Samantha "Sam" Cogan (born July 7, 1997) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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who most recently played for the

Toronto Sceptres The Toronto Sceptres are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the six charter franchises of the league. The team plays its home games at Coca-Cola Colise ...

of the

Professional Women's Hockey League The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , LPHF) is a women's professional ice hockey league in North America. The league comprises eight teams, four each from the United States and Canada. The teams play a Season (sports), regular season ...

(PWHL). She played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and won a national title with the team in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Playing career

Cogan first started playing hockey at six years old. Her father was initially apprehensive about her playing hockey but her mother and friends convinced him to let her play the sport. She shoots left.

Junior

Cogan began her

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

career in the

Provincial Women's Hockey League The Ontario Women's Hockey League U22 Elite (OWHL), formerly the Provincial Women's Hockey League, is a women's junior ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2004, it is considered to be the highest level of amateur women's ice hockey ...

(PWHL or Provincial WHL; renamed Ontario Women's Hockey League in 2023) playing for the Nepean Wildcats in her home city of Ottawa, Ontario. She spent four seasons with the team, from 2011 to 2015, and in her final season was named

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

and helped lead the team to their first regular season championship. Cogan was the team's leading scorer in her second season and was a top-three point and goal scorer during her other three seasons.

NCAA

Cogan's time in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

was spent representing the Wisconsin Badgers in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WHCA) from 2015 to 2019, as she majored in physical education. In her

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

season, Cogan led her rookie teammates in goals, assists, and points. She was also the runner up in the same three categories across all WHCA freshmen. Cogan's standout rookie season secured her a spot on the 20015–16 WHCA All-Rookie Team and awarded her WHCA Rookie of the Month twice in 2015–16, and WHCA Rookie of the Week on three occasions in 2015–16. She was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week once in 2018, and to the 2017–18 WCHA All-Academic Team. In her senior year, Cogan helped lead the team to the 2019 NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey tournament national championship. She recorded 100 career points, joining only 25 other Badgers in obtaining that achievement.

Professional

Cogan joined the

Professional Women's Hockey Players Association The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian Women's Ho ...

(PWHPA) in 2020 and played for Calgary-based Team Scotiabank until 2022, at which time she switched teams and spent the 2022–23 season with Toronto-based Team Sonnet. In her first season with Team Scotiabank, Cogan was selected as a PWHPA All-Star, and her second season with the team was victorious, making Team Scotiabank PWHPA Champions. Samantha Cogan 2024

In 2023, the Professional Women's Hockey League announced its inaugural season. Cogan was noted as a player to watch ahead of the 2023 PWHL Draft but, to her own surprise, was not selected during the draft. She was invited to PWHL Toronto's preseason training camp and signed with the team as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. On March 2, 2024, she scored her first PWHL goal against her hometown team in a 5–2 PWHL Toronto win over

PWHL Ottawa The Ottawa Charge (French: ''Charge d'Ottawa'') are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the league's six charter franchises. The Charge play home games at ...

. The newly renamed Toronto Sceptres signed Cogan as a reserve player prior to the 2024-25 season. Cogan was released from her reserve contract on February 11, 2025, becoming a free agent.

International play

As a junior player with the Canadian national under-18 ice hockey team, Cogan participated in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, winning gold and silver medals, respectively. Her performance in the 2014 championship awarded her an opportunity to be a part of the Canadian National Team Fall Festival.

Personal life

Cogan was born and raised in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, to Don and Heather Cogan, and is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. She has a sister, Casey, and a brother, Tyler. She attended

Glebe Collegiate Institute Glebe Collegiate Institute (GCI) is a high school in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Administered by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), Glebe Collegiate Institute has approximately 1,700 students and is the di ...

for high school, where she was on the honor roll for three years. She served as an assistant coach to the

Calgary Dinos women's ice hockey The Calgary Dinos women's ice hockey team represents the University of Calgary in U Sports women's ice hockey. The Dinos compete in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association Conference in the U Sports athletic association. The program ha ...

program during the 2021–22 season of

U Sports women's ice hockey U Sports women's ice hockey is the highest level of play of women's ice hockey at the university level under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Women's ice hockey has been played in U Sports since the 1997-98 ...

. The Dinos coaching team in that season was led by head coach

Carla MacLeod Carla Rae MacLeod (born June 16, 1982) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and retired member of the Canadian national women's hockey team. She is the current head coach of the Czech national ice hockey team and Ottawa Charge in the Professional Wom ...

and Kelty Apperson was an assistant coach alongside Cogan. Cogan resided in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

during 2020 to 2023.

Awards and honours

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cogan, Samantha 1997 births Living people 21st-century Canadian Jews 21st-century Canadian sportswomen Canadian women's ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Ottawa Jewish Canadian sportspeople Toronto Sceptres players Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States