Havergal Old Girl Emma Buckles Plays Professional Women’s Hockey on Ottawa’s Team
Emma Buckles (Class of 2017) jokes that she went straight from the womb to the ice hockey rink. Her two older brothers were avid players and she was on the ice herself the second she was able to put on skates.
“Hockey was the main thing for me, from the time I was very young. It was all I wanted to do,” she says.
With that kind of passion, there was little doubt that Buckles would aspire to play hockey professionally someday. In 2023, that dream became a reality when she was drafted by Boston to play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s inaugural season and later traded to Ottawa in early 2024.
“It’s such an exciting opportunity to compete at this level, in this new league. As an athlete and a competitor, it brings a huge smile to my face to know I’m competing against the best and that we finally have this platform we’ve been working so hard for,” she says.
Early Beginnings at Havergal
Buckles was three years old when she first stepped onto the Havergal College campus for Junior Kindergarten and continued to go to school at HC until she graduated from high school. She says those formative years played an outsized role in helping her build a foundation for her self-confidence and drive to be her best.
“There was so much to do and learn at Havergal. I played soccer, volleyball, softball and hockey, and I was a Prefect in my senior year. I wanted to be involved in student life as much as possible.”
In Grade 9, she and fellow Old Girl/Alum Sidney Wilson started an active living club to share the knowledge they had accumulated as competitive athletes outside of school. “We wanted to bring what we were learning to our peers. And the club was also a means to bring a smoothie maker into the school and make smoothies with our friends,” Buckles laughs.
At a place like Havergal, you get to try out so much. Listen to the voice inside of you and follow the things that make you happy.
Throughout her youth in Toronto, Buckles developed her hockey skills for the Toronto Aeros junior team. In 2017, she was part of Team Canada, which took home silver at the World Ice Hockey Championships. That same year, she graduated from Havergal and moved to Boston to study psychology—and play hockey—at Harvard University.
“It was hard to balance the social, academic and athletic schedule at Harvard. I very quickly began tapping into the habits I learned at Havergal and with my youth hockey teams to find the balance I needed to succeed,” she says.
“Setting timelines to get things done and creating strategies were things I was taught at Havergal, and I’m very grateful for that. It made the transition so much easier.”
When Buckles graduated from Harvard in 2022, the timing couldn’t have been better for her career. After years of negotiation, the first professional women’s hockey league was announced, with six teams across North America (Boston, New York, Montreal, Minnesota, Toronto and Ottawa).
A New World of Athletic Accessibility
Buckles says she was focused on being her best in her youth but didn’t have a clear vision of what a professional future would look like.
“As a kid, I imagined being in the NHL. It was the only platform out there and there were no female players on TV. There were some female hockey role models, but they didn’t have the opportunities we do now,” she says.
“I knew a professional women’s league was going to be a reality, but I wasn’t sure when or where I’d be in my career. To actually have this league we’ve been talking about for decades, when so many trailblazers before me wished they could have been a part of it, I feel honoured and lucky to be part of this great change for the sport.”
Buckles believes that if female hockey players had been more visible when she was younger, more girls would have gone into the sport.
“For anyone growing up now to see me playing is pretty surreal. It’s a dream that can also be a reality for them.”
Whether they’re athletes or have another passion, Buckles’s advice to Havergal students is simple: “Dream big. At a place like Havergal, you get to try out so much. Listen to the voice inside of you and follow the things that make you happy. I’m grateful that I did.”
Published April 2024
2023–24 Issue
