada.

Superstars Angela James, Geraldine Heaney, Danielle Goyette, Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser have more gold than the national mint between them.

James won four gold medals, Heaney eight, Goyette 10, Hefford 11 and Wickenheiser 11.

They have all been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and are automatic choices for the all-time Team Canada.

Each of them is a flag bearer for the sport, metaphorically and literally in the cases of Goyette and Wickenheiser, who carried the flags for the Canadian team in the 2006 and 2014 Olympic games, respectively.

The five Hall of Famers are joined by 19 others, including three players who combined for four golden goals against USA along the way to Canada’s 14 gold medals in World Championship and Olympic competition.

- Nancy Drolet scored overtime winners in the 1997 and 2000 World Championships. The 1997 winner was Drolet’s third goal of the game.

- Caroline Ouellette scored 1:50 into overtime to settle the 2012 World Championship.

- Marie-Philip Poulin forced a fourth period with a last-minute goal in the 2014 Olympics and then scored the winner in overtime.

While the United States has dominated World Championship competition since 2008, winning eight of nine tournaments, Canada has saved its best for the Olympics, earning gold in 2010 and 2014.

Canada lost to the Americans in a shootout in 2018.

It was the sixth of eight consecutive Olympic and World gold-medal games that were settled in OT or a shootout.

Three members of the 2018 Olympic team – Poulin, Meghan Agosta and Jocelyne Larocque – are on the all-time team.

Career spans listed represent first and last tournaments at the World Championships and Olympics.

Goalie Kim St. Pierre
Team Canada’s all-time leader in wins (64 games) won a record nine medals at the World Championship and played a major role in the 2002 Olympic gold victory over USA, stopping 27 of 29 shots and earning tournament best goalie honours.

Goalie Shannon Szabados
Szabados recorded a 28-save shutout in a 2-0 gold-medal win over USA and was named best goalie at the 2010 Olympics.

Goalie Charline Labonte
Labonte shares the record for most Olympic gold medals (three) won by a goalie with St. Pierre.

LD Catherine Ward – Geraldine Heaney
Ward was a tournament-leading plus-15 in the 2010 Olympic triumph and regarded as a player close to Heaney in style and impact. Heaney scored one of the most memorable goals in Team Canada history – a spectacular Bobby Orr-like effort in the first-ever Women’s World Championship in 1990.

LD Jocelyne Larocque – RD Therese Brisson
Brisson is second all-time in Team Canada points by a defenceman and set the team standard for fitness. Current national team member Larocque is a dominant defensive defenceman who complements Brisson perfectly.

LD Becky Kellar – RD Cheryl Pounder
Shutdown Pair: Kellar and Pounder, labelled the “Bobbsey Twins,” were teammates on seven gold-medal teams and were so relied upon almost exclusively in critical defensive situations.

RD Colleen Sostorics
The ultra-competitive Sostorics won three Olympic gold medals and was known as the “Third Bobbsey Twin.”

LW Danielle Goyette – C Hayley Wickenheiser – RW Angela James
The Hall of Fame Line. James and Wickenheiser were the faces of the game and Goyette was the feet, blazing down the ice and scoring goals. James was a virtually unstoppable force of imposing strength and skill during her pioneering career. Wickenheiser holds virtually every major individual scoring record in Olympic and World Championship competition. Goyette won a World Championship-record eight golds.

LW Caroline Ouellette – C Marie-Philip Poulin – RW Jayna Hefford
Ouellette is second all-time in Team Canada assists (157), Hefford is second all-time in goals (155) – including a dramatic 2002 Olympic gold medal-winning marker - and Poulin scored five of Canada’s seven goals versus USA in the last three Olympic gold-medal games. Two of the goals were championship-winners.

LW Jennifer Botterill – C Nancy Drolet – RW Cherie Piper
Two-time World Championship MVP Botterill joins two-time golden-goal scorer Drolet and three-time Olympic gold medallist Piper – who had 30 points in 15 career Olympic games – on a line brimming with talent.

LW Gillian Apps – C Vicky Sunohara – RW Cassie Campbell
Match-up Line: Defenceman-turned-forward Campbell won two Olympic golds as team captain, Sunohara was the ultimate glue player and power forward Apps carries on a historic family tradition. Her grandfather, Syl Apps Sr., was named to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ all-time team.

LW Meghan Agosta
Agosta, fifth all-time in Team Canada goals, won three Olympic gold medals and was twice named to the Olympic all-star team.

Foundational Player - C France St. Louis
A team captain and model teammate, St. Louis won five World Championship gold medals and was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2014.

Head Coach Mel Davidson
Davidson was head coach of four global title-winning teams (including two Olympic golds) and an assistant coach of three more (one Olympic gold). That means Davidson has been a coach for fully 50 per cent of Canada’s 14 total titles.

THE LAST CUTS

Among those absent from Team Canada are two right defencemen - Carla MacLeod, a World Championship MVP and Olympic all-star, plus Meaghan Mikkelson, a two-time World all-star - and netminder Sami-Jo Small, twice named best goalie at the World Championships.

G: Sami-Jo Small, 1999-04
LD: Judy Diduck, 1990-98
RD: Carla MacLeod, 2005-10
LW: Rebecca Johnston, 2007-20
C: Stacy Wilson, 1990-98
RW: Sarah Vaillancourt, 2005-13

TSN Hockey's All-Time Canadian Teams

Monday, April 27 – Montreal Canadiens
Wednesday, April 29 – Calgary Flames
Friday, May 1 – Edmonton Oilers
Monday, May 4 – Toronto Maple Leafs
Wednesday, May 6 – Ottawa Senators
Friday, May 8 – Winnipeg Jets
Monday, May 11 – Vancouver Canucks
Friday, May 15 - Team Canada Men
Tuesday, May 19 - Team Canada Women