“MUCH MORE THAN A GAME”
R aphaëlle Tousignant still remembers how it felt to strap into her sledge and slide onto the ice for the first time as a 12-year-old, the feel of the cool arena air on her face as she experimented holding herself upright with picks and sticks in that very first Para hockey session. And she still recalls the words out of her mouth afterwards:
“I told my dad that I was going to go to the Paralympics,” says Tousignant, now 21.
Three years earlier, at age nine, Tousignant fell while playing ringette and doctors discovered a tumour that had developed on her hip. Tests revealed it was a sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that starts in soft tissue or bone. After a few months of chemotherapy proved unsuccessful, the decision was made to amputate her leg, which meant a much lower likelihood of the cancer coming back. Following a few more rounds of chemotherapy post-surgery, Tousignant was declared cancer-free that same year she got her first taste of Para hockey.
“I knew I’d be able to walk with a prosthetic leg, but at that moment I was convinced I wouldn’t do any more sports,” she recalls of her post-surgery mindset. That trip to the rink showed her otherwise. “It was a turning point, knowing I could still play even if I couldn’t skate.”
It didn’t take her long to start making history. At 16, just two years after making it onto the Canadian national women’s team, Tousignant was one of two women recruited by Hockey Canada to join the national development team — the first women to ever be part of the program. And last spring, Tousignant became the first female Para hockey player to represent Canada at the men’s World Para Hockey Championship.
As she navigates a busy schedule, studying elementary education at the University of Quebec while playing for three Para hockey teams (yes, you read that correctly), Tousignant still has her sights set on the same goal she declared to her dad post-practice 10 years ago: To become the first Canadian woman to play at the Paralympic Games, targeting in Milano Cortina in 2026. (Women’s Para hockey is not an Olympic event; the men’s tournament was changed in 2010 to a mixed event, though no Canadian woman has ever been named to the team.)
Ahead of a busy few months at the rink, including representing Quebec at the Para hockey national championship in April, Tousignant spoke to Sportsnet about her athletic journey, the state of Para hockey and how the success of the PWHL is inspiring her to grow the game.
SPORTSNET: Let’s start at the beginning. Did you play any sports growing up?
TOUSIGNANT: Growing up, I played a lot of sports — soccer, dance, and then I discovered ringette and I fell in love. It was my sport before my amputation. My family is very fond of hockey. We would go to my grandparents’ every Saturday to watch the Montreal Canadiens play, it was tradition. I think my family wanted me to play hockey, but I never did before my amputation. It was only after my amputation that I realized hockey was much more than a game.
What was your rehabilitation process like, to get you to the point where you could play Para hockey?
The rehab process was hard. To be able to stand with crutches took me about a month. Then it was learning how to live without my leg. Daily tasks became hard, from cooking [to] showering, which I had to re-learn. It took a couple years to get used to [my prosthetic]. It’s very uncomfortable and heavy. Walking is basically a sport for me because it takes a lot of effort, and I use my core to control my leg. I used to switch between my leg and my wheelchair, but I worked on my strength to use my prosthetic leg every day and eventually get back into sports.
Take us on your journey to making the Canadian Para hockey national team. What were the steps you took to wear the Maple Leaf?
I started playing Para hockey around 12 years old. I made my way to the women’s national team around age 14 by just training and playing games. At that time, I didn’t know that the women’s Para team was not at the Paralympic Games. And because I want to be a Paralympic athlete, I needed a new challenge. The men’s side is much more developed than the women’s game, even at the provincial level. I joined Team Quebec at age 16 — at that point, the team was only men, but they invited me and I became the first woman to go to the National Championship with them. That same year, I was invited to the national development team by Hockey Canada, and it was the first time in history that women made the development team. [Longtime Para hockey player Christina Picton, who has since switched to Para Nordic skiing and represents Canada on the Paralympic stage, also made the development team that year.] We became the first women to do that at the national level.
What went through your head in that moment?
I was very proud of myself. It almost doesn’t feel real. Part of me always believed I could do it, but for it to happen is just unreal. But I also know there is still a lot of work to do. It’s only one step closer to my dream of getting to the Paralympic Games and growing women’s Para hockey in general.
Do you feel any pressure, being the only woman on the ice with all eyes on you, or is it more exciting?
I absolutely feel pressure. But the bigger pressure is honestly what I put on myself. Knowing I represent not just myself but all the women that play Para hockey is a lot to handle. I don’t want to fail myself or other women looking up to me. Sometimes I try not to think too much about it, but I’m aware of the expectation that comes with my position. I need to learn to live with that expectation, keep training and working hard, and not let it impact me as a player or person.
That must be tough on your body, all the training and competitions.
Yeah, it’s a high-intensity sport, for sure. The thing we sit on is called a sledge, there’s a blade underneath that touches the ice, with a set of picks and sticks to hold when we skate. The hardest part is to stay up on the two blades because they are very close to each other — there’s only an inch-and-a-half between them — so you need to find your balance. The core is very important to control the sledge, and it’s very hard on the shoulders, too, but you get used to it. You need to be strong, have good cardio, and honestly, just never give up.
After a long day of training, how do you wind down?
Well, I’m currently part of three Para hockey teams [Quebec, Canada men’s and Canada women’s] and I’m a full-time student, so I don’t have a lot of time to rest. But I am learning how to balance my life. I’ve been trying to find new things not related to sport or school to do, like make sourdough bread. Turns out it’s a very complicated process! Making sourdough takes my mind off hockey and school, as I must worry about rising times and feeding my starter. It helps me burn off stress. It’s a fun hobby.
Looking ahead, how do you hope Para women’s hockey grows in the future?
I hope we finally get the recognition we deserve. I think we’re on-track, especially considering the PWHL. I never played hockey standing up, but seeing those women live their dream shows the next generation that anything is possible, and hopefully more women see they can get into hockey. It made me emotional seeing the pro league come to life, and I think we are in an era of women’s sports — any sports! Female athletes are not afraid to stand up and speak for what we deserve and want, and I think that’s very powerful. So, hopefully women’s Para hockey will follow suit. It’s the best time to do it, more than ever.
Logistically, we need more women to play Para hockey. We need women to inquire about building women’s programs in their countries. We need to work to keep our sport alive, because if we don’t, we don’t know what’s going to happen to women’s Para hockey. I encourage women or girls to give Para hockey a try. It’s an amazing community. Let’s change the future.