Lancer women’s hockey player Maggie Mitani was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last summer, just days after returning to her home in Winnipeg. Despite this, she managed to make a full recovery, and returned to play this season without missing a game.

In a profile by Connor Sykes published on the Lancer website, Mitani, a student of behaviour, cognition, and neuroscience, credits her support system of family, friends, and teammates for helping her through the recovery process with their words of encouragement and bowls of French onion soup.

Another driving force in her pursuit to get better was returning to the sport she loves.

“Hockey as a whole I think is what keeps everybody fighting,” says Mitani. “That’s why we come here every day, that’s why we work as hard as we do. Knowing that you’re going to come back and be healthy and stronger than you were when you went into this is what really keeps you going throughout the whole thing.”

Rejoining the Lancers for the 2023-24 season, she played in 29 games and led all Windsor defenders with four goals.

Read the full story, “Maggie Mitani: Skating Through Adversity,” at goLancers.ca.