Sarah Nurse on the Olympics, her message for young athletes, who the best athlete in her family is and more

About that heartbreaking loss to the U.S. at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey final last month, Sarah Nurse says, “that was the most fun I’ve had in a hockey game in a very long time.”

The Canadian team lost 2-1 in overtime when American defender Megan Keller scored the winner four minutes and seven seconds into extra time, giving the U.S. its third gold medal after victories in 1998 and 2018.

Nurse, 31, a star forward for the Vancouver Goldeneyes of the Professional Women's Hockey League picked up a silver medal in Italy to go with the gold she won at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China and a silver at the PyeongChang 2018 Games in South Korea.

CBC Hamilton spoke with Nurse about how, a few weeks later, she views the loss to the U.S., how she supported younger teammates through defeat, her message to young athletes in Hamilton and which member of her extraordinary family is the best athlete.

Here’s an abridged and edited interview she did with CBC Hamilton on March 11. 

Sarah Nurse on how she helped younger teammates cope with the Olympic loss to the U.S. and more

How are you feeling now that it’s been a few weeks since the gold medal game?

Obviously, the game wasn't the result that we wanted, but playing in that game was so much fun and I think that's what I feel coming out of that game. That was the most fun I've had in a hockey game in a very long time.

Coming back, there wasn't a lot of downtime. We've gotten right back into our season, and so we've played a couple games. We've been practicing. We've been doing a bunch of events here in Vancouver. So, there hasn't been much time to really dwell on, you know, getting a silver medal but I think it's been a great opportunity for us to continue to elevate the game of