Always on the go Wickenheiser stays grounded shooting pucks

It’s difficult to find a person in the hockey world busier than Hayley Wickenheiser.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist is the senior director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a medical resident in Toronto and can now add ambassador for Canadian Tire’s ‘Puck Pass Challenge.’

“This year in the lead up to the Beijing Games starting today [Jan. 31] through Feb. 18 they’ve created a contest called the ‘Puck Pass Challenge’ where Canadians from coast-to-coast can upload their favourite video of themselves doing some crazy or fun puck-handling move,” Wickenheiser told TSN.

“[Then they get] a chance to get entered into the top 15 to be chosen to be featured the Winter Olympic Games in a commercial that includes many Canadian athletes like Mitch Marner, Natalie Spooner, Alex Bilodeau, myself, Ron MacLean, a variety of Canadian winter athletes as well as Paralympians.”

The commercial will run through the duration of the Olympics and for each video that’s uploaded, Canadian Tire will donate $1 to Jumpstart, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Foundation of Canada up to $300,000.

The Olympic women’s hockey tournament kicks off on Feb. 3 and for the first time since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Canada comes in as the reigning silver medallists. After a Canadian streak of four consecutive Olympic gold medals, the United States took home gold in 2018 in PyeongChang with a 3-2 shootout win over Canada.

In 1998, Wickenheiser was a part of the Team Canada squad that took silver in Nagano. She has experienced first-hand the difference in mentality going into the Olympics as either the defending champions or silver medallists.

“I think it’s always easier to be the hunter than the hunted,”