Shelton shooting for gold in Beijing
Ella Shelton, a proud London Devilettes alumna, has her sights set on helping Canada’s women’s hockey team reclaim Olympic gold in Beijing this month.
(Photo: Hockey Canada Images).
An open mind and a willingness to learn.
That’s how Ella Shelton approached her first centralization camp with Hockey Canada’s women’s national program. Part of a younger cohort of players, she was vulnerable and green to the process. She was perfectly fine with that. It meant she could be completely genuine – with the coaches, with the players, and with herself.
In fact, she believes it helped her make the squad.
“I think being new allowed me to be super coachable,” the 24-year-old defenseman said shortly before leaving for Beijing, where she’s competing in her first Olympics for Team Canada. “And I realized it was not the time to hold back. I gave it everything I had every time I showed up to the rink.”
Her hard work earned her one of the 23 coveted roster spots on Canada’s Olympic team for the 2022 Games. It’s an achievement she’d thought about since she was five years old. Truly, a dream come true. Her reaction? Genuine, of course.
“I remember feeling my heart fluttering, tears in my eyes, and my brain just jumbled with emotions,” Shelton said. “I’m so honoured to play with this team and represent Canada.”
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That team got things started with a bang late Wednesday night (EST), as they opened preliminary play with a lopsided 12-1 win over Switzerland at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. And Shelton got in on the action, picking up an assist on Canada’s eighth goal (Laura Stacey’s second of the game late in the second period).
The women will play next on Friday against Finland (11:10 p.m. EST), followed by games Sunday (vs. Russia, 11:10 p.m. EST) and Monday (vs. United States, 11:10 p.m. EST) before the playoff round begins Tuesday. The full Olympic tournament will run from Feb. 2-16, with the gold medal match scheduled for Feb. 16 (11:10 p.m. EST) at Wukesong Sports Centre.
Team Canada is seeking its fifth Olympic gold medal overall – but first since the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. The squad settled for silver at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Thirteen players are back from that team (six of those won gold in Sochi, and two won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games).
Ten players, meanwhile, are making their Olympic debuts – including Shelton. But they’ve received plenty of preparation, the newcomer says.
“I think the veterans have been really good at welcoming the younger players,” the defenseman said. “They have endless stories, experiences and advice to share, which we’ve all benefited from.”
Veteran leadership aside, Shelton isn’t brand new to international experience either. In fact, she’s already tasted victory on the international stage as part of the senior women’s team. They captured gold at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Calgary in August (a tournament that was 557 days in the making, due to COVID-19 hurdles).
The Canadian women ran the table in that tournament, going undefeated in a four-game round robin and then earning wins in the quarterfinal (7-0 over Germany) and semi (4-0 over Switzerland) before besting their perennial rival, the United States, with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in overtime. It was Canada’s first win at the tournament in nearly a decade.
Shelton scored her first international goal in a 5-1 win over Russia August 22 in round robin play. And she began gelling with the players she’d ultimately spend months with throughout the centralization process – and eventually head to the Olympic Games with in search of a gold medal.
“(The older players) have been so open to all the different personalities that we bring. They want us to feel comfortable and to able to be ourselves so that we can shine in our own ways,” Shelton said. “I think that’s why we were so successful at Worlds.”
Shelton’s strong play at those Championships didn’t guarantee her a spot on the Olympic team – although it certainly helped. Prior to officially being named to the team on January 11, she’d spent the previous four months in grueling centralization training, which included a six-game ‘Rivalry Series’ against the U.S. and other matches against Finland and an all-star team from the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA).
“From travelling internationally to just driving a couple hours down the road in Calgary, we got to play some pretty incredible teams that pushed us as a team and helped prepare us for the Olympics,” Shelton said. “It’s been a pretty whirlwind tour these past six months. COVID isn’t the easiest thing to work with, but our team has been so adaptable and willing to embrace the challenge. It’s made going to the rink super exciting and a lot of fun.”
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Shelton has been having fun going to the rink for as long as she can remember. Starting at four years of age, the Ingersoll, Ont. native played with the boys until she reached the Atom level. At 15, she began her junior career with the London Devilettes in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
She spent three seasons with the Devilettes, from 2013 to 2016, captaining the team in her final year. She made lifelong friends along the way while growing as a player – on and off the ice – under the guidance of the Devilettes’ coaching staff. What does Shelton remember most about her time in London?
“All the people I met, from the coaches who developed me to go to the college level, to some of my best friends that I got to play with … I think without those people, I wouldn’t be here today.”
(Photo: Hockey Canada Images).
After London, Shelton headed off to Clarkson University, where she enjoyed four years in the classroom and on the ice with the Golden Knights. She played a hard-nosed game on the blueline, blocking a team-best 81 shots in her junior season, but she was also a scoring defender, tallying 108 points in 153 games over four seasons.
She captained the team her senior year and was a finalist for the conference’s best defenseman award. The Golden Knights won the NCAA championship in both 2017 and 2018 (and earned a trip to the Frozen Four in 2019). She also began her career with Hockey Canada during her collegiate years, representing the country at the 2018 Nations Cup as part of the U22 national development team.
Following her collegiate career, Shelton joined the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, playing for the team based out of Toronto. She competed for Team Sonnet at the 2021 Dream Gap Tour last spring, scoring a pair of goals and three assists in five games.
But most of her time has been dedicated to the red and white of Team Canada. That only intensified as spring turned to summer and Shelton earned a spot on the World Championship team.
Now, it’s the Olympics, the biggest stage of all, and the 24-year-old is confident she can help Canada bring home the gold. What does she bring to the team?
“I think my physical play, both offensively and defensively,” said Shelton, who is one of seven defenders on the team. “Playing this aggressive style of game will help our team be successful in the D zone and prevent pucks from getting to the net.
“And I think playing aggressively offensively will allow our team to create more chances to put the puck in the back of the net.”
Things certainly went according to plan for Shelton and her teammates Wednesday night. Now, they’re hoping to ride that momentum to a championship in China — reclaiming Olympic gold and bringing it back home to Canada.
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