Ann-Renée Desbiens (born April 10, 1994) is a Canadian

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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

for the

Montreal Victoire The Montreal Victoire () are a professional ice hockey team based in the Greater Montreal area 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 game ...

and member of the

Canada women's national ice hockey team The Canadian women's national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Canada in women's hockey. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and participates in international competitions ...

. She participated at the

2015 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship was the 16th IIHF World Women's Championship, such event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The tournament was played in Malmö, Sweden, from 28 March to 4 April 2015. Venues included t ...

, the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

., the

2021 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which was contested in Calgary, Alberta, from 20 to 31 August 2021, at WinSport Arena. It was ori ...

, 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 ...

, and the

2022 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) which was contested in Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark, from 25 August to 4 September 2022, at th ...

Playing career

Desbiens was the first female player drafted to the

Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League The Ligue de Hockey Junior du Québec (LHJQ) or Quebec Junior Hockey League (QJHL) is a Hockey Québec Canadian Junior A ice hockey league and is a member of Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League. The winner of the QJHL playoffs c ...

, the second-highest men's junior league in Québec after the

QMJHL The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

. She was selected by the Loups de La Tuque but was cut before ever playing a game because the coach didn't believe there was any point in developing girls. That same year, she participated in the

Shawinigan Cataractes The Shawinigan Cataractes () are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) based in Shawinigan, Quebec. The franchise plays their home games at the Centre Gervais Auto, and were originally known as ...

training camp. She made one playoff appearance for the Montréal Stars of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and ...

(CWHL) in 2012, as the team won the

Clarkson Cup The Clarkson Cup () is an ice hockey trophy awarded to Canada's national women's champions. Commissioned by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, the trophy was first unveiled in July 2006 when Clarkson ceremoniously presented it to the Ca ...

NCAA

In 2013, she was offered a scholarship to play at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, despite not being fluent in English. Across four years with the

Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey The Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey team is the hockey team that represents the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. History On October 8, 1999, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs played the Wisconsin Badgers in the first ever Women's ...

program, she led the team to four

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

appearances, tallied 99 wins in 122 games, and set several individual records, including highest career

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

(SV%), at .963, and lowest

goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

(GAA), with 0.71. During her senior year, on November 6, 2016, Desbiens broke

Noora Räty Noora Helena Räty (born 29 May 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and the goaltending coach of Shenzhen KRS in the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey League. She was a founding board member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association ...

's record for most NCAA career shutouts of any gender. In a 6–0 shutout victory against the Bemidji State Beavers, Desbiens would log career shutout number 44. At the end of her senior year, Desbiens was awarded the

Patty Kazmaier Award The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is given to the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. The award is presented during the women's annual ice hockey championship, the Frozen Four. The award was first presented in 1998. The ...

as the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. Desbiens was the first Canadian selected at the

2016 NWHL Draft Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen'' (20 ...

, chosen in the first round, fourth overall by the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride was a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The Pride played at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice fac ...

. As of 2021, she has not appeared with the team nor made any indication of interest in playing in the NWHL. After the 2018 Olympics, during the 2018-19 season, Desbiens took a break from hockey, citing exhaustion and the uncertainty of options to play professionally. In May 2019, she returned to hockey by joining the PWHPA. In the 2019–20 season, Desbiens appeared for the Fond du Lac Bears in the Great Lakes Hockey League, an elite men's amateur league. She also participated in the women's ice hockey showcase at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, making 15 saves as the Canadian All-Stars beat the American All-Stars.

PWHPA

Standing between the pipes for Team Bauer (Montreal) in the 2021 Secret Cup, which was the Canadian leg of the 2020–21 PWHPA Dream Gap Tour, Ann-Renee Desbiens registered 19 saves in a 4-2 championship game win over Team Sonnet (Toronto).

PWHL

In 2023, the PWHPA and the rival

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

consolidated into the new

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 ...

. With each of the six new teams able to make three initial free agency signings, Desbiens was widely assessed as a probable signing by the new

PWHL Montreal The Montreal Victoire () are a professional ice hockey team based in the Greater Montreal area 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 game ...

. On September 5, she was reported as one of Montreal team's first three players, alongside Team Canada teammates

Marie-Philip Poulin Marie-Philip Poulin (born March 28, 1991) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre (ice hockey), centre and Captain (ice hockey), captain for the Montreal Victoire of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She is also the captain o ...

and

Laura Stacey Laura Rachel Stacey (born May 5, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Montreal Victoire, and a member of Canada women's national ice hockey team. She previously played with the Markham Thunder and the Dartmouth Big Green a ...

. During the 2025 PWHL Expansion Draft, she was one of three players who were allowed to be protected first by Montreal.

International play

Desbiens was selected to play for Team Canada at the

, where she guided Canada to a silver medal. She was also selected to play for Team Canada at the

, where she again won a silver medal. On January 11, 2022, Desbiens was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team.

Personal life

Desbiens has a master's degree in accounting. She has named

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

goaltender

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, executive and former player who is the head coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Roy previously served as head coach for ...

as a role model, her family being supporters of the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) an ...

and then the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

Awards and honours

*WCHA Player of the Week (Recognized for games of November 4–6, 2016) *2016 WCHA Player of the Year *WCHA Offensive Player of the Month, January 2017 *WCHA Defensive Player of the Week (Week of February 14, 2017) *2016-17 AHCA-CCM Women's University Division I All-American *2017

winner

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Sources
EliteProspectsUniversity of WisconsinFond du Lac Bears

References

External links

*
Wisconsin bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desbiens, Ann-Renee 1994 births Living people Canadian women's ice hockey goaltenders Ice hockey people from Capitale-Nationale Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey Patty Kazmaier Award winners Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Professional Women's Hockey Players Association players People from La Malbaie Montreal Victoire players Sportswomen from Quebec 21st-century Canadian sportswomen