Students at St. Anne Catholic School were thrilled to welcome Team Canada's Abby Stonehouse to their school on Tuesday.
Stonehouse is coming off a gold medal win at the IIHF U18 Women's World Hockey Championship. Canada beat Sweden 10-0 in Sunday's final.
"Abby offered to come back to the school today," said St. Anne Catholic School Principal Julie Knight. "She is a wonderful leader who took it upon herself to visit our stars."
Students in each class got a chance to meet Stonehouse and see the gold medal for themselves.
According to Knight, Stonehouse spent her whole elementary school career at St. Anne Catholic School. She graduated in 2021.
Stonehouse currently attends Ursuline College Chatham and is in her second season playing in the OWHL U22 ELITE with the London Devilettes.
"When she arrived at the school, she was met with a hallway full of high-fives and students finding her picture in the hallway," said Knight. "As she came into each classroom they [the students] were in awe and extremely excited."
Stonehouse scored two goals and added two assists in five games at the tournament, despite being held off the scoresheet in Sunday’s championship game.
She was Team Canada's fifth-leading scorer.
"Abby is a role model in terms of women in sport," said Knight. "She has always been a goal-setter and a hard worker and I think that has had a great impact on our students to see their hard work can accomplish great things."
The win gives Team Canada its seventh gold medal at the event, just one shy of the all-time record set by the United States.