BALANCING ACT:
NATALIE SPOONER
By David Pagnotta
Photography by Nicole De Khors
Styled by Sydney Weiner
Hair & Makeup by Sandra Yang
Ice Warriors Magazine - Spring 2025
Cover Feature
Coming out of college, where she spent her time playing hockey at The Ohio State University, Natalie Spooner had a decision to make: continue down the path of pursuing her hockey dream or shift her focus to another passion and go to med school. Two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, three World Championship gold medals, the inaugural PWHL Billie Jean King MVP, and many additional accolades and records later, it is clear Spooner chose the right direction.
But at the time of writing the next chapter of her career, the professional hockey avenue was not very concrete and a tough call had to be made.
“I think, for me, coming out of university, there was a CWHL, but it really wasn’t a full-time job, and I think that was probably a pretty pivotal moment in my career – whether I was going to continue playing hockey or go on and get a job,” Spooner explained. “I went to school for nutritional pre-med, so thinking I may want to go to med school. So, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, let’s give it a shot, see if I can make the Olympic team.’ If that happens, then who knows? And if I don't make it, then maybe I go to school route.
“Luckily, I made the team in 2014 and just kept playing hockey from there, but it’s kind of been a whirlwind, but a lot of fun.”
The evolution of the women’s game has been well documented. The growth and popularity of the PWHL has been evident from Day 1 and with expansion on the horizon, it’s only going to continue to climb upward.
With such a large spotlight placed on the PWHL and its players, the ability to highlight the personalities of the athletes is something the teams are taking advantage of, and it is something Spooner has continued to embrace since it first dawned on her when she was part of the second season of The Amazing Race Canada.Coming out of college, where she spent her time playing hockey at The Ohio State University, Natalie Spooner had a decision to make: continue down the path of pursuing her hockey dream or shift her focus to another passion and go to med school. Two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, three World Championship gold medals, the inaugural PWHL Billie Jean King MVP, and many additional accolades and records later, it is clear Spooner chose the right direction.
But at the time of writing the next chapter of her career, the professional hockey avenue was not very concrete and a tough call had to be made.
“I think, for me, coming out of university, there was a CWHL, but it really wasn’t a full-time job, and I think that was probably a pretty pivotal moment in my career – whether I was going to continue playing hockey or go on and get a job,” Spooner explained. “I went to school for nutritional pre-med, so thinking I may want to go to med school. So, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, let’s give it a shot, see if I can make the Olympic team.’ If that happens, then who knows? And if I don't make it, then maybe I go to school route.
“Luckily, I made the team in 2014 and just kept playing hockey from there, but it’s kind of been a whirlwind, but a lot of fun.”
The evolution of the women’s game has been well documented. The growth and popularity of the PWHL has been evident from Day 1 and with expansion on the horizon, it’s only going to continue to climb upward.
With such a large spotlight placed on the PWHL and its players, the ability to highlight the personalities of the athletes is something the teams are taking advantage of, and it is something Spooner has continued to embrace since it first dawned on her when she was part of the second season of The Amazing Race Canada.
“I love Celine Dion. my go-to karaoke song would be ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion. I used to listen to so much more music and lately it’s been a lot of kids music, but I mean, this past summer me and Soupy went to the Taylor Swift concert in Toronto, so that was that was pretty cool.”
“After the 2014 Olympics, I got to go on Amazing Race and I think with where women’s hockey was, it was really a cool experience for me and it’s amazing that people get to see, who we are behind the mask and our personalities, what other things we’re into other than just hockey – because I don’t think people really got to know us or see us other than every four years at the Olympics. So, for me that that was a huge moment and then going into the 2018 Olympics, being able to show us wearing dresses and wearing all these different things was a pretty quick and fun experience.”
With the League supporting its athletes personal promotion, which ties into the promotion of the game itself, it’s no wonder why people are selling out every arena.
“I think the PWHL was something that we wanted, and we pushed for so long – kind of the reason why we did all these extra things to try to promote ourselves but also try to promote women’s hockey in general and push the sport forward,” Spooner said. “It was pretty amazing that I am still here and get to play in this amazing league that we wanted for so long, and that all those little girls can have that dream of playing professional women’s hockey and I think we saw from Year One that it was bigger and better than any of us would have thought. In Year Two, I think it’s exceeding that, still. It’s pretty cool to see where this league can go. And that we’re only at the beginning of it.”
With how successful the 2024-25 Takeover Tour was – and the likelihood the PWHL expands to two of those markets for next season – the PWHL has captivated an audience that thirsts for more of the women’s game. While Spooner wasn’t able to participate in any of Toronto’s games on the tour, as she was rehabbing her knee injury, she still watched how special the games meant to the fans across North America.
“Just getting to watch the games on T.V. and see the turnouts and there’s so many people, it just shows that there’s so many people that want to support women’s hockey and want to come out and watch women’s hockey,” she said. “I think probably in like 10-15 years, we’ll look back at some of those little girls that got to come out and watch those games – they might have been inspired to want to play in the PWHL – and I’m sure we’re going to have one of those girls back dressed up, maybe as a hometown team in that market, maybe for the Sceptres or the Victoire, who knows?”
