Rebecca Johnston has won many medals and championships during her career. She now leads the PWHPA Dream Gap Tour in scoring and enjoys the moments.

If this season is a swan song for Rebecca Johnston, she’s going out with a bang by leading the PWHPA Secret Dream Gap Tour in scoring.

If it’s a reboot to another phase in her career, she looks like a player in her prime, ready to make an impact.

A member of the PWHPA’s Team Scotiabank, Johnston has nine goals and 17 points in 11 games, two ahead of fellow Canadian national team member Marie Philip-Poulin and four ahead of American national team member Abby Roque. While it’s not a “league,” this year’s format of keeping the Dream Gap Tour teams together feels more like a league, which has helped Johnston find on-ice success.

“The tour has been great – we’ve been able to go to a lot of different cities and showcase women’s hockey,” said Johnston, a three-time Olympic gold medallist. “We’ve played a lot of really competitive games against each other, as well as having the consistency of being on the same team and making it feel like as much of a league as possible, which has been really nice.”

Canadian fans welcomed Johnston’s return to competitive hockey this season, watching the forward score an impressive 10 points in seven games at the 2022 Olympics. Following the Olympics, however, Johnston was noticeably absent from Canada’s World Championship gold medal-winning team in September. According to Johnston, she was at a point in her career where she needed to step back and assess her future.

“After the Olympics and throughout the summer, I started thinking about what I wanted to do next, if I wanted to keep playing or if I needed to take some time – for me, it was a big moment,” said Johnston.

That moment included pondering a shift in career paths from competing on the ice to coaching. Johnston was hired in September 2022 to join the NHL’s Calgary Flames full-time in a player development role. The move, while exciting, gave Johnston a lot to think about.

“Then the Flames opportunity came up for me, which I was very grateful for and wanted to definitely jump on board and try,” she said. “It’s been a great experience for me working with the Flames, then being able to play for the PWHPA. They both have been supportive enough to let me do both, so it’s been all around a different year, but a lot of great experiences for me.”

Now back in the game with several options ahead, Johnston has felt a new sense of freedom and calm on the ice. At 33 years old, the veteran is having fun and playing some of the best hockey of her career. Within that mentality, however, Johnston embraces every moment she can for as long as she can.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be playing, so for me, it’s been nice to have something else to focus on,” Johnston said. “With work and hockey, it gives me that balance. I’ve just been enjoying and having fun, and that’s when you’re most successful is when you’re loose and not worrying about a whole lot. It’s been a lot of fun this season.”

While Johnston wants to continue to learn and grow in her role with the Calgary Flames, she’s also focused on the here and now with Team Scotiabank on the PWHPA’s Secret Dream Gap Tour. On Friday and Saturday, her team will play in a pair of OHL rinks in Peterborough and Kitchener, Ont. The following week, Johnston, almost exactly a year after she stepped off the ice as an Olympic gold medallist with Canada, will rejoin the Canadian national team for the final game of the Rivalry Series against Team USA.

“I’m excited, it feels like it’s been a while, and I’m excited to get back to playing for my country and being with all the girls,” said Johnston.

If this is her swan song, Rebecca Johnston and her 14 medals as a member of Team Canada, as well as two CWHL championships, will go down as one of the best to play the game. Adding a PWHPA Dream Gap Tour scoring title to her resumé will only further cement that legacy.