Tabin's unlikely rise to Olympic hopeful shows PWHL's early impact

Kati Tabin's upcoming Team Canada debut at the Rivalry Series will put the exclamation point on a wildly unique journey in hockey.

Tabin had twice accepted that she was done playing the sport she loved. But the hockey itch never went away, and her persistence has now made her one of 10 defenders vying to make Canada's Olympic team.

"I feel like I kinda blacked out," Tabin told theScore in reference to learning that she would be on Canada's Olympic orientation roster. "I was like, 'Holy shit, this is really happening. I've worked my whole life for this.' I was just in shock, obviously super pumped, excited. I called my mom right away. She was freaking out."

Tabin's rise marks a new era in women's hockey. For years, the lack of a best-on-best professional league inhibited players from breaking into national teams later in their careers and forced many players into early retirement. Now, the late bloomers and those who slip through the cracks have a chance to realize their dreams, thanks to the PWHL.

Tabin's senior season at Quinnipiac ended abruptly in 2020 due to COVID. Exiting college with no money, she accepted that her life in hockey was finished despite having been at Team Canada's fall festival camp a few months earlier.

"Honestly, it's crazy looking back at that," Tabin said. "I just thought, 'I'm not good enough. I'm not gonna make Team Canada again. Is hockey really worth it?'"

After a six-game comeback in 2021 was derailed due to visa issues, Tabin again accepted her presumed fate and became an on-ice instructor in her hometown of Winnipeg. It was impossible to know at the time, but the new endeavor would prove to be the catalyst that led to her being on the Olympic radar.

"Seeing the smiles on young girls warmed my heart," she said. "I'm like, 'I wanna do that. I just want to play the game again.'"

And that she did. After two seasons away, Tabin finally returned to regular play in 2022 with the PHF's Toronto Six. While balancing a second job at Yamaha Motor Canada, she led all defenders in scoring and helped Toronto win the Isobel Cup. Her excellent play led to her being selected 30th overall by the Montreal Victoire in the PWHL's inaugural draft months later. She's since been a stalwart on the team's back end for two seasons.

"Honestly, when I really think about it, I think (not playing) was the best decision for me," Tabin said. "My journey, that's what I needed. I needed to step away from the game to realize what I just lost and how much I loved it. It didn't matter about money. It didn't matter about being on the best team or whatever. At the end of the day, I just wanted to play.

"I loved it. I wanted to be back with my friends, my teammates, the team environment. I think I got more and more hungry as I started to get back into things, and I wanted to get better. I wanted to be the best. That's kinda how I got here, I think."

Since 2000, only one Canadian or American player - Ann-Sophie Bettez - has made their IIHF or Olympic debut after turning 28 years old. Tabin hopes to be the second. Bettez featured at the 2019 Worlds with Canada at age 32 following years of superb play in the CWHL, only for the league to announce days before the World Championship that it would soon fold.

Over six years later, the PWHL's impact on the selection process has already been felt after just two short seasons, and it will only continue to grow in the coming years.

"That's the best part about this league," Victoire and Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin said. "Having the chance to see players that you don't necessarily have the chance to see all the time. Those are the opportunities that people have, and when they take it, they go with it. That's the best part of it. Some players have had that opportunity to show up, and they have. And they don't take it for granted."

Poulin has witnessed Tabin's progression in Montreal firsthand and is glad to see her teammate get a shot with the national team.

"Honestly, from Season 1 to this day, I'm not surprised that she's here the way she's elevated her game," Poulin said. "A consistent type of player for us in Montreal. She's physical. She's fast. She has a strong shot. She wants to get better at everything. She wants to evolve. Very, very happy that she's here, but it's no surprise. She's been working hard to get that chance and get that opportunity."

Victoire and Team Canada defender Erin Ambrose is likely Tabin's staunchest supporter, going so far as to emphasize Tabin's impact on her own success.

"I can guarantee you that the first year, I would not have won Defender of the Year if I weren't playing with Tabs," Ambrose said.

The 2022 Olympic gold medalist believes Tabin is firmly in the mix to make Team Canada and feels that she has plenty of untapped potential.

"I think there are a lot of places (she can take her game to)," Ambrose said. "Obviously, I have no decisions or anything, but it's not like Tabs is just the 10th D that was invited here. She's right in the mix with all of us."

Ambrose added, "I think that it's something that the more comfortable, confident she gets at these practices and Rivalry Series games, the more she's gonna see her potential and where her ceiling is. Because I think her ceiling is right up there with, honestly, where (reigning Defender of the Year) Renata Fast has gotten to. I think Tabs has the ability to get there, and I think that's something that she hasn't quite realized."

Tabin and Canada face the United States in the opening leg of the Rivalry Series on Thursday in Cleveland and again Saturday in Buffalo.