Four years after winning a gold medal in Beijing, Emerance Maschmeyer ’16 is returning to the Olympic stage. In the Milano-Cortina Games, the Harvard alum will back the Canadian women’s hockey team in the net as it vies for its second consecutive gold medal.

Although Maschmeyer has significant experience competing at the highest level of hockey, she acknowledged that these Winter Games are going to be very different from those in 2022, during which athletes were limited by pandemic restrictions.

“My first Olympic Games experience was the Beijing 2022 Olympics, and it was during the height of COVID, so we were in a pretty strict bubble,” the goaltender explained. “We weren’t allowed to have fans or family come in and watch the games.”

“I’m excited for this time around to be able to have like the real Olympic experience,” the Canadian said. “To have my friends and family come and watch, and have Canadian fans in the stands, and be able to mingle with other athletes from other countries, go watch other sports, and be out in Italy as well, there’s a lot to look forward to.”

“Of course, stepping onto the ice and playing our first game, I’m really, really looking forward to,” the gold medalist added.

Maschmeyer has had a long and successful hockey career, starting with impressive collegiate seasons at Harvard.

When she was 13, the goaltender traveled to Boston with her spring hockey team. During the trip, she visited Cambridge with her mom, and, despite her young age, she knew immediately that she wanted to join the ranks of the Crimson.

“At 13, being a Canadian from a small town farming community, it seemed a little bit unrealistic,” Maschmeyer said. “But, I remember her saying, ‘okay, keep your grades up, work hard, you never know what could happen.’”

“So, my mind was set on Harvard from a pretty young age,” she explained. “I felt that going to Harvard would really help me develop as a hockey player and also as a student.”

Maschmeyer, who lived in Quincy House and studied sociology and economics, also attributed the renowned history of the women’s hockey program for enticing her to don the Crimson jersey.

“Of course, you see the big names, Julie Chu, Angela Ruggiero, Jennifer Botterill,” Maschmeyer said. “That was really exciting for me.”

Combined, Chu ’07, Ruggiero ’04, and Botterill ’03 boast four gold, six silver, and two bronze Olympic medals. The three women, who are just a few of the team’s many notable alumni, also all won the Patty Kazmaier Award, with Botterill claiming the honor twice.

“There weren’t a ton of Canadians, but that didn’t shy me away from it,” Maschmeyer said while reflecting on the Harvard program. “I knew Coach Stone was a legendary coach, and I really saw an opportunity to grow as a human, as an athlete, and as a student.”

Maschmeyer had an incredibly successful career at Harvard, recording 59 wins while anchoring the Crimson defense through three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the National Championship game in 2015. She was a Patty Kazmaier Award nominee and still sits at the top of the program’s record book with her 2,538 career saves.

When she is not competing for Canada’s Olympic Team, the Alberta native plays for the PWHL’s Vancouver Goldeneyes.

Due to the emergence of the PWHL, the training process for these Olympics was slightly different from that in 2022.

“Last Olympic Games, we were centralized as Team Canada from August all the way until the Games, so we were able to get together as a team, practicing all the time, playing games against some boys’ teams, against Finland, and against the U.S.,” Maschmeyer said.

“Now that we have the league, it’s a different process,” she added.

This time, the athletes participating in both the PWHL and the Olympics trained with their respective professional teams leading up to the Winter Games. While the league is incredibly competitive and boasts many of the most talented female hockey players in the world, it does mean that the national teams were unable to centralize their preparation programs as they have in years past.

“There’s nothing like getting game reps,” said Maschmeyer while describing how playing with the Goldeneyes has helped her prepare for the Olympics. “The league has provided consistent training, consistent games, and that’s the best. I think that we’re prepared. For me, I feel great going into these Games.”

That being said, Hockey Canada has also worked to help its athletes become comfortable with one another so that they can perform with more cohesion on the ice. The program began its training camps in August and conducted two-week-on, two-week-off sessions until the start of the PWHL.

The Canadian women trained together through the start of the professional season, and also partook in the 2025 Rivalry Series. In the series, the team faced off against its gold-medal rivals, the Americans, in two games.

“What’s really cool about our squad is that we’ve all played together a lot, and so we’re a really close group that has gone through a lot of different experiences together,” Maschmeyer said. “So, there’s no problem with us gelling.”

In Beijing, the Harvard alum tallied a shutout against Sweden as she helped her team pave its way to its fifth Olympic gold medal. The goaltender is ready to perform to the best of her ability again in Milano-Cortina.

“A big thing as a goalie is just making sure you’re physically ready, but also that you’re mentally sharp and are ready for every single shot,” she explained. “Our margin of error is so small.”

This year, the American Team is predicted to serve as the biggest threat to Canada’s back-to-back gold medal campaign. Since women’s hockey was first introduced to the Olympics in 1998, the gold medal has only ever been claimed by the United States or Canada. So far, the Canadians have dominated the rivalry, winning five gold medals of the seven gold medals. The fight for first is bound to be a close one again this year.

Maschmeyer and her teammates will make their Olympic debut on Feb. 7 against Switzerland.

The Canadians were supposed to compete against Finland on Feb. 5, but the Finnish team came down with norovirus. With the game against the Finns now rescheduled to Feb. 12, Team Canada will first take on Switzerland, Czechia, and its rival, the United States, in the group stages of play.

— Staff Writer Isabel C. Smail can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @Isabel_Smail.