Natalie Spooner will be playing in a ninth Women’s World Hockey Championship for Canada, but this one will have a different meaning for the athlete.
Less than four months after giving birth to her son Rory, the 32-year-old forward was uncertain whether she would be chosen to represent her country in Brampton.
“This whole adventure that I went through, not really knowing if I was going to be able to come back in time, in the shape I needed to play, it was really one of those moments that made me wonder how it was going to be.” , Spooner told The Canadian Press.
Canada will face Finland in an exhibition game on Saturday at the Gale Center in Niagara Falls, Ont.
After winning the last two tournaments, Canada’s National Women’s Team will begin its quest for a treble with a match against Switzerland at the CAA Center in Brampton on April 5.
Spooner will be back in Canada’s roster for the first time since the country beat the United States for gold in the final of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. It will be his first international match since she and her husband, Adam Redmond, gave birth to Rory on December 6.
“Having Rory there will be really unique,” said the Toronto native. He probably won’t remember it, but he will be able to see me play and I think it will be really great.
“This World Championship is going to look a little different to me. I have a few things to adjust. It’s great because it’s going to be very close to home and it’s going to allow me to have all this support around me. »
Spooner is not the first Canadian to return to the game after giving birth.
Defender Meaghan Mikkelson has also been there, after the birth of her son in 2015, as well as that of her daughter in 2019.
Defender Becky Kellar played for Canada in the 2005 and 2008 championships. In both cases, it followed the birth of a boy.
Spooner sped up her return-to-play process, as she was still skating after 36 weeks pregnant.
“I only took about eight weeks off,” the forward said. I feel very good on the rink. I feel a little pain in my pubic bone, so it’s just to be careful of this pain. I don’t feel behind the group at all. »
Spooner’s first game after giving birth to Rory was on February 24, with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association in Tampa Bay, Florida.
She played six games in that league, with head coach Troy Ryan even traveling to Washington, D.C. to see her and other Canadian team players play in early March.
“Our medical team is talking directly with her and her doctor to see if she will continue to gain speed and strength in a safe manner,” Ryan said. All the information given to me showed tremendous progress on a weekly basis.
“It shows his dedication to his sport. Some of that is what she did after she gave birth, some of it during her pregnancy, but a big part of it is what she did before. We believe she can bring us a championship and it’s great when it comes with a story like that. »
Spooner ranks ninth in Canadian history with 121 points (66 goals and 55 assists) in 147 games.
She has won Olympic gold twice, in 2014 and 2022, in addition to winning gold twice at the World Women’s Hockey Championship, in 2021 and 2022.
