Finding purpose on and off the rink
For Kristin O’Neill (MASc ’24), success has never been about choosing between the classroom and the rink. Instead, her journey has been defined by balance – between elite athletics and academic curiosity, between resilience and reflection, and between chasing Olympic dreams while building a future beyond hockey.
That balance became especially important during the early years of her hockey career. After completing her undergraduate degree in Human Development at Cornell University, where she also captained the women’s hockey team, O’Neill entered an uncertain professional landscape. With limited league structure before the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was established in 2023, many athletes were left navigating short-term opportunities.
Reflecting back, O’Neill says “you’re always training at the highest level, but you don’t always know what the next year – or even the next season – will look like.”
During that period, she represented Canada at multiple IIHF Women’s World Championships, where she captured three gold and two silver medals, while steadily establishing herself as a trusted two‑way centre at the international level.
Even as O’Neill’s PWHL career progressed, first playing for Montreal Victoire in 2023, she began thinking more intentionally about her life beyond the game. “I’ve always really enjoyed school,” she says. “I knew I wanted something for myself away from the rink – sense of purpose that wasn’t only tied to hockey.”
That intention led her to the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Arts, where she enrolled in a psychology master’s program while continuing to train in Waterloo at an elite level in hopes to make her Olympic debut in 2026.
