Isla McCoubrey's Bright Future Has Already Begun

Following the 2026 Olympics, all eyes among Canadian women's hockey fans turned to the future. Names including Chloe Primerano, Sara Manness, Stryker Zablocki, Megan Mossey, and Adrianna Milani started to be discussed in Canadian women's hockey circles with more ferver.

Those players have already contributed to Canada's U-18 national team, and are all either in the NCAA, or committed to NCAA programs. With women's and girls' hockey registrations continuing to climb, Canada's pipeline runs deep beyond these players as well. 

It's a pipeline that includes one of the most talked about 2011 born players in the nation, Waterloo Ravens forward Isla McCoubrey.

McCoubrey was one of very few full time 2011 born player competing in the OWHL U-22 Elite league this season. Not only was she in the league, but McCoubrey tied for 15th in league scoring with 25 goals and 54 points in 49 games.

Surrounding McCoubrey in the OWHL's scoring charts were standouts from the U-18 World Championship. The league is filled with budding stars who competed at the U-18 World Championships like USA's Haley Box, and Canada's Maddie McCullough, Sofia Ismael, Adrianna Milani, Megan Mossey, Caileigh Tiller, Kali Maechtel, Aurora Matt, Avery Jones, Chelsea Tiller, Kate Viel, Maggie Hughson, Jaylee MacKinnon, and Rachel Piggott. The league also includes a speckling of U-18 national team members from Germany, Czechia, Switzerland, Hungary, and Denmark.

The experience of playing with and against some of the world's best players in the OWHL was a challenge at first, but one McCoubrey faced and embraced as the centre took a major step in her development.

"It was so fun seeing those players play and I loved my season," McCoubrey said of her first OWHL campaign. "I loved my team and getting to play with them is a pretty positive atmosphere. They made me feel included and I was really happy on the team, so I think that helped my game. I played the best when I'm happy. When we played those like bigger teams and bigger players, it really cool to see what they could do, but it was also exciting to play against them and see how we do against them."

"There's definitely a good amount of pressure in this league," she continued. "I found the biggest challenge was the physicality and the size difference, but I felt like I was able to adjust pretty quickly by being more shifting using my edge control and keeping my head up, utilizing some of my strengths."

Her head coach Chad Campbell raved about how McCoubrey has handled that pressure this season, and what the Heidelberg, Ontario product brings to the ice.

"Isla is a talented underage U-22 Elite player who demonstrates excellent vision and awareness on the ice," Campbell told The Hockey News. "She consistently makes strong shot selections by effectively reading pressure and recognizing goaltender positioning. Her high hockey IQ allows her to anticipate plays and place herself in optimal positions to contribute offensively and defensively."

Campbell said that McCoubrey "has clear potential to grow into a leader both on and off the ice." While Waterloo doesn't produce the same quantity of prospects, the program has certainly developed quality prospects.

Top programs, like the Etobicoke Dolphins, Durham West Lightning, Nepean Wildcats, and Burlington Barracudas, are known for promoting the bulk of their rosters each season to NCAA Division 1 hockey. This season, for example, all-18 players on the Etobicoke Dolphins' roster are NCAA D1 committed.

But Waterloo's recent standouts including Minnesota-Duluth's Caitlin Kraemer, who was the youngest forward to play for Canada at the Rivalry Series this season, and Penn State and former U-18 national team forward Abby Stonehouse, who was crucial to the Nittany Lions' run to the Frozen Four, are impressive. With talent like Kraemer and Stonehouse coming from the Waterloo Ravens, McCoubrey knows what is possible, and plans to follow those star forwards to the next level.

"I think it's like a big opportunity to show what you can do and having Caitlin Kraemer and Abby Stonehouse playing in Waterloo before, they're role models to me," said McCoubrey. "Knowing that I can go to the next level, just like they did, I think that's, a lot of girls in this league's goal."

McCoubrey, an Elmira District Secondary School student, bounced between girls and boys hockey growing up, playing boys' 'AAA' for the Waterloo Wolves at the U-13 level in 2023-24, before moving back to girls' hockey. She believes her experience in boys' hockey helped her prepare for the OWHL, where there's a jump in speed and physicality.

"It was definitely hard to adapt at the beginning, but I played a couple games last year and that made me realize what I had to do over the summer to adapt physically and mentally and make sure I'm prepared for any setbacks or challenges that I had to see," she said. "Playing boys hockey really prepared me for U-22 at a younger age. I felt like I always had to prove myself when I was playing boys, because I felt like everybody was always watching me, and I had to learn resilience and discipline, which helped me in my first year in the league. All those moments just made me adapt pretty well this year."

McCoubrey was one of the most talented offensive threats on the ice this season, which put a target on her back from opponents. It's an impressive feat for a player regularly competing against players up to five years her senior. The challenge brought out another aspect of McCoubrey's game that help separate her from the pack, her competitiveness. Whether it was a family board game night, or championship game on the ice, McCoubrey has always liked to win.

"I've always been really competitive, and I've always tried to set the bar as high as I can and achieve pretty big accomplishments," she said.  "I think I just brought that into this year. I never really doubted myself. I just wanted to be an impact player in this league and show everybody what I can do."

And while there are many steps in the interim, including a second season in the OWHL, an opportunity to represent the U-18 national team, and an NCAA career, McCoubrey sees a future beyond that in women's hockey, one that wasn't always there.

"The PWHL is very important to me, and I think it's important to a lot of people, and it's a dream of mine," she said. "When I was younger, I thought the only option was playing in the NHL and trying to be the first girl in the NHL. But now with the PWHL, I can see a path for me and like many others. The PWHL made a lot more opportunities for girls in sports, and it's only going to get bigger, because I think it's not just for hockey, but it made a big impact in women's sports, and gives all these girls opportunities, and I hope to play there one day."

McCoubrey has a long way to go before the pro ranks come into view, but she's a prospect with a bright future ahead, whose story is just beginning.