Sarah Nurse

Sarah Nurse (born January 4, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team and an independent member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA). She made her debut with the national team at the 2015 4 Nations Cup. In 2018, she represented Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics where she won a silver medal.
Nurse was drafted second overall by the Toronto Furies in the 2018 CWHL Draft. Along with Hanna Bunton and Brigette Lacquette, Nurse joined them on the cover (dated June 2021) of Elle Canada.
Playing career.
PWHL.
Nurse won a silver medal with Stoney Creek at the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA) provincials. She also won a bronze medal in high school at the 2010 OFSSAA championships, and a silver at OFSSAA 2011. In 2010, she played with Team Heaney and reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 Ontario Winter Games.
During the 2010–11 Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL) season, she led the Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres in scoring. She was named to the OWHA All-Star Team for a game vs. Team Ontario Under-18. For the 2011–12 PWHL season, she was named an alternate captain with Stoney Creek. She helped the club win a bronze medal at the PWHL championships. She ranked second on the club in Stoney Creek scoring.
With the Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres of the PWHL, she broke the league record shared by Kelly Sabatine and Thea Imbrogno for most goals in a season. Breaking the mark in the 2012–13 season, Nurse scored 35 goals, highlighted by a hat-trick in the final game of the season.
Wisconsin Badgers.
Nurse played NCAA Division I ice hockey with the Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey program of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).
In the championship game of the 2015 WCHA Final Faceoff, Nurse scored twice, including the game-winning goal against Bemidji State.
An 8–2 win on December 4, 2016, against the Badgers’ archrivals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers provided Nurse with a career milestone. Playing in front of a sellout crowd at LaBahn Arena, Nurse scored three goals, becoming the first player in program history to score a hat-trick against Minnesota.
CWHL.
After competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Nurse was drafted second overall by the Toronto Furies in the 2018 CWHL Draft. On October 17, 2018, a Furies match at MasterCard Centre versus the visiting Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays saw Nurse score the first goal of her CWHL career. Breaking a 1–1 tie on the power play at the 8:54 mark of the third, said goal would also stand as the game-winning tally in a 3–1 final, which provided Shea Tiley with her first-ever goaltending win in league play.
International.
Hockey Canada.
Nurse was a member of Team Ontario Red that competed at the 2011 and 2012 National Women's Under-18 Championship, winning gold in 2011 and a bronze in 2012. She was a member of the Canadian team that captured gold at the 2013 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship.
At the 2015 4 Nations Cup, Nurse was a member of Canada's U22/Development Team, winning a gold medal. In a 4–1 win over Finland on January 3, 2015, she contributed two assists.
Nurse participated for Team Canada in the Elite Women's 3-on-3 game at the Skills Competition of the 2020 National Hockey League All-Star Game.
2018 Winter Olympics.
Nurse was selected to compete for Team Canada in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She scored her first Olympic goal in a 2–1 victory over the United States on February 14. She helped Team Canada take home a silver medal in a shootout against the United States.
Personal life.
Her cousins are professional hockey player Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers and basketball player Kia Nurse of the New York Liberty. Her uncles were also involved in athletics; her uncle Donovan McNabb played pro football in the National Football League (NFL) as a quarterback and her other uncle, Richard Nurse, was a wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Nurse, the biracial daughter of a Black father and a white mother, has spoken at length about racism in ice hockey. When a student wore a costume depicting Barack Obama being lynched to a Badgers football game in 2016, Nurse posted a statement condemning not just the student, but a culture of racism in student athletics at the University of Wisconsin. In the wake of the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020, Nurse spoke with Caroline Cameron of SportsNet, urging Canadians not to separate themselves from the racism of the United States, citing the discrimination against Viola Desmond. Nurse told The Canadian Press in November that her social media commentary on racial equality left her "flooded with interview requests". In September 2020, Liz Knox resigned her position on the PWHPA board to allow Nurse to take her place, citing the association's "blind spot" with regards to race issues in ice hockey.
In November 2020, Mattel and Tim Hortons collaborated on two limited-edition Barbie dolls based on Nurse and fellow hockey player Marie-Philip Poulin. The dolls were created as part of Barbie's "You Can Be Anything" program, which aims to inspire "girls to reach their limitless potential through imaginative play and engaging with meaningful role models."