Any professional sports league still in its infancy but filled with the world’s best players is bound to feature athletes with remarkably varied paths. But few have traveled as far—or evolved as much—as Toronto Sceptres forward Hannah Miller, who will be a vital piece of any Walter Cup run the Sceptres hope to make.
Beloved by teammates, admired by coaches and revered by fans, Miller’s journey has taken her from North Vancouver to Beijing, Moscow to Stockholm, and finally, back to Canada. In the process, she has emerged as a quiet but commanding force in women’s hockey’s most competitive league.
How do we know how her teammates feel about her? Just relive this absolutely epic moment from earlier this season when they all dressed as her, as recapped on a recent episode of the Jocks in Jills Podcast...
Miller’s journey to Sceptres star began in North Vancouver, where she grew up an only child to parents who were extremely supportive of Hannah’s interest in hockey. After a fun-filled, outdoor-heavy childhood in “North Van” that included taking in multiple hockey games at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Miller took her game to Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, BC, where she played for the U-18 prep team.
Miller’s U-18 career also featured two appearances representing Canada at the U-18 World Championships, where the team won back-to-back gold in 2013 and 2014. “Playing for Canada at the U-18 was the pinnacle for me,” Miller told us during a recent post-practice phone interview. “The more experiences you can have like that in the game are only going to help you.”
A self-proclaimed and quite proud “hockey nerd,” Miller’s career has been all about chasing great hockey experiences.
For college, Miller traveled all the way across North America and attended St. Lawrence University in far upstate New York, grateful for a hockey staff that encouraged players to live a well-rounded life that went beyond the sport. “It was exactly what I needed,” Miller told JinJ.
At St. Lawrence, Miller established herself as one of the NCAA’s most cerebral, exciting and impactful forwards, a team captain as a senior who graduated as a two-time Second-Team All-ECAC selection and an ECAC All-Academic honoree.
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When Miller graduated in 2018, the landscape for professional women's hockey players was much different than it is today. But there was no doubt it was what she planned to do for a living. So, she went where the game could take her—first to China. “Before this league was a thing it was hard,” Miller explained. “Playing in China let me be a pro athlete and prolong my career. Not have to work another job. We had great facilities, ice whenever you want, training staff. I used it to my full advantage.”
Miller played in China for the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays, first when they played in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League, and later when they became the first non-Russian team in the Zhenskaya Hockey League. She was one of the best players on her team and made a lasting impact on the nascent hockey community in China. After decamping to Russia with the rest of her team for a long stretch because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller resurfaced in Stockholm, Sweden where she spent the earlier part of the 2021-22 season with Djurgårdens IF of the SDHL.
Then her journey took another wild twist: China asked her to play for its national team in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Miller could hardly believe what she was hearing but ultimately, in the name of experience, she accepted. Of course, being the goal-scoring machine she is, Miller, with the “translated” name Mi Le on her jersey, scored the hosts’ first goal of the Games. Later in 2022, Miller played with China in the D1B World Championship and was named Best Forward of the tournament.
When the PWHL launched in 2023, it was the moment Miller and so many others had been waiting for. She was selected 74th overall by Toronto in the inaugural draft and quickly made her mark. “To come full circle has been really cool,” said Miller, who is thrilled to be back home in Canada but is also just blown away by the caliber of play in the PWHL. “It’s the best league in the world, no doubt. Just six teams, and every night is an absolute battle. There’s no drop-off. In Europe, the top teams are good, but then there’s a big gap with the bottom teams. Here, every game is tight. The physicality, the structure—it’s what we’ve always wanted.”
After scoring 14 points in 23 games for a PWHL Toronto team that had the league’s best regular-season record but got bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Minnesota last year, Miller almost doubled her output this season, notching 10 assists and 14 goals in 29 games, her 24 points good for a tie for fifth in the league.
She also got invited to play with Team Canada in this spring’s IIHF World Championships but was ultimately not allowed to play due to IIHF by-laws that stipulate a player switching national teams must play two full seasons for a club in the new country before being eligible. Miller’s last season with a Chinese club ended in May 2023, just shy of the two-year requirement.
With the 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon, Miller is hopeful she’ll get another chance to play for her native Canada. “Right now, I’m just trying to continue to get better,” she said. “We have incredible resources here in Toronto. Whatever happens, happens. Obviously, I would love to have that opportunity to [play for Canada in the Olympics]. I’ll go to camp. I’ll do whatever is allowed. But my focus right now is on the Sceptres.”
She elaborated on the situation during her Jocks in Jills appearance, which you can catch more of here:
As for the Sceptres, they were edged out by Montréal for the top seed in the playoffs and when Montréal chose Ottawa as its first-round opponent, Toronto was left with a rematch against last year’s champs, the Minnesota Frost.
“I think every team is different from year to year,” Miller said. “There are new players, the draft. I think the coaching staff and leadership here have done a good job creating a culture and standard for our team and we’re trying to stick to it. But across the league, every team is going to keep getting better.”
Asked what it will take for the Sceptres to win it all, Miller pointed to execution and belief. “I don’t think there’s one thing,” she said. “Manage the puck, make the right play at the right time. I think it’s just the belief of the players in the locker room. The way this organization is built from the top down we have all the pieces and belief to get this done.”
Whether it’s scoring at the Olympics, holding down the Sceptres’ at both ends of the ice, or mentoring rookies in the locker room, Miller’s impact reverberates far beyond the stat sheet. She has lived every version of women’s pro hockey—from its fragmented beginnings to its current high-stakes, full-time reality. Now, with the Walter Cup in sight and her home country finally home to the league she dreamed of, Miller is ready to add the next chapter to her story.
