Return to ice is sweet for Fillier

CALGARY—When Sarah Fillier was handed the plain black game puck to commemorate her first world championship goal for Canada, assistant captain Brianne Jenner borrowed it for a few minutes.

“Brianne Jenner took the puck and taped it up and wrote all this stuff on it,” Fillier told The Canadian Press on Saturday. “I’ve always looked up to her and kind of wanted to play with her. For her to say ‘Let me get some tape on that puck for you’ was so cool.”

Fillier was an impact player in her world hockey debut for Canada. The 21-year-old from Georgetown scored the thirdperiod, go-ahead goal in a 5-3 win over Finland to open the tournament Friday in Calgary. The Finns had pulled even just 25 seconds before Fillier batted in a feed from Natalie Spooner.

“It was a huge swing in momentum, and it was awesome to celebrate it with the team,” Fillier said.

Fillier was on the cusp of major milestones in her hockey career in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic dealt her a double-whammy.

Her Princeton team had reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA women’s Division I championship that was cancelled. Fillier also made Canada’s roster for the world championship in Halifax, which was called off within days of the NCAA’s cancellation.

Fillier and the rest of the Canadian team were in Halifax in May for another try at holding a world championship when it was abruptly cancelled.

“I think when we first found out it was kind of just like disbelief,” Fillier recalled. “How is this happening again? How is this happening so close to the tournament? It definitely was a strange moment.”

Her dismay turned to delight when Canadian head coach Troy Ryan and Hockey Canada director of national women’s teams Gina Kingsbury informed Fillier she’d been summoned to Calgary this summer to try out for the 2022 Olympic team.

“I just couldn’t stop smiling and honestly couldn’t really find the words,” Fillier said. “I’m a pretty emotional person and it was super-weird when they told me. I was shocked. I couldn’t cry, but I was so excited. I was speechless.”