GOING FOR GOLD: Princeton University women’s hockey player Sarah Fillier ’24 celebrates after helping Canada defeat the U.S. 3-2 in the title game of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championships last August in Calgary, Alberta. This week, forward Fillier will be skating for Team Canada as it starts play in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. (Photo by Hockey Canada, provided courtesy of Princeton’s Office of Athletic Communications)

By Justin Feil

The Princeton University women’s ice hockey program is excited for the return in the 2022-23 season of a vastly improved Sarah Fillier.

Star forward Fillier hasn’t played for the Tigers since being named Most Outstanding Player as the Tigers won their first ECAC Hockey Championship in the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season, but she’s been elevating her game during the last two years away while on a leave of absence from the University.

“I’m a completely different player than I was two years ago,” said Fillier. “Even if I wasn’t here being centralized, just that year off and completely focusing on hockey and training with the national team before centralization, I would have been a completely different player.”

Fillier put her college junior season on hold to chase a lifelong dream, one that came to fruition when she made Canada’s centralization roster for training, then was selected to their World Championship roster, and recently was named to the Canadian national women’s team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics along with former Princeton teammate, Claire Thompson ’20.

Fillier is hoping to return to Princeton next fall with improved skills as well as a second gold medal. Fillier and Thompson helped Canada win the World Championships in August. Each step has brought with it improvements in her game.

“Going into Worlds, my whole mentality was just trying to gain a lot of confidence,” said Fillier, a 5’5 native of Georgetown, Ontario.

“I hadn’t had a ton of experience or real games in international competition, especially at the senior level, so it was all about gaining a ton of confidence. I thought I played pretty well, so I came out of that tournament with a ton of confidence. It’s just been trying to carry it through these last five months, and I’ve been really happy with how I’ve been playing. It’s super exciting to be on the right track for the Olympics in terms of how I’m playing.”

Team Canada is scheduled to open play in the Olympic tournament on February 2 against Switzerland. They close play in the toughest Olympic pool with games February 4 against Finland, February 6 against the Russian Olympic Committee, and February 7 against the United States. Bracket play then finishes with the gold medal game February 16, and Canada hopes to ride its World Championship success to gold at the Olympics.

“It’s just the finer details of everything,” said Fillier. “We spend every day with each other. It builds a lot of chemistry, whether it’s line chemistry or D pairings. We’ve done obviously a lot of work a lot on power play and special teams. The success of that comes with some time and practice.”

Fillier has gotten plenty of that over the last two years even while away from the Princeton program. Training for the World Championships was a little disjointed because of the pandemic, but Canada put everything together for the title, and is hoping increased training together in centralization since then pays off.

“It’s huge,” said Filler. “We didn’t have a ton of time together, but it just showed we were all committed to whatever game plan our coach, Troy Ryan, had for us. It showed we were really adaptable. And it showed our game plan worked. It wasn’t really about reinventing everything over the last five months, it was just adding things instead of having to step back and realizing we weren’t successful. That was a really good way to start centralization.”

At the Worlds, Fillier scored three goals and had three assists. She was Canada’s fifth-leading scorer, 10th overall, at Worlds.

“During Worlds, my main goal was just trying to build confidence,” said Fillier.

“Spending the last five months with the best players in the world and having conversations with the coaching staff, and your line, you’re really able to build your identity and what you bring to the team. I think I just want to be able contribute day in and day out and be able to put points up, but also be super responsible defensively. Bringing the confidence from Worlds has helped me to be able to bring in my college game a bit. At college I definitely tried to be more of a skill player. Being confident, I think I can bring in that attribute a bit more to my national team game.”

Playing in the World Championships was a key stepping stone for Fillier. The level was a big jump from the college game, but she handled it well.

“For me personally, it was a lot about just knowing our game plan, knowing our systems,” explained Fillier.

“When I confidently know what decisions I’m supposed to be making on the ice, I can play free and let my game speak for itself and really be creative in different areas of the ice. That was huge for me to know our systems in and out.”

It was also an adjustment on the physical side. Fillier is on the smaller side, but she’s also one of the fastest skaters. At the international level, she was challenged to use that speed and handle the more physical play.

“It’s definitely a different level than college,” said Fillier.

“People are a bit older, have had more time to get stronger and be smarter. I’m definitely a smaller player. I know I have to use my speed to my advantage. That’s really been a huge aspect of my game my whole life, so the last year I’ve really been trying to develop my explosive and speed game. That’s been huge to create time and space on the ice to make plays.”

It has helped Fillier to have her former teammate Thompson there throughout her years away from Princeton. The two were roommates during centralization and have supported each other daily.

“I think it’s helpful because we know each other so well,” said Fillier.

“We know what each other needs in definitely some difficult times. Centralization is a really long road. It’s five months of not really seeing friends and family outside of the team. Just being really comfortable and having two years of experience from playing with each other before, being really good friends, it’s nice to come home to every day.”

The two have continued to follow Princeton from afar. The Tigers are scheduled to play at St. Lawrence on February 4 and at Clarkson on February 5. Fillier will be occupied with her own Olympic pursuits, but normally makes time to support Princeton.

“I feel like a super fan just because my classmates are there and teammates are there,” said Fillier, who tallied 22 goals and 35 assists in each of her first two seasons with Princeton to give her 114 career points so far.

“They’re some of my best friends. Claire and I have watch parties every weekend. We’ll watch the games and FaceTime my friends later on the team, especially my classmates. I obviously want to stay really involved because I am coming back next year. I really do love the program and love the team. Even when I do graduate I’ll be a super fan still.”

After the Olympics, Fillier still will have two seasons left when she returns to Princeton. She may also have a pair of gold medals at the international level by then, and invaluable experience from the time she has spent training and playing with Team Canada while away from the Tigers program.

“I think that being pushed constantly at the national team level, I’ve grown so quickly and I feel like I know a lot more about the game, systems-wise and hockey IQ-wise,” said Fillier, who earned All-America accolades, among many honors, in her first two Princeton campaigns.

“I’m really excited to bring that back to Princeton and apply that to our games and our systems and hopefully develop our game to bring us back that ECAC championship and hopefully a national championship.”