Jill Saulnier, is a Halifax native who recently wrapped up her final season with the Cornell University Big Red (ECAC) Women’s hockey team where she also graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree. She is a veteran of the Hockey Nova Scotia High Performance Program, having represented Nova Scotia at the Atlantic Challenge Cup on many occasions. She is also a veteran of Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence.
In March 2015, Jill Saulnier became the first Nova Scotian to ever be named to Canada’s national women’s World Championship roster. At Worlds, she helped lead her team to a 2-1 record during the round robin and chipped in an assist during a 6-2 win over Finland. The strong play of Saulnier and Team Canada earned the team a berth in the gold medal game where they fell 7-5 to the United States and won silver.
In addition to her performance at Worlds, Saulnier also competed at the Four Nations Cup where she made an immediate impact with Canada’s national women’s team. The 5’5″ forward beat Swedish netminder Kim Marti’n Hasson just 7:22 into the first period of her first game at the 4 Nations Cup to put Canada up 1-0. Saulnier’s goal proved to be the winner as Canada won that game 2-0. Ultimately Saulnier helped lead Canada to its second consecutive 4 Nations Cup victory as the team went 4-0 at the tournament before beating the United States 3-2 in a shootout to capture 4 Nations Cup gold.
Throughout both of these tournaments, Saulnier used her speed and offensive prowess to create scoring chances for Team Canada while also energizing her teammates. Saulnier’s selection to the national teams that would go on to compete at both the 4 Nations Cup and IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship were historic achievements that bring her one step closer to her ultimate goal of representing her country at the Olympics