Jayna Hefford

Jayna Hefford (born May 14, 1977) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current chairperson of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.

Hefford got her start in the sport of ringette but soon moved into ice hockey.

During her hockey career, she won multiple medals at the Winter Olympics and IIHF World Women's Championships as well as titles in the National Women's Hockey League and Canadian Women's Hockey League.

At the 1994 national under-18 championship, Hefford was part of the gold medal-winning Ontario team.

In 1995, Hefford participated with the Ottawa Regional Select Team in a series against the U.S. National Under-18 Team.

Hefford was the captain of Team Ontario at the 1995 Canada Winter Games.

Hefford played for the Toronto Varsity Blues women's ice hockey program, which represented the University of Toronto.

In the 1997 OWIAA semifinal, Hefford was part of the Varsity Blues squad which defeated the Guelph Gryphons by a 4–1 tally.

In that game, Hefford accumulated three helpers.

In the 1997 OWIAA gold medal game, scored 23 seconds into overtime and she believed that the goal clinched the gold medal for the Blues.

A little-known rule denied Hefford and her teammates the Blues second consecutive title.

OWIAA league rules indicated that the first five-minute overtime session in a playoff game must be played in its entirety (as a regular period).

It was advised that the game would continue after Hefford's goal and York won the game in the second overtime.

Hefford won the gold in six World Championships – 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2007.

She also won a silver medal with the Canadian team at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In 1999 and 2000, Hefford was Team Canada's leading scorer.

Her two third period goals in the 2000 championship game pushed the contest into overtime, allowing Canada the opportunity to win.

She helped Canada win four-straight Olympic gold medals from 2002 to 2014 and famously scored the gold medal-winning goal at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Hefford scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game against Team USA with four seconds remaining in the second period.

At the 2005 Esso National Women's Championships, she was named the Best Forward for Group A.

In the 2006 tournament, Hefford scored three goals and added four assists to finish third on the team in scoring and Canada again won the gold medal.

It was her second gold medal while participating in her third Olympics.

At the club level across three leagues, she scored 439 goals in 418 competitive games including a CWHL record 44 goals in 2008–09.

Hefford joined former University of Toronto student-athlete Heather Moyse as the only University of Toronto graduates to claim a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

She is currently an assistant coach with her former team.

At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Hefford ranked second on Team Canada with 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 5 games on the way to her fourth medal (third gold).

On January 1, 2010, in Ottawa, Ontario, she was honoured before a game versus Team USA for reaching the 200-game plateau in her Team Canada career in November.

She would go on to score the lone shootout goal later that night.

In the first game of the 2011 IIHF Eight Nations Tournament, Hefford registered a hat trick in a 16–0 victory over Switzerland.

In the third game of the tournament, she scored two goals in an 11–0 shutout over Slovakia.

In an exhibition game versus the United States on August 29, 2011, Hefford scored a power play goal, and then scored twice in the shootout as Canada defeated the United States by a 4–3 tally.

In a game versus Russia at the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championship, Hefford registered a four-point performance (two goals, two assists) in a 14–1 victory.

Hefford again played for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics, earning her fourth gold medal.

After 17 years, four Olympic gold medals and multiple world championships, she retired from the national women's team at age 38, after sitting out the 2014–2015 season.

She stands second only to Hayley Wickenheiser in all-time games played (267), goals (157) and points (291) for Canada.

She was selected to be inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame on June 26, 2018.

On July 19, 2018, Hefford was named interim commissioner of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

She was named a 2019 Order of Hockey in Canada recipient.

Hefford was born in Trenton, Ontario.

She previously played for the Mississauga Chiefs and Brampton Thunder.