Ann-Renée Desbiens
Ann-Renée Desbiens was Team Canada’s primary goaltender en route to gold at Beijing 2022, starting five of seven games. That included the gold medal game in which she stopped 38 of 40 shots as Canada defeated the United States. In Canada’s preliminary round game against the Americans, Desbiens made 51 saves, the most ever by a Canadian goaltender — male or female — in an Olympic match. Desbiens allowed just nine goals on 150 shots in the entire tournament for a .940 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average.
Desbiens played four seasons at the University of Wisconsin. She posted remarkable numbers during her four-year collegiate career, highlighted by a 0.89 GAA and .960 save percentage with 99 wins, and an astounding 55 shutouts, an NCAA record for men and women. In 2015-16 she had broken the NCAA single-season shutout record with 21 and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award. In her senior season in 2016-17, she ranked first nationally in shutouts (17), wins (29), GAA (0.71) and save percentage (.963) to win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in women’s NCAA hockey. Desbiens was a First Team All-American in 2016 and 2017. She reached the NCAA Frozen Four in all four years with the Badgers.
