Athletes

Ashley Sessa

Women’s Field Hockey - Ashley competed in her first Olympic Games for the U.S. Olympic Team at PARIS 2024.

Ashley was a member of the team when they won Silver at the 2023 Pan American Games and in the Olympic qualifying tournament in India in 2024 when the United States punched their ticket to Paris 2024. At Paris 2024, Ashley scored her first OLYMPIC Goal vs Argentina. The United States finished the event in 5th place in Group B and just missed out on reaching the quarterfinal.

Ashley won a NCAA Championship at UNC-Chapel Hill, but entered the transfer portal and is a sophomore at Northwestern University (Fall 2024) in the greater Chicago area. She is a native of the greater Philadelphia region.

Off the pitch, Ashley has made donations of field hockey equipment in 3 Eastern United States markets in 2024 (Cape Cod, Charlotte and greater Philadelphia) - $7,500 worth of gear and will have another donation within the greater Philadelphia area in conjunction with her own 501 c(3) and major universities who open up their facilities for her summer clinics.

Courtney Ryan

Women’s Wheelchair Basketball - Courtney was named to her 2nd Paralympic Team and competed at PARIS 2024. Her team avenged their semi-final loss at Tokyo 2020 defeating China to advance to the Gold medal game where they fell to The Netherlands earning Silver.

She earned her first Paralympic medal at Tokyo 2020 where she and her teammates took home the Bronze for Team USA. Additionally, she has won a World Championship Bronze in 2023 and ParaPan American Games Champion in 2023 and Silver in 2019.

She is a graduate of the University of Arizona where she also serves as a Volunteer Assistant Basketball Coach for the women’s wheelchair basketball team which also allows her to continue to train for the U.S. Women’s National Team in the Tucson, AZ area. She is a native of the greater San Diego region.

Courtney had played professionally in Australia in the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (Sydney Metro Blues) prior to her position at her alma mater.

Joe Berenyi

Para Cycling - Joe is a Paralympic Champion having competed at three Games during his career (London 2012, Rio 2016 & Tokyo 2020).

Having lost his arm & injuring his knee in a construction accident when a crane toppled over building a movie theatre, Joe ultimately overcame this and at the age of 43 and only 3 years into being a Paralympic athlete, he won Gold, Silver & Bronze at London 2012. Four years later at Rio 2016, he added a Silver medal and two top 5 finishes. At Tokyo 2020, he qualified for both track and road races and had two-top 7 finishes.

Still competing today at the age of 57, more than double the age of most of his competition, Joe is in the hunt to qualify for his 4th Paralympic Games.

Joe resides with his wife (Jill) and 3 daughters (Sydney, Gwen & Tatum) in Oswego, Illinois. When not cycling, Joe handles construction jobs domestically and in the Caribbean.

Maggie Steffens

Women’s Water Polo - Maggie is a 3x Olympic Champion, 5x FINA/World Aquatics World Champion & 4x Pan American Games Championships and holds all of the scoring records in the sport at the Olympics, World Championship and Pan American Games, she is considered to be the greatest female player in the history of the sport. Maggie competed in her 4th Olympic Games for the U.S. Olympic Team at PARIS 2024.

She holds two degrees from Stanford University where she won 3 NCAA Championships and won the 2017 NCAA MVP of the tournament, a bachelors and masters. She is a native of the northern California Bay Area. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the sports data analytic company 6-8 Sports.

Out of the pool, Maggie got married (Bobby) in Fall 2023 and serves on the World Aquatics Athletes’ Commission and is a resident of Long Beach, CA.

Paige Madden

Women’s Swimming - Paige is an Olympic Silver Medalist from Tokyo 2020 in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay & at PARIS 2024 earned an additional Silver Medal in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay and a Bronze Medal in the 800m Freestyle. U.S. Olympic Trials are in June in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium where Paige earned 3 spots in the 400m Free, 800m Free & 4x200 Freestyle Relay at PARIS 2024. During her U.S. National Team career, she has earned Gold, Silver & Bronze medals at the Pan American Games and World Championships individually and in team relay events.

