YYC Collaboration - Rebecca Johnston - 3X Olympian Hockey Player
We recently teamed up with Olympic athlete, Rebecca Johnston, to help share her story and journey to how she got started in hockey to playing in 3 Olympics and winning two gold and a silver medal. With the help of local storyteller and photographer, Daniel Edwards, we are so excited to share a little bit about Rebecca.
A member of Canada’s National Women’s Team since 2007, Rebecca Johnston has competed at eight IIHF Women’s World Championships as well as three Olympic Winter Games, helping Canada win gold at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 as well as a silver at PyeongChang 2018 where she was among the team’s leading scorers. After not being selected to the final roster in 2007, Johnston made her world championship debut in 2008.
In her eight career appearances, she has won seven silver medals to go with the gold medal in 2012. At the 2011 World Championship, she led the Canadian team in scoring with four goals and two assists and was one of Canada’s top three players as selected by the coaches. She was also Canada’s top scorer at the 2016 World Championships with two goals and five assists and was named to the Media All-Star Team.
Johnston’s collegiate career took her to Cornell University. In 2007-08 she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore, she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in NCAA hockey. After spending 2009-10 centralized with the national team, she returned to school and led Cornell to the NCAA Frozen Four and was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in both 2010-11 and 2011-12. After graduation Johnston was drafted by the Toronto Furies of the CWHL and led them to the Clarkson Cup playoffs in 2012-13.
The following season she began playing with the Calgary Inferno and led the league in scoring to win the Angela James Bowl and CWHL MVP. Johnston missed most of the 2015-16 season due to back and hip issues, undergoing therapy to strengthen her hypermobile ligaments. Johnston and the Inferno made it back to the Clarkson Cup final in 2016-17 and she continues to play for the Calgary Inferno this coming season, 2018-2019 season.
To learn more about Rebecca, check out her website here!
Photos by @danieledward.ca
