This season saw the retirement of three established players with Canada’s senior women’s team, and they were honoured during the first intermission of Canada’s U18 game in St. Catharines against the Czechs the other night.

Jayne Hefford, Gillian Apps, and Catherine Ward all enjoyed distinguished careers internationally, and Hefford and Apps were on hand for the ceremony (Ward was in Sweden on hockey business and was unable to attend).

Hefford’s career is one of monumental stature. From 1997 to 2014, she won four Olympic gold and one Olympic silver. She is one of only a few players to have competed in the first five Olympics for women’s hockey.

Additionally, the 38-year-old Hefford played in 12 Women’s World Championships, winning seven gold and five silver. No one has played in more tournaments. Hefford holds the record for most points in one Olympics game (6, tied with Cherie Piper), and only one player has appeared in more WW than her 60 games (63, Karoliina Rantamaki). Hefford’s 40 career WW goals is also second only to Cammi Granato’s 44, and only longtime teammate Hayley Wickenheiser (85) has more career WW points than her 83.

The 32-year-old Apps, like Hefford, holds the Olympic record with four gold medals and five total medals. From 2004 to 2014 she was a power forward without compare. She has three WW gold and five silver to her credit, and in 55 combined Olympic/WW games played she had 26 goals and 66 points.

At 28, Ward is the youngest to retire. The defenceman played her first event in 2009 at the Women’s Worlds and won two Olympic gold, in 2010 and 2014. She won gold at the 2012 WW and silver three times (2009, 2011, 2013). Ward’s early retirement came as a result of a job opportunity to work with CCM as an assistant product manager for hockey sticks. It’s a position well suited to her education. She earned a business degree from McGill and Boston University.