MILAN – Many Canadians saw Natalie Spooner in tears when she was told by national team management she’d play hockey in her fourth Olympic Games.
The 35-year-old from Toronto had her doubts. She was a healthy scratch in last year’s world championship final.
After giving birth to her son Rory in late 2022 and returning to hockey, Spooner tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee in a Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff game in May of 2024.
It was a long road back for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s player of the year in 2024. Her first game for the Toronto Sceptres after knee surgery was Feb. 11, 2025.
So when Hockey Canada posted a video montage on social media of some players when told they would play in the Milan Cortina Winter Games, Spooner’s emotion was striking.
“It’s been a long road to get here and it’s been a grind and there’s been good days and bad days,” Spooner said. “It was probably just thinking about all those tough days and that it was worth it in the end, that the dream that I had and that I’d built up in my head, like ‘I can do this,’ it came true.
“There’s definitely days where I doubted. There’s days when you’re in pain and you’re working hard to come back and you think, ‘wow, can I really do this? Can I get back to where I was? Is it gonna be good enough?’ I don’t know if I’d be human if I didn’t have those doubts, but I definitely had a huge support team around me from trainers, my family, so many friends that just said, ‘if you want to do this, you can do it.’”
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Spooner scored Canada’s first goal of the 2026 Olympic women’s hockey tournament in a 4-0 win over Switzerland on Saturday.
She led the way for her team that outshot the Swiss by a large margin, but took until the second period to solve workhorse goaltender Saskia Maurer, who posted 51 saves in the game.
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“I was so happy to see her get that goal and watching that video of her finding out the news of making the Olympic roster I think was emotional for all of us, just knowing what she’s been through over the last quad, the sacrifices she makes every single day,” said Canadian defender Renata Fast.
“It’s not easy to have a family, to come back from giving birth but then also an ACL injury. She’s been so resilient throughout this quad and she’s willing to play whatever role she’s put in with this team, so great to see her get rewarded with a goal.”
Canada converted three of five power-play chances, including two in the third period. Sarah Fillier and Darryl Watts each had a goal an assist for the defending champions and Julia Gosling also scored.
Switzerland was scheduled to be Canada’s second opponent of the tournament, but Thursday’s opener between Canada and Finland was rescheduled to Feb. 12 because of multiple cases of the norovirus among the Finns.
A Swiss player also had the virus, which put the hockey team in isolation Friday and out of the opening ceremonies after a 4-3 shootout win over Czechia earlier that day.
But Switzerland iced a full complement of 20 skaters and two goalies Saturday at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, which is a low-ceiling temporary rink constructed inside an exhibition centre, and seats between 5,700 and 6,000 people.
Canada’s top goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens didn’t dress Thursday. Canada gave Emerance Maschmeyer the start and Olympic rookie Kayle Osborne was the backup.
Maschmeyer repelled six shots for her shutout, including a stop on Singja Leemann on a partial breakaway in the second period.
“It was going to always be the plan to play her in the Switzerland game, not necessarily the plan to play in Game 1,” said Canadian head coach Troy Ryan.
Canada faces Czechia on Monday, the United States on Tuesday and Finland on Thursday.
Canada outshot the Swiss 17-2 and 30-3 at period breaks, but led 1-0 after 40 minutes.
“We know in a tournament like this you’ve got to play a team game to win a gold medal so that’s what we’re trying to do,” Fillier said. “We have a lot of experience in our group and we’ve been in many games where we are outshooting teams and one hasn’t gone in yet, but we lean on that experience and on that poise and it’s nice to get a few.”
Spooner embraces being Canada’s 13th forward. She points out Jamie Lee Rattray was effective in that role for Canada in the 2022 Beijing Games.
“We know she can play a little bit anywhere, so we did name her and put her in a 13th-forward spot, but the value is that she can play the right side, the left side,” Ryan said. “Any power-play unit in the world, Spooner could be a net-front player on that. It’s just awesome to see her get rewarded with a typical Spooner goal in the net front.”
The Finns deployed a full team in a 5-0 loss to the United States in an earlier Group A game Saturday as the Americans improved to 2-0.
All five countries in Group A and the top three in Group B advance to the quarterfinals Feb. 13-14. Sweden downed host Italy 6-1 to improve to 2-0 and Germany defeated Japan 5-2 in Group B on Saturday.
Italy, Germany and Japan were tied with 1-1 records. France was 0-2.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
