Vicky Sunohara

Childhood and Family

Vicky Sunohara was born to Catherine and David Sunohara. Catherine is of Ukrainian descent and David was of Japanese descent. Vicky has a sister, Kimiko, and a brother, Rob. David played hockey at the university level for Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and taught Vicky the game of hockey in the basement of the family home. He built a rink in their backyard and taught Vicky how to skate when she was two. By the age of five, Vicky was playing hockey on a boys’ team but soon after was forbidden from playing with boys and instead played on a girls’ team.

Sadly, Vicky’s father died when she was only seven years old. Her mother believed it was important for Vicky to learn about her Japanese heritage and her paternal family’s hard work, resilience and perseverance.

Growing up, Sunohara enjoyed competing in sports. She liked being challenged on the ice and loved all types of hockey — on the street, in structured league play or on the pond. Since she was such an advanced player at an early age, girls’ hockey was not a challenge for her.

At the high school level, she attended Stephen Leacock Institute in Scarborough. She also played many other sports, including soccer, golf, field hockey, flag football and bowling. She scored 98 career goals while playing soccer for a girls’ team.

Experiencing Racism

Sunohara has stated that there were times growing up when she wanted to be someone else because of her Asian heritage; she experienced name-calling and bullying. She has expressed gratitude to her mother for the advice she gave her. “My mom did a great job with me,” Sunohara said in an interview with Hockey Canada. “She told me that I can choose to let them win or try even harder. I wanted to play, and she gave me the motivation for me to realize that potential in myself and it stuck with me.”

University Hockey

At the university level, Vicky Sunohara played two seasons on scholarship at Northeastern University in Boston (1988–90) and two more seasons with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (1990–92). In two seasons at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level, Sunohara had 78 goals and 44 assists for 122 points in 45 games. She was the 1988–89 Eastern College Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, won the 1988–89 ECAC Conference Championship and was on the 1989–90 NCAA All-American Team. With the Varsity Blues, Sunohara was named the Ontario University Athletic Association (OUAA) Rookie of the Year in 1991 and won two straight Ontario championships in 1991 and 1992.

World Hockey Championships

Vicky Sunohara represented Canada at eight Women’s World Hockey Championships from 1990 to 2007, playing centre and coming away with seven gold medals and one silver medal.

Sunohara was very productive offensively for Canada at the World Championship level, averaging more than a point per game. In 40 World Championship contests, she had 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points. Her most notable World Championship offensively was her first; she had six goals and three assists for nine points in five games in 1990. The most memorable goal Sunohara scored at the World Championships came on 5 April 1997 in a 2–1 Canada semifinal win over Finland. She scored the game-winning goal with 24 seconds left in the third period.

In addition to her offensive production, Sunohara was known for her faceoff skills. At the 2000 World Championship, she led the tournament with a faceoff winning percentage of 76.54 per cent.

Olympic Winter Games

Vicky Sunohara participated in the first three official women’s hockey competitions at the Olympic Winter Games. She won a silver medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano, a gold medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. In 16 games at the Olympics, Sunohara had six goals and seven assists for 13 points. She also had eight penalty minutes and was a +9.

In Nagano, Sunohara scored a key insurance goal in a 2–0 Canada win over China. In Salt Lake City, she had 12 shots on goal and scored twice in a 7–0 win over Kazakhstan and set up Jayna Hefford for the game-winning goal in a 7–3 semifinal victory over Finland. In Turin, Sunohara scored the game-winning goal for Canada in a 12–0 rout of Russia.

Women’s Hockey Teams within Canada

Vicky Sunohara played in the Central Ontario Women’s Hockey League from 1992 to 1997 with the Scarborough Firefighters, Toronto Red Wings and Newtonbrook Panthers. Her finest season came with the Panthers in 1996–97, when she had 42 goals and 28 assists for 70 points in 29 games. She then played 10 seasons for the Brampton Thunder of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) from 1998 to 2009. In 2005, she was the top forward of the Esso Women’s National Championship in Sarnia, Ontario. In 2006, her team won the Esso Women’s National Championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia. In 2008, Sunohara captained the Brampton Thunder to a CWHL Championship.

Post-Playing Career

After her playing career, Vicky Sunohara and husband welcomed twin boys in 2009. A year later, she graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Physical and Health Education.

Sunohara has been the head coach of the University of Toronto’s women’s hockey program since 2011. In 2020, she led the Varsity Blues to an OUA-best 17–4–1–2 record and their first OUA McCaw Cup championship since 2003.

Honours

After winning her second Olympic gold medal, Vicky Sunohara was named the 2006 Ontario Athlete of the Year. In 2018, Sunohara was inducted into the Toronto Sports Hall of Fame. In 2019, she was made an Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. She was named U Sports Women’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year three consecutive years (2019–20, 2021–22 and 2022–23) as well as the OUA Female Coach of the Year across all sports in 2020.

(See also Canadian Gold Medal Winners at Olympic Winter Games.)