‘The dream is real’: Nova Scotia’s Blayre Turnbull has a message for female hockey players

Nova Scotia’s Blayre Turnbull encourages the next generation to chase their hockey dreams.

The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics were a special experience for Nova Scotia’s Blayre Turnbull.

“It was a great experience. One that I’ll remember forever,” Turnbull told CTV News. “Definitely a different experience than my previous two Olympics. But it’s been cool that every Olympics I’ve been to has been so different and unique. This one was obviously really cool being hosted in a city like Milan, where there’s so much going on and so much to do. It was fun to be in a smaller village with only two other sports.”

Turnbull said she was happy with the team’s results.

“We’re really happy with the product that we put on the ice and that final game. I think, we put ourselves in a position to win a gold medal and just came up short,” she said.

“So that’s hockey and that’s life. But I think one of the coolest parts about the Olympics is hearing and feeling all the support from home. I was in Italy, but every day I was feeling the love from my community back home in Nova Scotia, and I know there were a few watch parties with Sobeys, and my Feed the Dream partnership.”

Turnbull said the growth of female hockey in the Maritimes and Canada has been inspirational in more ways than one.

“I think it honestly makes things way easier. It gives everything I do meaning and value, and it just makes the hard days easier and the good days even better,” she said.

“Knowing how much of an impact that my teammates and I can have on young hockey players, we hear from so many people who are seniors, that never had the chance to play hockey growing up because it was a thing that only boys got to do. Hearing from them is super cool and just feeling the impact that we have on so many different people is really special.”

One of those influenced is Cape Breton’s Fallyn Macintosh, who has been a huge hockey fan for years.

“It’s just amazing to see people like I know, for Blayre, she came from a really small town here in Nova Scotia, and I’m sort of a small town,” Macintosh said. “So it’s just really inspiring to see that even though you don’t come from like a huge city, you can still make it to the highest level and be one of the best on the highest level.”

Macintosh started a podcast called Pass the Puck and it focuses on women in the hockey world. In addition to playing the sport, she knows there’s opportunity to call games, like Cheryl Pounder and Kenzi Lalonde.

“Well, I started it because of a community project. I was inspired by Jocks in Jills with their podcast, I also just wanted to meet these inspiring people who I’ve looked up to and inspire others.”

Macintosh said she knows there is a space for her and continues to use her sport as a growing platform.

“Sports are just amazing. In hockey you learn what it’s like to be a good leader, which also helps you do everything else. For me at least because I want to do something in sports, knowing the game would help with my career.”

“Now there’s so many different leagues and so many different levels, with hundreds and hundreds of girls playing across the province and dreaming of one day playing in the PWHL,” said Turnbull.

“I think it’s amazing to see how much the sport has changed for the better in our province of Nova Scotia. It’s really, really cool. Every time we come home, it seems like more and more people are up to date on the PWHL and they know what’s happening around the league.”

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