Ann-Renée Desbiens On Consistency, Preparation, And Another Olympic Run

With the Olympics getting underway, Ann-Renée Desbiens isn’t talking about pressure, legacy, or the weight of defending a gold medal. Instead, the Canadian goaltender keeps coming back to habits — the daily, often invisible choices that allow her to stay healthy, consistent, and composed when the spotlight is brightest.

At this stage of her career, Desbiens isn’t trying to prove she can rise to the moment. She’s trying to make sure she’s still able to meet it.

“I think as a goalie, as an athlete, as you get older, it’s just things that you might carry for the rest of your career,” Desbiens said during Canada’s October training block. “You learn how to manage it and stay on top of it so it doesn’t flare up. My medical team and myself, I think we’ve done a great job of keeping it under control, keeping it stable, and just feeling good on the ice and off the ice.”

That long-term thinking has become central to how Desbiens approaches her craft. She speaks candidly about the physical toll the position can take and the importance of protecting her body not just for the next tournament, but for life after hockey.

“You hear a lot of goalies, once their career is over, that they hurt to come up and down the stairs,” she said. “So it’s kind of making sure that I don’t get there. I think I’m surrounded by very knowledgeable people that way that can help guide me.”

Part of that guidance has meant learning when not to skate. Desbiens has become deliberate about staying off the ice during the summer, prioritizing recovery and off-ice training over volume. It’s a shift that reflects experience rather than conservatism.

“Staying off the ice in the summer is definitely one way to make sure I can play many more years,” she said.

That same discipline extends well beyond training plans. Desbiens describes a level of year-round commitment that doesn’t pause when the season ends — from sleep habits to nutrition to how vacations are planned.

“People see us perform on the ice and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s amazing what you can achieve,’ but they don’t realize it’s kind of a daily commitment,” she said. “Even in the summer when I’m maybe on vacation, I still go to bed early. You can’t just turn it off.”

“It’s not something we just do during the season,” she added. “It’s a year-round commitment you make not only to yourself, but to your team.”

Desbiens has become one of the team’s anchors. Known for her calm demeanor, she is quick to point out that composure is often learned rather than innate.

“I wasn’t always like that,” she said. “You learn to show what people need you to be.”

She recalls arriving at the rink for the 2022 Olympic gold-medal game and telling teammates she had slept well — despite that not being entirely true.

“People don’t need to know this,” she said with a laugh. “They need to look back at you and see that you’re calm, that you’re collected.”

Making the game look easy, she explained, can be just as important as the save itself.

“If you make it look easy, it gives confidence to your team,” Desbiens said. “They feel like, ‘We’ve got this.’”

That strength has shown up clearly this season in the PWHL. At the league’s midseason break, Desbiens owns the best statistics of any goaltender. It’s a reflection of a game built on control, efficiency, and playing a full professional schedule.

“For many of us, the past few years we didn’t have the opportunity to play many games,” Desbiens said. “We played national teams, but that was about it. To be able to play 30, 40 games — maybe 45 or 50 with the national team — it makes a pretty significant difference with how consistent you can be.”

That consistency matters in an Olympic context, where margins are thin and pressure is constant. Yet Desbiens is careful not to take her status as the #1 for granted. Despite being a defending gold medalist, she doesn't feel she owns Canada’s crease.

“I wouldn’t say it’s mine,” she said. “Every event you kind of have to earn it again. Every year, every tournament, it’s up in the air. You can’t ever get comfortable.”

That competition, she believes, is healthy — and necessary.

“I wouldn’t want to be told I for sure have the starting role,” Desbiens said. “I want to be pushed. I want to be challenged. Otherwise somebody is going to take your job.”

As for Canada’s goaltending group, Desbiens describes a tight-knit unit that trains together, shares insights, and supports one another, even while knowing only one will start.

“We’ve got to a place where we understand it’s the coaches that make the decision,” she said. “It’s not the other goalies. To really support each other — that’s a good way to be a great teammate.”