NSB Logo Hayley Wickenheiser Hayley Wickenheiser

Hayley Wickenheiser

Speaker

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Hockey Legend & Four-Time Olympic Gold Medalist

A decorated Olympian, Hayley Wickenheiser is regarded as one of the best female hockey players in the world with an uncompromised determination and dedication to her sport. However, it’s not just her lethal slapshot that is respected by her teammates, fans and peers; Hayley is also an award winner, community leader, mentor, history-maker and an accomplished businesswoman.

Keynote Speeches

Health, Wealth, and Wondering (in Sport and Life)

With a Masters in Kinesiology (with a focus on young adults with autism and engaging their brains through physical activity), currently attending medical school, and years of working with the most advanced medical technologies and medical minds in her on-ice career, Hayley Wickenheiser offers a unique perspective of the ins and outs of the sports and medicine field and how they entwine, for better and for worse. She also addresses mental health, speaking about her own experiences and of those she loves.

In The Trenches: Resiliency and Toughness When It Matters Most

2020-21 is a time like no other in our lifetimes. Everyone’s work-life has been affected by the current pandemic in some way, but perhaps few have faced more challenges than healthcare workers. The unsung heroes of these times, healthcare workers have frequently been left feeling under-supported for the essential role that they have been playing during the fight against Covid-19. Hayley Wickenheiser, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist and a current medical student, shares her approaches and strategies to not just survive, but thrive in these non-ideal times. Drawing on her experiences from the world of high performance sport, the lessons she’s learned as a medical student, and as a champion on the front lines of securing PPE for Canadians, Hayley explores the importance of fostering personal and professional resiliency and strength at a time when these qualities are needed most, and reminds us that, at a time when we’ve been asked to keep apart, we’ve actually never been more together.

Teamwork and Success

What does a successful team need and how did Team Canada succeed on the World Stage?

Change as a Path to Greatness

Hayley shares the importance of always look for improvements or opportunities for change within your life.

Dealing with Criticism and Pressure – How to Perform When it Matters Most

Hayley offers some inspiration for the next generation of athletes and sports in Canada to perform even better.

How to Stay Motivated Despite Being at the Top of What You Do

Complacency kills! Hayley offers advice on how to keep the desire alive.

Being a Female in a Male Dominated World

Hayley explains what it was like to grow up playing with the boys and later playing men’s professional hockey overseasHayley can provide customized presentations to fit your event or project theme.

Over the Boards

From motherhood to pro leagues to her new career in medicine, Hayley shares the hard-won lessons she learned on and off the ice that helped her not only have a record-breaking hockey career but craft a life filled with joy, growth, and challenges. In her own words, Hayley shares how she rose from the backyard pond and changing in boiler rooms (because girls” dressing rooms didn’t exist) to Olympic MVP (twice). How becoming a parent made her a better athlete. How she learned to thrive under monumental pressure. But she doesn’t stop at revealing the pillars to her tremendous success—Hayley delves into her immense failures and how she grew from them. Like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, and Abby Wambach before her, Hayley shares her wisdom through personal stories of triumph, relentlessness, and more than a couple confrontations. Told with humour, compassion, and steadfast optimism, Hayley’s practical advice, coaching, and invaluable perspective inspires audiences to never accept “that’s not the way we do things” or “that hasn’t been done before” as limitations.

Platform Plus Presentations

Unique formats and ways to connect with audiences.
Links Golf Program
Celebrity Golfer

Audience reviews:

  • People in attendance were completely impressed by your stories and also commented about being inspired and motivated from hearing you speak. I even caught glimpses of a few tears in the room at certain points of your talk. We also received high praise for your approachability and people liked the picture op with you and the medals. Once again, thank you!

    - National Senior Marketing Manager, KPMG
 

Speaker Biography

Hayley has been sharing her passion and knowledge for the game of hockey for 15 years. She delivers inspiring keynote speeches relaying stories from her five Olympic games for charity, school, and corporate events. Hayley has worked with clients such as Canadian Tire, Farm Credit Corporation, Merck, Enbridge, Encana, Clean Air Champions, Red Flag, and Hockey Hall of Fame.

Aside from holding five Olympic medals (four gold and one silver), being one of the most recognized women in sport, and a dedicated advocate of women’s hockey; Hayley is also an engaging storyteller who enjoys connecting with Canadians. Hayley uses her experiences on the rink to motivate young players, shares how she overcame obstacles with her team to inspire audiences, and uplifts people of all walks of life with her passion and love of the game.

It all started at age 15 in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan when Hayley was chosen for the Canadian Women’s National Team. She has since led the squad to six gold and one silver medal at the Women’s World Hockey Championships. As an Olympian, she earned a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and four Olympic gold medals in 2002, 2006, 2010 and most recently at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. For the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Hayley was selected to be the flag bearer for the Canadian Olympic team in the Opening Ceremonies. During those same Olympics it was announced that she had been elected to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC). Athletes Commission. Accompanying all that hardware, Hayley was one of the top point leaders for the Sochi Tournament. She was named the tournaments’ most valuable player in the 2002 and 2006 victorious Olympic runs as well as in numerous Esso Women’s Hockey Championships.

In January 2003, Hayley made hockey history when she became the first female hockey player to notch a point in a men’s professional game with the Kirkkonummen Salamat of the Finnish second division. Wickenheiser also played in Eskilstuna, Sweden with a men’s professional division-one hockey team for the 08-09 season.

Hayley Wickenheiser has proven to be an elite athlete time and time again. In 2008, Sports Illustrated named her number 20 of the Top 25 Toughest Athletes in the World. She is also a two-time finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation Team Athlete of The Year and was recently named, for the second time, among the Globe and Mail’s “Power 50” influencers in sport. Most recently, QMI Agency name Hayley among the top 10 “Greatest Female Athletes in the History of Sports.”

Along with hockey, Wickenheiser has mastered a number of sports. An elite softball player, she participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of Team Canada and worked as a Softball Analyst with CBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Wickenheiser’s passion for sport is matched by her desire to give back to the community in her work with organizations such as JumpStart, KidSport, Project North, Right to Play , Ovarian Cancer Canada and many others. In 2007, she travelled to Rwanda with a team of Canadian Olympic athletes for Right to Play, an athlete-driven, global organization using the transformative power of play to educate and empower children and youth. In 2011, she returned to Africa on a similar goodwill mission to Ghana.

Putting her pursuit of a BSc at the University of Calgary to good use, Hayley has led numerous projects with the goal of raising the profile of women’s hockey around the world. She is constantly working to provide mentoring opportunities for young athletes including her legacy project – The Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival.