(Photo: Owen Plagge/WCSN)
TEMPE — The True North.
With beavers, moose and geese inhabiting its 1.36 billion acres of boreal forest wilderness, people rarely think of sports in Canada.
Even if they do, it’s all about one thing: hockey.
Despite its popularity in Canada and the northern regions of the United States, hockey dissipates in favorability the further south you go, leaving many to turn to other sports.
The sport features a group of players moving a small black puck up and down the ice, maneuvering it intricately into the back of nets tightly guarded by goalies.
Sounds familiar, right?
While not her sport of choice, Canadian national and Arizona State soccer first-year fullback Amy Medley is all too familiar with hockey and the trials and tribulations that come with athletics due to a special family connection.
Even at 43 years old, Amy’s father, Matthew Medley, continues to play Canada’s national winter sport as a defenseman for the Laval Petroliers in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey in the Medleys’ home province of Quebec.
From the ice rink to the pitch, Matthew Medley has instilled strong core values in his daughter that still resonate in her playing career despite the over 2,500-mile distance between them.
“Honestly, my dad always told me that pressure was a privilege,” Amy Medley said. “You take the pressure, and you just make it a privilege. Like you have fun with it, you play your game.
“You work hard every day. It’s a privilege at the end of the day.”
In her first season in the Valley, Amy Medley has ignited the desert, contributing five assists to the team, all while playing a crucial role in the Sun Devils’ backline. Her stellar first campaign at ASU earned her Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 16.
That same week the Medley family visited Tempe and witnessed Amy’s standout performance.
“It’s kind of funny because that game, my parents were here in town, so I think that really was like a confidence boost in my game,” Amy Medley said. “Like, ‘oh, they’re here, push yourself,’ which should be every game, but it was something more since I saw them in the stands. But I’m really proud of myself.”
However, Amy and Matthew aren’t the only athletes in the family; Amy’s little sister, Mya, made history in 2024, starring on the On Field LLS Little League team that marked the first-ever Quebec team to participate in the Little League Softball World Series.
As a big sister, Amy Medley takes major pride in her sister representing their home province and country on the big stage, expressing that she always makes time to watch her games no matter the distance.
“Honestly, so much pride. I have goosebumps seeing her from here doing what she loves every day and pushing herself,” Amy Medley said. “I know that times were hard, but now seeing her going internationally, it’s really nice as an older sister to see that.”
Representing Canada on big stages is commonplace in the Medley household, as Amy herself represented the Land of Maple at the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
This country-based connection has brought the two sisters even closer, as they share the same national pride in their respective sports.
“I think both of us representing our country was a really big aspect of our game now,” Amy Medley said. “I’m so proud of her. I think that both of us, we take that in our confidence pocket, and then we like bring it on the pitch or on the softball field every day.”
During the tournament, Amy Medley started five matches in which she scored a standout goal against Zambia.
For her, representing her country on the global stage was an experience like no other.
“Honestly, the best experience in my life,” Amy Medley said. “It was far from home. It was a different culture, but representing the badge made me so proud.”
Amy Medley isn’t alone in this experience as under head coach Graham Winkworth, ASU has maintained a strong international presence with players representing a wide variety of cultures.
The defender feels this diversity allows for individual players to show up for their countries no matter the distance.
“I think that coming in Arizona and representing my country is showing everyone that no matter where you are, you represent where you’re from,” Amy Medley said. “We have the Netherlands, we have England. We have so many countries all over the world coming in here; just represent yourself, and from where you’re from.”
While eight nations are represented amongst the Sun Devils’ current ranks, Winkworth loves recruiting talent from the True North, with five Canadians calling Tempe home.
Going about it alongside her fellow countrywomen has lessened the homesickness and made it easier for Amy Medley to make the Valley home.