It wasn’t until the first game Spooner played inside the Mattamy Centre in Toronto in Year One that she started to understand how special the PWHL already was.
“I think we all hoped for the best, but you don’t really know when you’re starting something new, how it’s going to go and it did come together so quickly,” she said. “I think in that first game when the crowd we had at Mattamy and Billy Jean King coming out and dropping the punk and just the energy that was in that building, for me, that moment was like, ‘wow, this is really happening.’ I think after that first game I knew it was going to be something really special, but then it was like the wild thing was every single game it was like something new.”
With broken attendance record after broken attendance record over the first two seasons, the opportunity for continued growth is more than apparent. New teams, new sponsors, new fans – it is all leading to new and exciting moments.
“I love just really spending time with my family and friends. I love to travel in the off-season, eat good food. I think what most people like to do, but now with my son, I think it makes it all a little bit sweeter and it’s pretty special.”
“I think it’s slowly turning into that dream league that everyone has always wanted and eventually we’re going to be able to play more games because there’s going to be more teams,” Spooner said. “I think it’s only going to just keep growing and building that fan base, connecting with our fans. I feel like in Toronto, it’s such a community around our team and it makes it so special.”
As the leagues enters its stretch run towards the playoffs after the World Championships, players on both the Canadian and American national rosters have also suited up alongside each other in the PWHL. With new relationships being formed, has that taken away any of the allure of the rivalry between Canada and the U.S. when it comes to the Worlds or next year’s Winter Olympics?
“I don’t think so,” Spooner quickly answered. “I think every time you put on that Canada jersey, it’s like you just remember all those times when you were on that blueline and you didn’t hear your anthem. I think that rivalry is always there. We’ve played so many times in those big games – those gold medal games – you always think of those moments and how you never want to feel that feeling again. I don’t think it’s really changed – whatever team you’re putting that jersey on for that’s like the team you’re going to go through a brick wall for. I think that rivalry is just as strong still.”
From dancing and singing on reality television shows and in the locker room, rocking out to Taylor Swift and Celine Dion, and traveling different parts of the globe, Spooner’s off ice game has changed over the years, as well.
Becoming a mother in December 2022 certainly changed her daily routine away from the arena – and her choice in music throughout the day – but bringing her son Rory to the rink with her and her husband Adam is building core memories for their entire family.
“I love just really spending time with my family and friends. I love to travel in the off-season, eat good food. I think what most people like to do, but now with my son, I think it makes it all a little bit sweeter and it’s pretty special,” she said. “I think to have him now involved in hockey, coming to watch me play, it’s great that he is obsessed with hockey. I think it would be so much harder for me to be away from him and planning hockey if he was like, ‘I don’t like hockey,’ but he loves it and he absolutely is like obsessed with the girls. Soupy (Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell) is his favourite player and he doesn’t want talk to me ever (at the rink), he only wants to talk to Soupy. It also makes it pretty cool that he only thinks that women play hockey and that I play I’m on the screen every single time there’s a hockey game on.”
Still, though, when the karaoke machine comes out, Spooner is one of the first to run to the microphone.
“I love Celine Dion,” she exclaimed, “my go-to karaoke song would be ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion. I used to listen to so much more music and lately it’s been a lot of kids music, but I mean, this past summer me and Soupy went to the Taylor Swift concert in Toronto, so that was that was pretty cool. I’m also super into country music. I met my husband at the Calgary Stampede. My husband’s a Western boy and got me really into country music.
“I love going to musicals. When I was little, I had a dream of like being in a play and I auditioned for my school play and I got the part of like a flower that didn’t say a word. So now I love to watch them and pretend, you know, maybe I could have been that one day. I love to sing, so anything I can sing along to. I love the Little Mermaid. Wicked, I love the Wicked. The Sound of Music.”
Spooner and her Sceptres teammates will get their game faces ready for the PWHL Playoffs in May, and with their sights set on the Walter Cup, Canada will look to defend its title at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, something the 34-year-old is looking forward to.
“I think Italy will be amazing,” Spooner expressed. “I mean every Olympics is different and I think this one is also going to be very different than the last ones, especially now that we have a pro league, we’re not centralizing per se, we’re not spending a whole bunch of time together leading up to the Olympics. So, that would be a lot more interesting with the camps we’re able to have and how we kind of build that chemistry leading into those games. But I mean, just looking forward to that and kind of getting prepared for that.”
Going from the PWHL season to the World Championships to the PWHL playoffs, with next year’s Olympics in the mix, and home life all in between, it can not only take a toll on the body but also on the minds of these athletes. For Spooner, mastering the art of balance is key to her success and ultimately the success of her teams.
“I think it’s just really being present with wherever you are and I would say becoming a mom has helped me a lot with that because like when I’m at home, I had to be like full mom mode, but when I’m at the rink I’m ‘Natalie the hockey player’ so I think like while you’re here, it’s like we’re all in for the World Championships and obviously when we go back to play for Toronto, like those next three games we have a job to do to secure a spot in the playoffs and be the best team we can.”
