Sarah Nurse: Canada ice hockey's point-scoring machine
Nurse made a valuable contribution in Canada's gold-winning campaign in the women's ice hockey tournament at Beijing 2022. She set a new single Olympics points record after contributing a goal and assist in their 3-2 win over the USA.
Ice Hockey
Sarah Nurse’s insatiable appetite for points came to the fore in Canada’s 3-2 dismantling of the United States to reclaim the title they conceded to their southern neighbours four years ago.
The 27-year-old’s strike eight minutes into the encounter swung the game in their favour en route to their fifth gold medal in Olympic women’s ice hockey. Nurse also had a hand in one of captain Marie-Phillip Poulin’s two goals.
The goal was Nurse’s fifth of the tournament which saw her bow out with a new points record. Her goal and assist in the final earned her a new Olympic single-tournament record with 18 points at Beijing 2022. She also had 13 assists during her campaign.
Instead of basking in the glory of her accomplishment, Nurse credited the team effort for her feat.
“I think it speaks to the players I am playing with, they were able to find the back of the net. We have 23 incredible players on this team, it’s been so much fun." - Sarah Nurse said after the game.
A maiden Olympic goal
Nurse scored her first Olympic goal during Canada’s 2-1 round-robin victory over the United States at PyeongChang 2018. The strike was her only one of those Games but served as a crucial taster of what was to come at Beijing 2022.
She made a stunning start to her Beijing campaign with two assists in Canada’s 12-1 rout of Switzerland in their opening round-robin match. Nurse scored a hat-trick of goals in the team’s 11-1 demolition of Finland. She scored her fourth goal of the tournament in the side’s 6-1 victory over the ROC before her piece de resistance in the final.
“Honestly, I don’t have words right now, that was the longest game of hockey I’ve ever played,” Nurse said after the final.
“Waking up this morning, we knew that we were going to finish this game with a gold medal if we just stuck to our plan and processes. This is a dream come true.
It’s everything (winning gold) coming off 2018 and having that silver medal it felt like the weight of the world on our shoulders, and having this gold it is going to feel as light as ever.”
Nurse featured at her first senior World Championships in 2019, where she contributed eight points in Canada’s bronze-medal campaign. Two years later, she would prove her weight in gold with a goal and two assists in Canada’s first world-title victory in nearly a decade.
Now she has the ultimate prize after her star role in the ice hockey tournament of Beijing 2022.