'This is our Em, and she's on the Olympic team!' Maschmeyer family reacts to Emerance in Beijing

Ever since she was young, Arlen and Christine Maschmeyer have had the same game day routine with their daughter, Emerance.

"Three hours before, I send these texts that we've done since she was young. It's just a ritual where I say what I say, and then she says something, and I say something back," said Christine Maschmeyer, Emerance's mom. 

The Bruderheim goaltender is currently in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Olympics representing Team Canada on the women's hockey team. 

"This morning, I had to be up for 2:30 in the morning to start this ritual." 

Emerance's first experience at the rink was when she was just three-days-old. Her older siblings, including her sister Brittany, were into hockey, meaning baby Emerance tagged along to the rink with mom and dad.  
 
Once she had her own pair of skates, Arlan said there was no question she would be a hockey player. She didn't start out as a goaltender -- in fact, she was scoring on the net quite regularly.

However, the Maschmeyer family felt they needed a goaltender in their roster. 

"I don't think she was too solid about it at first, but then she grew to love the game in the net, so that's kind of how she all got going," said Arlan. 

Emerance has always been very dedicated and focused. According to Christine, at the age of 12, she chose Harvard University as her future post-secondary option and would not budge on the idea. She added that they give her all the credit for accomplishing her goal, as she graduated with top marks. 

"She was All-American four years in a row, and you know, going down to U.S. schools, you kind of don't know what you're getting into until you get into it. But she's just dedicated, she's a goalie, and she's smart, she's an external-internal thinker," Arlan continued. 

Maschmeyer played at Harvard University where she finished as the all-time leader in saves.

As she was picked to be part of the taxi squad for the Pyeongchang Olympics, mom and dad weren't surprised to see her make the team going into Beijing. While they're disappointed that they couldn't go watch her in person, seeing her play on TV has been "surreal." 

"This is our Em, and she's on the Olympic team! It's just fantastic, we know the hard work she put through to get here, and we're just so proud of her. I mean, it's wonderful to watch her out there on TV," Christine added. 

The parents of all the players have been keeping in touch through group chats online; Christine adding it helps make it feel like everyone's part of the team. There have been watch parties held over Zoom with the families.  

Emerance is also joined at the Olympics with her teammate from 17 years ago, Matt Tomkins. At age nine, she and Tomkins played goal for their team at the Brick Hockey Tournament at West Edmonton Mall. 

"Matt and Em were the goaltending tandem for Team Brick back then, and so the two of them, the tandem, both made the Olympic team which is kind of cool," said Arlan. 

Team Canada crushed Switzerland 10-3 Sunday (Feb.13) night to move on to the gold medal game. Emerance did not see any ice time, however, during Friday's game against Switzerland, she posted an 11-save shutout in her second start of the tournament. 

Canada will play the United States for the gold medal Wednesday at 9:10 p.m.