Fillier soars to new heights

Sarah Fillier vividly remembers her first camp with the Canadian national women’s team.

The gifted forward was paired with Marie-Philip Poulin as roommates. Fillier learned the essence of being a leader from Poulin, arguably one of the best athletes to play the sport. It has paid off as Fillier, 24, now owns three IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship gold medals, as well as a gold medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

“If you’re in our locker room, you understand [Poulin’s] culture,” said the former Princeton captain, a three-time Patty Kazmaier Award finalist. “Everyone has a voice, can share that voice, and their opinions are respected. As soon as you step into that locker room, you are considered a leader no matter what and always feel super-valued.”

Starting with the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s U18 World Championship, Fillier has represented Canada on the international stage. Through those years, one thing has remained constant: staying true to her authentic self.

“I feel like this program has let me do just that, and my first kind of quad Olympic games, I had incredible leaders to look up to from our general leadership group,” she said.

The coming weeks will fly by for Fillier. After completing the Rivalry Series against the United States, the Georgetown, Ontario native will rejoin the New York Sirens to kickstart the second half of her PWHL season. She has excelled so far, vying for the league lead with five goals and 15 points. The elite level of competition also helps her prepare for the upcoming Women’s Worlds in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.

The Rivalry Series, which Canada just won for the third year in a row, served as a measuring stick to see where the team is at competitively and to reflect on the areas where players such as Fillier need to improve over the next couple of months. Fillier finished with one goal in four Rivalry Series games.

“It’s always good to take away some of our strengths and things we need to work on at these games,” Fillier said. “We always have a little bit of a shift in our group based on personnel, so it’s a good chance to get more experience and for some girls to get their first experience with the team. It’s all about seeing what we need to get better.”

For the next couple of months before the Women’s Worlds, Fillier says not much will change when it comes to the preparations. There are a few areas of her game she wants to fine-tune, including focusing on her…