“It’s such an amazing part of here,” Amy Medley said. “KB (third-year forward Kierra Blundell), (third-year forward) Sierra (Bergen), (third-year midfielder) Ella Kettles, (first-year fullback) Mya (Angus) are all people that I knew from back home. KB was also someone that I was looking forward to. It’s like getting better every day playing against her.”
Winkworth’s love for Canadian talent and connections within the northern nation led him to Amy Medley during her academy days, a decision that he’s now reaping the benefits from.
“I have a lot of contacts in Canada, and with the club that she’s come through (CF Montreal),” Winkworth said. “We’ve gone and watched them play a lot. They’ve got a lot of talented players up there, and a lot of the national team players that play for Canada come through that club and two others in particular, and we’ve got very good contacts with all those clubs. And as you can see, we’ve got quite a few Canadians because of it.”
Along with established pipelines within the country, Winkworth believes the Arizona heat aids in recruiting efforts, with many looking to escape frigid Canadian winters.
“I can’t speak for them, but I do think there’s quite a large population of Canadian people in the Valley, especially the snowbirds,” Winkworth said. “Just look around, it’s beautiful here, and this is, we’re in October, and you could be in short sleeves, and I’m in shorts, and the weather’s amazing, and it’s just a wonderful place to live; I think once they visit, they love it.”
As for Medley, she joined the Sun Devils because of the support system Winkworth created for international talent.
“Of course, coming from far away in Canada, you need to have good surroundings,” Medley said. “The coaches, Graham and (assistant coach) Ross (Alexander), all of them are really good support for us; they help us to be a better player every day and a better person.
“The players are amazing friends; like Mya, we knew each other from back home, so coming here and having her is really good.”
Angus is another who helped Medley along the way, as the two knew and competed with one another growing up in Canada.
“Me and Mya played against each other a lot of times, three years in a row,” Medley said.
These ties go back to Medley’s academy days, where she represented her local club, CF Montreal. During her time in the academy, the defender gained valuable experience she still keeps with her.
“Moving into the CF Montreal academy was a really big step. It’s really big in Quebec,” Medley said. “I think I took in a lot of experience on the field; I gained a lot of experience off the field too, like being more mature and knowing the game more.
“Usually in club, we don’t really look at film, so going to academy and looking at film a lot and mentally seeing what others are capable of and taking it out on the field was really nice.”
Though it was hard to leave her family behind, Medley departed Montreal early and enrolled at ASU in the Spring 2026 semester. Although it was hard at first, she eventually overcame the homesickness and settled in the desert, still calling her family daily.
“I’ll say that nowadays we have phones, so it’s easier to call and send a message. It takes two seconds to say, ‘Hey, how are you?’” Medley said. “Calling them every day is really fun for me to just know what they’re doing, and it’s like being with them.
“It was hard at the beginning. My dad left home when he was young, and he didn’t have phones. So now, having phones makes it easier to connect with them and be close to home.”
From the jump, Winkworth trusted Medley, thrusting the first-year defender into difficult positions during that first Spring semester.
“It’s a lot of growing up to do really quick, particularly when you’re 17 years of age, and I think it really helped her though because she was getting time straight away because we already trusted what she did from the spring semester,” Winkworth said. “I think that if she’d not done that, it might have put her in a more difficult position coming into the season. So I think it was a great decision on her part and really, really helped her settle quickly.”
Since arriving in January, Winkworth has praised Medley’s growth despite some stagnant moments during her inaugural campaign.
“She wasn’t quite ready in January. Had an incredible spring. Got herself into the perfect condition and had wonderful games,” Winkworth said. “She’s taken some time to get back into that sort of form this season. But now she’s playing really well and had what I thought was one of her best games this past week against Oklahoma State.”
With the sun setting on her opening season as a Sun Devil, Medley knows what it takes to become the best version of herself moving forward, with her family always in mind.
“They always told me, ‘no pain, no gain,’” Medley said. “My dad has that tattooed on his arm; it’s always been a quote that I bring with me every day, both on the pitch and off the pitch.”
