Emma Greco

Emma Greco
Greco with the Boston Fleet in 2025
Born (1995-03-06) March 6, 1995 (age 29)
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb)
Position Defence
Shoots Left
PWHL team
Former teams		 Boston Fleet
PWHL Minnesota
Toronto Six
PWHPA
Toronto Furies
Connecticut Whale
Quinnipiac Bobcats
Playing career 2013–present

Emma Greco (born March 6, 1995) is a Canadian ice hockey defenceman for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). Greco has been described as a reliable stay-at-home defenceman.[1]

Playing career

Greco began playing hockey at the age of five, her parents encouraging her to play the sport instead of figure skating.[2] She attended Aldershot School where she played varsity field hockey, soccer, ice hockey, and badminton in addition to playing basketball, volleyball, and softball throughout her high school career.[3] During the later three years of high school, she also played ice hockey with the Toronto Jr. Aeros of the Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL), serving as team captain in her final year. As a senior, Greco was named the 2013 Aldershot Female Athlete of the Year and the City of Burlington's High School Female Athlete of the Year.[4]

NCAA

From 2013 to 2017, she played with the Quinnipiac Bobcats women's ice hockey program in the ECAC Hockey conference of the NCAA Division I, scoring 25 points in 144 games. She scored her first collegiate career goal in February of her third year, the game-winning goal in a 4–0 victory over Rensselaer. That year, she would be named to the ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team, leading her team in blocked shots.[5]

Professional

After graduating, she signed her first professional contract with the Connecticut Whale of the PHF. She picked up two assists in six games during the 2017–18 season with the Whale. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, she left the Whale to return to Canada and sign with the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

After the collapse of the CWHL in May 2019, she joined the newly-formed Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), and spent the 2019–20 season playing with the organisation's Greater Toronto Area (GTA) West hub. She played for Team Knox at the Unifor Showcase in September 2019 and participated in the PWHPA's Equal Sweat Deserves Equal Opportunity rally in Toronto in January 2020.[6]

She returned to the PHF ahead of the 2020–21 NWHL season, signing with the expansion Toronto Six and was one of the first five players to be announced for the team.[7] The leadership for the inaugural season included Greco, who served as one of the alternate captains with Emma Woods, while Shiann Darkangelo appointed as the first team captain in franchise history.[8] Competing in the Six’s first-ever game, a January 23, 2021 affair at Lake Placid’s Herb Brooks Arena versus the Metropolitan Riveters, Greco would be called for interference at the 3:01 mark of the first period, recording the first penalty in franchise history.[9]

During the 2023–24 season she played for PWHL Minnesota where she won the inaugural Walter Cup. On July 9, 2024, she signed a one-year contract with PWHL Boston.[10]

Personal life

Greco has a bachelor's degree in business and marketing from Quinnipiac University. While pursuing her MBA at Qunnipiac, she played with the Quinnipiac Bobcats women's soccer team for the 2017 season, appearing in 15 games, including 14 starts.[11][12]

She has been in a relationship with her former Toronto Six and PWHL Minnesota teammate Michela Cava since October 2022.[13]

References

  1. ^ Levine, Justin (April 23, 2020). "Toronto Expansion Team Binding As Tensions Boil In Women's Pro Hockey". The Puck Authority. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. ^ "Ricoh Change Makers Series: Emma Greco – Competing for Change". Ricoh. June 25, 2020. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  3. ^ "2017 Women's Soccer Roster: #17 Emma Greco". Quinnipiac University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  4. ^ Carter Smith, Cecelia (January 17, 2014). "Intense duo find a fit at American school". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Archived from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  5. ^ "2016-17 Women's Ice Hockey Roster: #25 Emma Greco". Quinnipiac University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Dixon, Nick (January 4, 2020). "Former professional female hockey players are now pushing for a new league of their own". CTV News. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Burgess, Melissa (April 22, 2020). "NWHL Expands to Toronto - For Real This Time, We Think". The Victory Press. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "TORONTO SIX ANNOUNCE TEAM LEADERSHIP FOR 2021 SEASON". toronto.nwhl.zone. January 14, 2021. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  9. ^ "Away Toronto vs Home Riveters Jan 23, 2021 at 1:00pm EST: Herb Brooks Arena - 0 – 3 FINAL". nwhl.zone. January 23, 2021. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  10. ^ Kennedy, Ian (July 9, 2024). "Emma Greco Leaves PWHL Champs, Signs In Boston". The Hockey News. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  11. ^ "Emma Greco Set to Join QU Women's Soccer for 2017 Season". ECAC Hockey. July 13, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  12. ^ Chichester, Ryan (September 12, 2017). "Why not both?". The Quinnipiac Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  13. ^ de la Cretaz, Frankie (February 14, 2024). "The Teammates-to-Dating Pipeline in Women's Sports Is Very Real—And Very Cute". SELF. Retrieved November 24, 2024.