Olympian Emily Clark reflects on the growth of women’s hockey in Saskatoon

As the winter Olympics draw near, a Saskatchewan-born hockey star is hoping to bring her third medal home. Hallee Mandryk has the story.

Nearly four years ago, Saskatoon’s Emily Clark stepped off a plane from Beijing to a warm welcome home following a gold-medal win.

“That’s definitely a core memory that I won’t forget,” Clark said.

While the COVID-19 pandemic limited the number of fans who could travel and physically show their support, Clark still felt the love from her hometown full of supporters.

“To be able to get my feet on the ground in Saskatoon and share that obviously with my family. My parents getting a hold the medal, my siblings, my friends that were able to come and then, obviously, the community that that showed up was just super special,” Clark said.

Now, Clark is chasing that feeling once again as she prepares to return for her third Olympic appearance with Team Canada hockey, and the two-time medalist said she doesn’t take that for granted.

“It’s such a bigger group than the 23 players that get to go, and there’s been a lot of us working toward to where we’re at right now since gold in 2022. So to be only a few weeks out from puck drop now is pretty surreal,” Clark said.

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After earning a silver medal in 2018 and a gold in 2022, Clark is seeking to keep the momentum going as she heads to the Milano-Cortina Olympics.

“We’re so competitive and everyone knows hockey in Canada - you’re going for gold every time. I think every year, maybe the motivator is slightly different. And you just use whatever you need to, to be at your best. But, obviously, winning, competing, representing our country and our team, I mean there’s no shortage of motivation,” Clark said.

No matter the number of medals Clark adds to her collection, she is still very in touch with her prairie roots.

“I loved my childhood and playing hockey in Saskatoon and being from Saskatoon. And being one of few players to represent Canada on the women’s national team from Saskatchewan at all, let alone Saskatoon, is something I take a lot of pride in,” Clark said.

The athlete said that throughout her childhood, there was not always a lot of representation for women aspiring to be professional athletes.

“Every four years when I was growing up, that was your time to watch women play hockey or women compete at a high level sport,” Clark said.

In recent years, the rise of professional women’s hockey leagues have inspired a lot of growth in the sport at all levels, which Clark believes to be a welcomed change.

“The difference of a generation of young women that don’t know any different but there being pro women’s sports. Lots of us were motivated by wanting to play on Team Canada, and really only got to see that every four years. So now for young girls and boys to get to see women in sport so often, so accessible, so freely, I think that makes a massive difference,” Clark said.

That difference seen in Saskatoon by those who work with aspiring young hockey players.

“There’s places for girls to go after they’re done their minor hockey career, and there’s females to look up to, like Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley, who now play professional hockey,” said Krispin Zaleschuk, the commissioner of the Comets Female Hockey Zone.

Zaleschuk added that the league has seen over 800 girls playing hockey this season, and this number is part a steady increase in participation in recent years.

“I don’t think we’ll see a slowdown anytime soon. As these new leagues get more popular and, and we start to see more products from our local communities make these leagues, I think it’ll just fuel the fire that girls have to achieve something great,” Zaleschuk said.

Clark said the support from her hometown certainly goes a long way as she prepares to travel to Milano-Cortina in February.

“I’m so proud to be from Saskatoon, and I feel the love. I see the messages. I’m bad at reply to my own family, so please don’t take it personally if you can message and I don’t get back to you. But just know that it’s felt and that’s appreciated and never taken for granted,” Clark said.