PWHPA Profile: Rebecca Leslie
Growing up in Ottawa, Canada provided a fairly traditional upbringing for Rebecca Leslie in the world of hockey. Her older brother, Zac, began playing hockey first, so it was natural for her to give the sport a try.
“It’s a typical Canadian city. Everybody played hockey, and I was lucky enough to have an older brother who played.”
“It was great. I played mostly with the boys growing up, but was able to transition to girl’s hockey in high school.”
Leslie’s time in the Ottawa minor hockey system put the scouts on notice, as she was able to make the jump to play for the Ottawa Lady Senators of the PWHL – the best women’s junior league in Ontario – for the 2011-12 hockey season. This was a time in her development where she was able to make massive strides both as a player and a person.
“I think the PWHL is a great league to prepare you for what is to come in University. You are playing against the best players of your age group, you are playing every weekend, you are traveling, and you have to be in a good spot with school.”
“It was a great opportunity. I was able to play some big games in front of some big American and Canadian schools, which allowed me to gain experience in front of college coaches.”
Leslie was an impactful player in the PWHL, amassing 95 points over 87 games over parts of three different seasons. Her stardom put her on the national program’s radar, and she was able to represent Canada in the u18 Women’s World Championship during the 2013-14 season.
“Representing Canada is always an honour. Being able to do that in high school is definitely one of the best memories I have in my hockey career to date.”
Leslie was able to form strong personal relationships during the u18 tournament and was provided with a great initial look as to what it takes to make it in the national program; however the experience became much greater as the tournament unfolded. The women’s u18 team made Canada proud by coming away from the tournament with a gold medal win.
“I felt a lot of pride. Especially at that age, there is nothing more exciting than that.”
Junior stardom and a gold medal win were really just the start of great things to come for Leslie. After wrapping up a successful Junior hockey career, it was time to make a big post secondary decision. During this process, Leslie became enamoured with Boston University.
“Education was the number one priority for me, but hockey is very important to me, so I wanted to go to a school with a competitive hockey program.”
“I visited a lot of schools but really just fell in love with the city of Boston. Once I got on campus I knew it was the place for me. The coach was great and made me feel extremely comfortable there.”
Leslie started out at Boston University in 2014, where she majored in business and made an immediate impact on the ice with the women’s team.
“I was able to play competitively and continue my hockey career but also get a great education. There are not many options right now for female hockey players to continue playing at the highest level for an income, so the opportunity to get a good education was really important to me.”
In four years at Boston University, Leslie tallied 171 points in 139 games, while working towards her business degree. In her final season with the program, she was named captain – a responsibility that was not new to her.
“I am definitely a ‘lead by example’ type of leader. I like to let my actions speak for themselves. I am not always the most vocal leader, but when I need to speak up I can be.”
“I pride myself on being a good teammate – someone my teammates can come to talk to whether it is about hockey or not and someone who is trusted by my teammates, so being named captain was definitely a huge honour and one of the highlights of my career at school.”
In Leslie’s final year at Boston University, she received interest from both prominent North American professional women’s leagues that were operating – the NWHL and CWHL. She was a fifth round selection of the New York Riveters in the 2017 NWHL Draft and a second round selection of the Calgary Inferno in the 2018 CWHL Draft. This left her with a difficult decision leading up to her aspirations to turn pro upon graduating.
“For me it was mostly about where I was going to play against the best of the best. At that point I was in the national program, and a lot of the players in the program were playing in the CWHL, and I wanted to constantly be competing against the best. For me, it was a no-brainer to play in the CWHL. It was an extremely competitive league and it was best-on-best every weekend.”
“The NWHL was just getting started and there was not much information around it, so for us Canadians it was pretty simple that you would just go play in the CWHL. Returning to Canada was also one of the things I looked forward to.”
Leslie spent the 2018-19 season with the CWHL’s Calgary Inferno, where she would become a CWHL Champion.
“It was honestly one of my best years of hockey. I think that I learned a lot and grew a lot as an individual.
In March 2019, just one week after Leslie and the Inferno were crowned CWHL Champions, the board unanimously voted to dissolve the league, citing economic instability as a main factor. This news caught the hockey world off guard and left over 150 players’ careers, including Leslie’s, in a state of uncertainty.
On May 20, 2019, a new solution for women’s hockey came to fruition. The Professional Women’s Hockey Player Association (PWHPA) was formed with Jayna Hefford at the helm. The PWHPA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the promotion of women’s ice hockey. It was with this new association that Leslie resumed her career. She currently plays for the PWHPA’s Montreal hub team that is branded as “Team Harvey’s”.
On the business side of things, Leslie has successfully combined her degree in business and love for sport into a position with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group as an Account Coordinator in Corporate Partnerships. She works most closely with OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and CFL’s Ottawa Redblack in this role.
On March 26th, 2022, Rebecca Leslie and Team Harvey’s are coming to Peterborough to take on Team Sonnet for a PWHPA Showcase game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre .
“The PWHPA is doing great things for the game of women’s hockey. The PWHPA gives us a platform to show our work and let people know what we deserve. It has been an honour to be able to represent the PWHPA because I know that it’s fighting for the greater good of the game both long-term and short-term. We have the best of the best in terms of the people who are leading the organization but also the players in the organization, and it’s quite remarkable what we have been able to accomplish.”
Leslie and Team Harvey’s recently took on the Toronto hub team, Team Sonnet, in the showcase of the Dream Gap Tour Final on February 27th, 2022 in Ottawa. The game was tied up at one with just over five minutes remaining in the third period and Team Harvey’s was on a powerplay. Leslie took the puck to the top of the zone and walked down the left side of the ice. She released a shot from the left dot through a maze of bodies that found it’s way to the back of the net in the bottom right corner. The goal held us as the winner, as Team Harvey’s edged out Team Sonnet for a 2-1 victory.
“That showcase was really special for me being from Ottawa and having a lot of family and friends in the stands.”
On top of being well accomplished on the ice, Leslie does her part to give back as well with her “Hockey Skills with Leslie” camp program.
“It was originally a teammate from high school and I, and we wanted to find a way to help girls continue training during the pandemic. We wanted to keep them in the game, keep them engaged, but also improve. We started with some online stickhandling and shooting. We would have girls over Zoom and work on their shot and technique.”
“I took on myself more as I continued my hockey career. I did a lot of virtual coaching over the past two years, which allowed me to build relationships with key organizations in Ottawa. It also allows me to work on my passion for hockey while also helping the next generation.”
On the business side of things, Leslie has successfully combined her degree in business and love for sport into a position with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group as an Account Coordinator in Corporate Partnerships. She works most closely with OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and CFL’s Ottawa Redblack in this role.
On March 26th, 2022, Rebecca Leslie and Team Harvey’s are coming to Peterborough to take on Team Sonnet for a PWHPA Showcase game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre .
