Hayley Wickenheiser – Canadian hockey legend and trailblazer for women in sport – is not who patients expect to meet in the emergency department. 

But it happens all the time to patients at the Toronto-area hospital where Wickenheiser – now Dr. Wickenheiser – practices family and emergency medicine. She completed her final year of residency in family medicine at Toronto Western Hospital in June 2023.   

“It adds a different dynamic,” she says. “[People will ask,] ‘Can I get a picture for my grandkids?’ It’s rarely a negative experience – we usually have a good laugh. It also adds that extra little pressure for me to be good.” 

Dr. Wickenheiser visited Nova Scotia in June to attend Doctors Nova Scotia’s annual conference. She gave the keynote address at the event, reflecting on her new career in medicine and the parallels it shares with hockey. 

One of Canada’s greatest hockey players – she’s a six-time Olympian, four-time Olympic gold medallist and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, to name a few of her achievements – Dr. Wickenheiser always knew she’d shift her career trajectory. 

“I was preparing for one career while I was in another,” she said. “It was healthy for me to have something else to think about as I went through my hockey career and pursued my undergrad and master’s [degrees], and eventually went to med school.” 

Medicine had been on her mind since she was a kid growing up in rural Saskatchewan. “When I was nine years old, a little girl in our neighbourhood got badly injured,” said Dr. Wickenheiser. “She was my friend, so I would go to the hospital to visit her quite a bit. I got inspired by the doctors in my community.” 

In 2017, at age 38, after finishing a master’s degree in kinesiology and retiring from hockey, she started medical school at the University of Calgary. “I went from being a veteran in one area to being a complete neophyte in another – literally like a baby,” she recalled.  

“It was hard for me to sit and listen to lectures – I was so used to being active.” 

She found being around the younger students energizing. “I was teaching them a lot about hockey and they were teaching me a lot about being in school, studying and helping me with classes.”  

She wasn’t the oldest learner in her class. “There were mature students from all walks of life. I went through with an F-18 fighter pilot and a Bay Street lawyer. If you’ve got the energy, will and desire, age doesn’t matter. It’s about your talent and your work ethic.” 

At the end of medical school, she was training in Toronto just as COVID-19 was hitting Canada. “I was in the emergency department that had Ontario’s first COVID patient. I was there that night as a med student. My job was to run around and find PPE, which we didn’t have enough of.” 

This sparked her involvement with the “Conquer COVID-19” group. Med students, physicians and other volunteers who fundraised and collected PPE for hospitals across Canada. Over eight weeks, they raised $2.3 million for the cause. 

“For all of us that went through med school at that time, you don’t know any different. You don’t know what normal is. Also, the pressure and stress that our system was under. For me, I don’t know it any other way.” 

To help ease the pressure, she relies on habits and rituals she formed while playing hockey. “I really prioritize sleep and fitness,” she said.  

Old rituals also help her when times are tough. “When I had a bad shift on the ice, I’d drink from my water bottle and spit it out. I use similar techniques if I’m having a tough day in the ED. I’ll change and throw my scrubs in the bin, and when I walk out of the hospital, I’ll say ‘That’s in the garbage.’ Then I’ll decompress with music on the drive home. If I need to talk about it or run questions by my friends who are more senior than me, then I’ll reach out to them.”  

Life is hectic for Dr. Wickenheiser, who in addition to her work as a physician is also an assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I say I have two full-time jobs,” said Wickenheiser, who spends her mornings at the rink, working with players from prospects all the way up to Leafs players.  

She and her staff of 10 help players develop on and off the ice. “It ties very nicely with my career in medicine. I’m not on the Leafs’ medical staff, but if a player gets cut and the docs aren’t at the arena, I will stitch them up, literally standing in my skates.” 

In the afternoon, she slips off her skates and heads to the hospital, working until the early morning. “I don’t do that every day, but that’s kind of how my beat goes,” she said. “One gives energy to the other and they both give me perspective and balance.” 

Her routine helps her focus on what she enjoys most about her chosen field. “I love that there’s great variety in emergency medicine, from family medicine to trauma. I’m on my feet and moving. And when I leave, I generally can leave it behind.” 

Every day, medicine also reinforces the role of mentorship – another aspect she’s carried over from her hockey experience. “The biggest thing is to be kind and to help people, because you never know when you’re going to be in that situation…I’ve been around some amazing physicians who have helped me so much, so I’ll pay it forward when I feel capable.” 

*This blog post is an excerpt of a longer article that appeared in the September 2024 issue of doctorsNS magazine. 

Want more information on healthy living and health-care delivery sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletter to get all of our content first!