In April of 2024, news reports came out that the Chinese relay team that won Gold ahead of Paige’s team at Tokyo 2020, had 23 members of their team dope but WADA & World Aquatics let them swim anyway being satisfied with the Chinese ADA report. This situation is being reviewed now and may result in their disqualification thus elevating the United States to Gold, Australia to Silver & Canada to Bronze. To be noted, Paige’s team would have broken the then World Record time with their swim that the Chinese set in that race.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she earned a Bachelors and Loughborough University, M.A. Clinical Exercise Physiology ‘23 in the UK where she earned a Masters degree. She is a native of Mobile, Alabama and today resides in Washington, D.C.

Alexandra Poznikoff

Women’s Ice Hockey - Alex was a member of PWHL Montreal during the inaugural 2024 PWHL season. Initially, she made the team as a reserve player, midway through the inaugural season, she signed a one-year standard player agreement.

She is a graduate of the University of Alberta, winning a U Sports National Championship in 2017 and has a Silver medal representing Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games. Alex is a native of Edmonton. Prior to playing in the PWHL, Alex played in the PWHPA where she earned 2 DREAM GAP TOUR titles with Team Scotiabank in 2022 & Team Harvey’s in 2023 championship.

Emily Clark

Women’s Ice Hockey - Emily is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Ottawa having signed a three year deal that will keep her in the Nation’s Capital through the 2025-26 season.

During the inaugural season, Emily finished 9th in assists & 17th in PWHL scoring. On PWHL Ottawa, she was tied for 2nd in assists & 4th in points.

She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, a NCAA Champion and has a total of 3 IIHF World Championships and 2 Olympic medals in her career. She is a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Emily has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2023 & 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Gigi Marvin

Women’s Ice Hockey - Gigi is a 2018 Olympic Champion for Team USA and an IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Boston, she came to training camp as a free agent where she earned her spot and signed a 1 year standard player agreement. Gigi played in all 24 regular season games for Boston and scored her first PWHL goal in her native home state of Minnesota. Having the versatility to play both forward and defender, she saw time all year in both positions. During the Walter Cup playoffs in 8 games played, she had 3 assists & finished tied for 2nd in points and assists for the club. PWHL Boston advanced to the Walter Cup Finals (vs Minnesota) after defeating Montreal in the first round.

A native of Warroad, Minnesota and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, she is a NCAA Champion and has a total of 3 Olympic medals, 5 IIHF Women’s World Championship titles & 8 IIHF World Championship medals in her career.

Gigi won a Midwestern Emmy award as a member of the broadcast team at Bally Sports North (BSN) in 2022. She still works part-time for BSN as well as on Northeastern University men’s hockey coverage on their networks in New England that airs on NESN/NESN+ and ESPN+.

Gigi retired from professional hockey in October 2024.

Kaitlyn O’Donohoe

Women’s Ice Hockey - Kaitlyn is currently playing for Brynas IF in the SDHL for the 2024-25 season. She also signed a training camp invitation to the Minnesota Frost of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (November 2024).

Should she make the team out of training camp (or signs with another PWHL team during this window), she will remain in North America. Should she not make a PWHL club, she will return to Brynas in Mid-December 2024 for the remainder of the SDHL season.

Kaitlyn is a graduate of Colgate University.

Kelly Pannek

Women’s Ice Hockey - Kelly is a 2018 Olympic Champion for Team USA and a 3x IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Minnesota, she was the first signed player in the history of the League agreeing on her 3 year deal. In the inaugural season, Kelly finished the regular season tied for 6th in assists, 4th in face-off wins and 6th in face-off percentage league wide. In the playoffs, she led the league in face-off wins & 3rd in face-off percentage (minimum of 25 draws). More importantly all of this work led to the inaugural championship for PWHL Minnesota to hoist the Walter Cup in a game 5 win over Boston.

Kelly & teammate Lee Stecklein are the first women to have won an Olympic Gold medal, World Championship, NCAA Championship & Walter Cup Championship.

