Olympic champion with Canada, host with Italy

Canada became Olympic champions, having won five gold medals in this discipline, which was first contested in Nagano in 1998. Laura Fortino, a player on the winning "Maple Leafs" team in 2014, will now be competing for the host nation in Milan.

How is this possible? Thanks to her ancestors, Fortino holds both Canadian and Italian citizenship. Because she was under contract in Italy for the required 730 days, or just over two years without interruption, the defenseman recently became eligible to play for the "Azzurre." However, the 34-year-old has only played 15 games in the IHL Women over the past three seasons for EVB Eagles Südtirol, AHC Eurospar Lakers, and Real Torino, but has amassed a sensational 36 points. "Both my mother's and my father's parents were born and raised in Italy before emigrating to Canada. I heard about Italian traditions from a very young age. It's something that resonated deeply with me. Now I've been here for three years and have the opportunity to personally immerse myself in my grandparents' stories, which I find very special," Fortino enthuses. Two years ago, she won the Italian championship with the Eagles, having previously won several medals at major tournaments and received various individual awards.

A legend in Canada Fortino has been a legend in her native Canada since at least 2014. Twelve years ago, the skilled defenseman from Hamilton, Ontario, delivered the game-winning pass to Marie-Philip Poulin in the 8.10:30.21 overtime period of the Olympic gold medal game against their long-time rivals, the USA, in the Sochi final. As a side note, Fortino logged the most ice time of any player in the final, with 2:3 minutes. In addition to her Olympic gold, she also won a silver medal in 2018 in Pyeongchang, when the final against the USA was lost 2:3 in a penalty shootout, and Fortino was named to the All-Star Team. Laura Fortino in the Canada jersey. © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / RICH LAM

“Representing Canada at the 2014 and 2018 Olympic Games was the fulfillment of a childhood dream. Now I’m ready for my third Olympic adventure with Italy, a country where ice hockey is different in terms of numbers and opportunities than in the country where I was born. I want to help the next generation of Italian girls realize their potential,” explains the 2014 Olympic champion, who was a world champion two years prior. She also has four silver medals at the World Championships (2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017) and one bronze medal (2019).

With sparkling eyes, Laura Fortino recounts her beginnings and her love at first sight for ice hockey: “My family is very sporty. I have three brothers, all of whom played ice hockey. So it was easy for me to follow in their footsteps. I first stepped onto the ice when I was three years old. I remember it was a frozen pond outdoors: a typical Canadian situation with a long tradition. I knew immediately that this was my path.” A path she has pursued with seriousness and self-sacrifice since childhood in an extremely competitive environment like North America: “As a child and later as a teenager, I always had a great passion and respect for this sport and tried every day to improve myself as a player and as a person.”

A textbook career Fortino's career reads like a fairytale: The superstar spent four years in the NCAA with Cornell University under former HC Bozen forward Doug Derraugh, racking up an incredible 132 points in 133 games. She also played 64 games for the Canadian national team, 99 games in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL, one of the world's first professional leagues) with 82 points, and 33 games in the PWHPA professional league with 23 points. At the start of the 2022-23 season, Fortino made history: She became the first woman to be appointed an assistant coach in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the top junior leagues for men. The following summer, she opted to move to Italy, becoming only the second Canadian national team player to relocate to Europe, after Jennifer Wakefield, who moved to Sweden in 2014. As of today, Fortino is one of the few athletes worldwide to compete in the Olympic Games with two different nations.

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Olympic champion with Canada, host with Italy

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