Samantha "Sam" Ridgewell (born July 16, 1996) 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 ...

currently on reserve 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 ...

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

Ridgewell began playing hockey at the age of five, in

Conquest, Saskatchewan Conquest ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Fertile Valley No. 285 and Census Division No. 12. History Conquest incorporated as a village on October 24, 1911. Demogr ...

. In her youth, she played for a variety of teams in towns in her native province, including a boys' team in

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, also referred to as ''the classic Outlook'' an e-mail client and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook for Windows, also referred to as ''the ...

and the Coteau Hills Coyotes, formed of girls from across the province. In Grade 10, she began playing for the Saskatoon Stars in the

Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League The Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL), formerly the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League (SFMAAAHL), is a U-18 ice hockey league in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The league operates under the supervision of th ...

. From 2015 to 2019, she studied at

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a Private university, private Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. It en ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in the United States, where she played for the

Merrimack Warriors women's ice hockey The Merrimack Warriors women's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's college ice hockey program. The Warriors are a new member of Hockey East. They play at the 2,549-seat J. Thom Lawler Arena in ...

program in the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

conference of 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 ...

. She was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in her first season with the university, making 694 saves in league play, the second-highest total in women's Hockey East history. She was only able to play 14 games in the 2016–17 season, missing large parts of the year due to a concussion. She posted five shutouts in the 2018–19 season, a Merrimack record, and was named to the Women's Hockey East Second Team All-Star Team. She was one of four women nominated for the NCAA's 2019 Hockey Humanitarian Award, the first women's player in Merrimack history to be nominated for the award. After graduating, she explored opportunities in Sweden and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, eventually signing her first professional contract with Djurgårdens IF Hockey 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) in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. In December 2019, she made 43 saves in a 3–1 victory over

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden, following the 2023–24 season. The ...

. She earned her first professional shutout in late January 2020, making 19 saves in a 2–0 victory over

SDE Hockey SDE Hockey are an ice hockey club in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play at Enebybergs Ishall in the Enebyberg community of Danderyd Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm. History The club was formed in 2007 from the merger o ...

. She finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with a

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) of 2.03, the fifth best in the league, and a

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 ...

of .920, the seventh best in the league, as Djurgården were eliminated in the playoff semi-finals by

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 ...

. In May 2020, she announced her return to North America, signing with the expansion

Toronto Six The Toronto Six were a professional women's ice hockey team in Toronto, Ontario, playing out of Canlan Ice Sports – York. They were one of two Canadian teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) along with the Montreal Force, and the first ...

in the NWHL, the second goaltender to sign with the team after

Elaine Chuli Elaine Monica Chuli (born May 16, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She played college ice hockey for the UConn Huskies where she is the all-ti ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Sources: Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League, Junior Women's Hockey League, Elite Prospects, USCHO, Premier Hockey Federation As of 24 February 2023

Personal life

Ridgewell has a degree in health sciences. She wears jersey number 34 after Finnish goaltender

Miikka Kiprusoff Miikka Sakari Kiprusoff (; born October 26, 1976), nicknamed "Kipper", is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames between 2000 and 2013. He was select ...

, who was her favourite player growing up.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgewell, Samantha 1996 births Living people Buffalo Beauts players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian women's ice hockey goaltenders Djurgårdens IF Hockey (women) players HV71 (women) players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Merrimack Warriors women's ice hockey players People from Outlook, Saskatchewan Toronto Six players Ottawa Charge players 21st-century Canadian sportswomen