A native of the Minneapolis-St Paul region and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, she is a NCAA Champion and has a total of 6 IIHF World Championship medals and 2 Olympic medals in her career. Additionally, Kelly is a member of the broadcast team at Bally Sports North on Minnesota Wild coverage, she was nominated for a 2023 Midwestern Emmy Award for her work as a reporter on the “The Rundown”.

Kelly participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2024 in the PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase.

Off the ice, Kelly is an avid golfer. She has hit 2 Hole-In-Ones in the past 3 years (2021 & 2023).

Maddie Rooney

Women’s Hockey —Maddie is a 2018 Olympic Champion for Team USA and a 2x IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Minnesota, she joined the team in free agency and signed a two year deal in December 2023.

During the Inaugural PWHL season in 10 games played, Maddie had a 2.08 GAA & had a 5-3-2 record. After Nicole Hensley began the first round series vs Toronto, Maddie came in relief and was exceptional. While she lost the first game 1-0, she strung together a 173:19 shutout streak to help win the next 2 games and got the game 5 win at Toronto to complete the REVERSE SWEEP to advance Minnesota to the Final. In 5 games played in the Walter Cup Playoffs, she had a 1.12 GAA, 2 shutouts and a 0.948 save percentage (110 saves on 116 shots). PWHL Minnesota defeated Boston to win the Inaugural Walter Cup Championship.

A native of the Minneapolis-St Paul region and a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, she has a total of 3 IIHF World Championships and 2 Olympic medals in her career, she is the first U.S. Olympic goalie to earn for her team the Gold medal by winning a shootout.

In the summer time, Maddie and fellow PWHL Minnesota goaltender Nicole Hensley operated their inaugural summer goalie camp in Andover, MN (Summer 2024).

Renata Fast

Women’s Ice Hockey — Renata is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Toronto having signed a three year deal that will keep her hometown region of the Greater Toronto Area through the 2025-26 season. She is a native of Burlington which is west of Toronto.

In the inaugural season, Renata finished the regular season as the Time-On-Ice & Hits leader in the PWHL, additionally she was 4th in Defender assists as well as tied for 4th in Defender points. From a team perspective, PWHL Toronto established a 11 game win streak which from a historic perspective of Toronto sports teams is tied for 2nd with the Blue Jays only trailing the Raptors all time. The greatest Toronto Maple Leafs win streak in over 110 years of play was 10. PWHL Toronto won the inaugural regular season championship over Montreal by 6 points. During the playoffs, Renata finished 2nd in hits, tied for 2nd in assists with 3, 9th in total points, tied for 3rd in Defender scoring while only playing 1 series.

A graduate of Clarkson University in NY State, Renata won the first NCAA Championship in school history in any sport during her time on campus. During her career with the Canadian Women’s National Team, she has won 3 IIHF World Championships, 2 Olympic medals and earned individual honors as Best Defender of the 2024 IIHF World Championship and been selected to the Media All Star Team in consecutive years in 2023 & 2024.

Renata has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2019, 2020 & 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Off the ice, Renata got married in November of 2023 (Paul) and works part-time for TSN Sports. Additionally, she is the Chairperson of the Hockey Canada WNT leadership group and serves on the IIHF Athletes’ Commission.

Sarah Nurse - broadcast, DEI & NHL-NHLPA only

Women’s Hockey — Sarah is a 2022 Olympic Champion for Team Canada and a 2024 IIHF Women’s World Champion. A professional hockey player for PWHL Toronto having signed a three year deal that will keep her hometown region of the Greater Toronto Area through the 2025-26 season. She is a native of Hamilton which is west of Toronto.

PWHL Toronto finished as the Regular Season champions in the League’s inaugural season highlighted by an Eleven game winning streak.

She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and a 3x IIHF World Champion alongside of her 2 Olympic medals in her career. At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Sarah broke all previously held scoring records for the men’s & women’s tournament.

Sarah has participated in the NHL All Star Weekend in 2020, 2023 & 2024 (PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase).

Off the ice, she has worked previously for Sportsnet in Canada and NHL on TNT in the United States. Additionally, she serves on the Hockey Canada WNT leadership group, NHL Player Inclusion Coalition board and is a member of the PWHLPA Executive Board.