Therese BRISSON

A long-time ice hockey defenseman from Montreal, Quebec, Thérèse Brisson skated with Concordia University in the late 1980s while obtaining her PhD in kinesiology and was named the school’s athlete of the year in 1988 and 1989. She joined the Canadian women’s national ice hockey team in the early 1990s and won five consecutive gold medals at the World Championships in 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2001, captaining the squad in the latter three instances. She also represented Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics as a member of the first official women’s ice hockey delegation at the Games. At the tournament she suited up for six matches, scored five goals, and took home a silver medal. Her next opportunity came at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and this round she played in five games, scored two goals, and helped capture the gold medal, which she won despite experiencing a severe on-ice concussion a few months prior to the Games. Outside of hockey she taught kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick for four years, but left that position in 2000 in order to train for the 2002 Olympics. After the 2002 Games she entered York University to obtain an MBA and joined the Oakville Ice of the National Women’s Hockey League. She was also the interim executive director of the athlete advocacy group Athletes CAN for some time prior to the Games and was inducted into Concordia University’s Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2009 she was made a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Board of Directors.