is a Japanese

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 ...

player for

Luleå HF/MSSK Luleå Hockey/MSSK are a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Luleå, a port city in northeastern Sweden, at Coop Norrbotten Arena. The team is the most successful in SDHL history, having b ...

of the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League (), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016–17 season. The league has ...

(SDHL) and member of the Japanese national team. She played for

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 ...

in the inaugural season 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).

Playing career

Shiga began participating in elite-level ice hockey during the 2010s, playing in both the Women's Japan Ice Hockey League (WJIHL) and All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship. She began her career with the Obihiro Ladies and later played with Toyota Cygnus. On 22 December 2023, Shiga signed a one-year contract with

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 ...

in the

(PWHL). Shiga was both the league's youngest player and the only player from Japan during the PWHL's inaugural season. In 24 games with Ottawa, Shiga recorded two goals. In July 2024, Shiga signed a one-year contract with

of the

(SDHL). Early in the season, in a 13–1 blowout victory over

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

on September 20, 2024, that ''

The Hockey News ''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a reader ...

'' described as a "first-class drubbing," she recorded a goal and four assists for five points.

International play

As a

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., ...

player with the Japanese national under-18 team, she participated in the

IIHF U18 Women's World Championship The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship, is an annual ice hockey tournament for national women's under-18 (U18) ice hockey teams, administered by the International Ice Hockey Federa ...

Top Division tournaments in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

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 ...

, and the Division I tournaments in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. Shiga made her national senior team debut at the

2019 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was contested in Espoo, Finland from 4 to 14 April 2019 at the Espoo Metro Areena. The United States won the ...

, at which she notched her first senior-level point – a goal assisted by Ayaka Toko and Hanae Kubo against in the preliminary round. She has subsequently represented Japan at the

IIHF Women's World Championship The IIHF Women's World Championship is the premier international women's tournament in ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The official world competition was first held in 1990, with four more champions ...

tournaments in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. She was Japan's leading scorer at the tournaments in 2021, 2022, and 2024, and was selected by the coaches as one of the top-three players for Japan by the coaches in the same years. Shiga represented

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. With the Japanese national under-25 team, she won a silver medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

2023 Winter World University Games The Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, commonly known as Lake Placid 2023, was a collegiate Multi-sport event, multi-sport winter sports held between January 12 to January 22, 2023 and had Lake Placid, New York, Lake Placid, New York, ...

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

. She was Japan's leading scorer, earning 6

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

on 4 goals and 2 assists.

Personal life

Her older sister,

Aoi Shiga is a Japanese ice hockey player and member of the Japanese national team, currently playing in the Swiss Women's League (SWHL A) with Ladies Team Lugano. International play As a junior player with the Japanese national under-18 te ...

, is also an ice hockey player, a

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

, with the Japanese national team.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shiga, Akane 2001 births Living people FISU World University Games silver medalists for Japan Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Japanese expatriate ice hockey people Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Japanese women's ice hockey forwards Medalists at the 2023 Winter World University Games Olympic ice hockey players for Japan Sportspeople from Obihiro Ottawa Charge players Winter World University Games medalists in ice hockey 21st-century Japanese sportswomen