PWHL Toronto’s Natalie Spooner shows motherhood can embolden a career

“Grueling. But you can do both.” 

One day ahead of the first game in the PWHL playoff series, I’m standing in the Coca-Cola Coliseum chatting with the league’s top scorer— Natalie Spooner. The 33-year-old Spooner, ever smiling, and I talk briefly about motherhood, parenting a toddler and her outstanding performance in the inaugural season of the professional women’s hockey league.

At the sold-out game, in a five-game series against Minnesota, Spooner is the first goal scorer. The crowd goes wild to applaud her getting Toronto on the board early in the first period. It is no surprise that Spooner, who some are saying will be awarded the league’s MVP award, is adored. One of the signs reads “SPOONER – MOM POWER.“

As someone who has covered women’s hockey for over a decade I find this fascinating. The narrative that being a mom is a form of strength and potential not something to hinder or stop a career.

Spooner is not the first literal hockey mom. Other national superstars like Becky Kellar-Duke, Cheryl Pounder, Meaghan Mikkelson, and Caroline Ouellette went back to playing after having children. But as the landscape changes and there is more understanding about the needs for women in sport, opportunities to have families while playing as a career have scratched the surface. 

During this series, Toronto is currently up 2-0,  Spooner is facing Kendall Coyne-Schofield, captain of Minnesota and herself a mom of a baby boy born in July, 2023. 

But what Spooner and Coyne-Schofield do offer are proud examples on social media and broadcasts of professional players who get support from their league for doing their jobs and having families. The public displays of them parenting while playing a demanding sport are not only examples but representations of what girls can have. 

Moms have been playing hockey for a long time at competitive, elite and recreational levels. 

But this new wave of motherhood in professional hockey is impactful and meaningful to those whose players are still young.

At the game, I spoke with two moms Megan and Veronica (last names withheld for privacy) from Clinton, Ont,. They both drove over two hours to watch the PWHL with their daughters. Neither mom played hockey but wanted to make sure their daughters got a chance. 

I asked them what a role model like Spooner meant to them and their children. “I would honestly come just for that [seeing Spooner play],” Veronica told me half-kidding. Megan looked at the girls excitedly taking in the scene and said, “This shows me that if my daughter even gets to that level , she can have a family, and play.”

‘First time of unknowns’

These public moments aside, recuperating from childbirth is not easy. I had four children and can’t imagine getting back into a sport so quickly.

Spooner is not unfamiliar with tough training. She’s an athlete who has endured exhaustion and toughness on the ice. She has played the highest level of hockey in the world. She went back to the ice four weeks after Rory was born in time for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms or normalcy,” she told me. “But, I was not normal. Little things like quick decision-making and reflexes were affected and there was also the lack of sleep. It was the first time of unknowns for me.” 

She laughed and recounted that as a teenager in one of her first camps, she overheard Cheryl Pounder in the locker room talking about coming back after having a baby.

“She was telling me about how her pubic bones were coming apart,” Spooner said. “And I was sitting there maybe 17 years-old and thought ‘your what is what?’ “

Spooner also sought advice from friends, family, and experts including Megan Mikkleson and Becky Kellar-Duke who played hockey after having children. “You have to listen to your body,” she said. 

Things change a lot for athletes after having children. Including their habits, routines which all now become about prioritizing the needs of a baby. 

Before Rory, Spooner used to take a lot of naps.

“I used to be a big sleeper,” she laughs and admits now she drinks coffee in the morning.

But now, if they’re on the road, she prefers to spend time with her son in the hotel pool, playing with him and just being together. She credits her mom, Ann-Marie for being a huge source of support and helping her with the baby on the road or at home. Having a supportive partner is essential. Her husband, Adam Redmond, is also a core part of her support team 

Now Rory makes appearances on the ice to see his mom. Just prior to the series with Minnesota, Toronto had to decide their opponents. Toronto chose Minnesota. The team decided to use Rory in the video announcement. When I asked head coach Troy Ryan whether Rory is the official mascot, he said “You can’t get mad at a baby” but then said Rory is part of the team. “Rory’s been part of our program,: Ryan told me. “So why not make him part of the big decisions?”

Rory may not understand the impact of being in his mother’s arms on the ice after a game, or as a star of the Toronto PWHL social media accounts. But his presence is certainly welcomed and cherished in a women’s sports landscape that is constantly growing. 

We shouldn’t have to normalize women as mothers and as athletes because it is normal and necessary. But it’s beautiful to see families enjoying and having access to hockey. There will always be great hockey moms, but it’s pretty phenomenal to see moms playing hockey, too.

Not every mom in sport might shine like Natalie Spooner or have a freedom and power to her game the way she has arguably grown over the season. But having her and other parents on the ice is still essential. As women’s hockey grows, knowing what athletes need in terms of resources, guidance, medical support will only help strengthen the sport. Instead of thinking that motherhood ends a career, it is powerful to believe that it can embolden it.

WATCH l Spooner scores twice for PWHL-leading 18th goal of regular season: