At Team Canada’s training camp this week, the message is familiar: the standard is gold. Anything less is failure. Few players embody that expectation more than Sarah Fillier, who, at 25, has already delivered on the biggest stages.

A 2022 Olympic gold medalist, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft, and the league’s reigning Rookie of the Year, Fillier enters this Olympic cycle not as a young player on the rise — but as one of the sport’s most dangerous scoring threats.

“We’re obviously not satisfied unless it’s a gold medal,” Fillier said. “The margin between gold and silver is in the tiny little gaps and spaces of the game.”

That relentless mindset has been Canada’s edge for decades, and now Fillier is both a student of the program’s veteran core and a leader tasked with driving the offense in 2026.

Proven Production in the PWHL

Fillier’s rookie season with the New York Sirens underscored just how lethal she already is at the professional level. She tied for the league lead in scoring with 29 points in 30 games (13 goals, 16 assists), led the PWHL in power-play goals, and was named Rookie of the Year.

Her ability to play both center and wing provided New York with flexibility — and gave her confidence. Playing alongside stars like Alex Carpenter allowed Fillier to lean into her offensive instincts while still drawing on the 200-foot responsibility that defined her game at Princeton and in international play.

“I feel like I developed more playing wing in the pro league this year,” Fillier said. “It allowed me to be a really big offensive threat while still being responsible. I added a lot to my game and played more confidently.”

Lessons in Adversity

Even with her individual accolades, Fillier’s first pro season came with challenges. New York weathered a nine-game losing streak, a grind that tested her patience and accountability.

“That weighs on me as a top player on that team,” she admitted. “But I think it’s awesome to have my first pro year under my belt and to have some success. There are a lot of things I want to improve.”

Those lessons — balancing the weight of expectation with the reality of a new league — now serve as fuel as she heads into year two.

Preparation as a Profession

If anything defines Fillier’s growth since leaving Princeton, it’s her approach to the game off the ice. Free from the demands of schoolwork, she has used those study habits as part of being a true professional.

She spent hours reviewing video clips and pre-scouting netminder and defender tendencies — the kind of granular work that separates great players from good ones.

“I just love looking into that stuff,” she said. “At the end of the day, your performance on the ice is what gets you that paycheck. It dictates your whole life.”

Eyes on Milan 2026

Canada’s veteran depth gives the team its stability, but it’s Fillier’s offensive spark that could shift the balance when the puck drops in Milan. She already knows what it takes to win Olympic gold, and now she returns not as the wide-eyed rookie of 2022, but as an established star ready to deliver again.

“I feel like I’m building more tools to my toolbox every year,” Fillier said. “And that’s what’s going to help me at the highest level.”

As Canada builds toward 2026, Sarah Fillier already is one of the game’s elite. And for the Sirens and for her country, that’s exactly what they need.