It's Tuesday morning, and Gaby Gareau has a long 24 hours ahead of her. She kicks off the day with hockey practice from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by a lift session from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.—all fuelled by a quick breakfast consisting of either a banana, and if she is feeling fancy, some Greek yogurt. By 3 p.m., she's back on the ice, this time volunteering for Hockey 4 Youth, a foundation that teaches newcomer and sidelined youth how to skate. After that, Gareau finally heads home from the Mattamy Athletic Centre, ready for a long-awaited dinner.
But if you think her day ends there, think again. The fourth-year nursing student packs her bag and heads to St. Michael's Hospital for a 12-hour shift from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. As soon as her shift ends and she hands off her report, her life comes full circle—racing back to the MAC for an 8 a.m. practice on Wednesday morning.
This is just another day in the life of Gaby Gareau. Non-stop.
"It's psychotic behaviour, let me tell you," Gareau says with a big laugh. "My coach on a regular basis will tell me I do too much."
Gareau's "all-in" mentality started in her hometown of Ottawa, Ont. Growing up in a family of hockey fans—with her father holding season tickets and working for the Ottawa Senators alongside her mother—she was immersed in the world of hockey from a young age. She learned to skate on the Rideau Canal and in her backyard, where her father would turn it into a rink.
Eventually, she brought her love of the game to Toronto, playing at the junior level during Grades 11 and 12, which eventually led to her being recruited to play at TMU. She now wears number 11 in honour of Daniel Alfredsson.
"When I grew up, he was the captain of the Senators, so it was kind of a little memento back home," said Gareau.
Alongside hockey, Gareau always knew she wanted to work in healthcare. Originally admitted into biomedical sciences, she made the switch the summer before starting university to nursing.
"The TMU nursing program allows you to start your clinical placements from the first year," Gareau explained, appreciating the practical experience over the many theory-heavy classes in biomedical science. "With nursing, I could start from the get-go, get my foot in the door, get experience in the field, and then potentially apply to med school."
While she didn't expect to pursue nursing in the long run, she enjoys the many paths the degree allows—from medical school to a master's in nursing or even joining the military as a nursing officer.
Notorious for a heavy workload, it isn't easy to balance the demands of nursing, encompassing clinical placements and classes, alongside being a varsity athlete. For Gareau, the hardest part about this balancing act is the fatigue and mental aspect.
"Physically speaking, I'm a no-quit person," said Gareau. "I will never let a bit of soreness get in the way of doing whatever."
Deeply involved in both athletics and her department, she often finds it hard to set boundaries. With so many commitments and goals she wants to accomplish, Gareau has a tendency to spread herself thin, pushing through on sheer determination. For her, the hardest part is the lack of sleep. She refuses to miss hockey unless absolutely necessary and will choose to power through on just a few hours of rest if it means being able to fulfill all of her commitments. That no-quit mindset is what drives her, but it's also what makes balance difficult. Although it can be mentally challenging, her stubborn dedication is ultimately what defines her approach to both school and sport.
Beyond the rink and classroom, Gareau channels that mindset into supporting others as both an academic mentor and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). Now in her second year as an academic mentor, she plays a key role in helping first-year student-athletes adjust to university life. Each fall, mentors are paired with incoming students and meet with them weekly to ensure they are on the right track and to offer guidance and support. Gareau also helps monitor mandatory study hall hours, another resource put in place to help first-years stay accountable as they adjust to the demands of being both students and athletes.
"A lot of first-year student-athletes do have quite a hard time adjusting," said Gareau. "Because obviously university from high school is already quite the adjustment itself, but on top of that, throw in sports."
Her leadership continues as part of the SAAC committee—serving as its lead—Gareau helps organize initiatives aimed at enhancing the overall student-athlete experience at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She runs the SAAC TMU Instagram page, tracks Bold Points—a system in place to encourage athletes to support each other at games—and helps plan workshops, outreach events like Motionball and Hockey 4 Youth, as well as organizing a planned blood drive through Hockey Gives Blood.
Gareau's involvement with Hockey Gives Blood began with a personal decision that quickly turned into a larger commitment. The organization was created by hockey players in the wake of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash to raise awareness about the critical need for blood donations across Canada. After taking part in a summer challenge two summers ago, where it encouraged athletes to do something outside their comfort zone, Gareau donated blood for the first time.
"I had never donated blood, but I've always been inclined to do it," said Gareau. "I did it for the first time in the summer, and I found out I was O-negative, so I'm a universal donor, meaning anybody can take my blood. So it is very important for me to go do it on a regular basis."
Wanting to do more, she reached out to become TMU's Hockey Gives Blood ambassador, got the approval, and is now championing people to get involved and donate blood.
"Since then, I've registered 50 people to the stem cell registry kit to help with cancer patients who need stem cell transplants," said Gareau.
Gareau continues to work to grow the initiative within the TMU athletics community. She has organized multiple blood drives, including one in April 2025 that brought out 20 athletes and staff members. This past Fall 2025 semester, she helped run the program's biggest donation event yet, with participants from almost every varsity team coming out to donate. By encouraging teammates and friends to come out together, she hopes to make the experience less intimidating and show people that blood donation is really not that scary. Working in the nursing field, she knows how important blood donation is and how life-changing it can be.
Gareau uses her athletic platform and connects it to being in nursing, as she believes both roles tie together. She combines those two worlds to help others. Working on an oncology floor during her second year gave her firsthand experience with how critical donations can be. Watching patients rely on transfusions and transplants made the cause personal. Being both a nurse and an athlete has allowed her to bridge the gap between awareness and action.
Her teammate and second-year nursing student, Kalysta Song, echoes this connection between hockey and nursing.
"There are always days that are tougher than others, both on the ice and at school," said Song. "Hockey has taught me discipline and control, and nursing has shown me awareness and leadership skills, all of which have helped me in everything I do."
Looking past scheduled obligations, a question remains: What does Gareau do for fun?
"My favourite thing ever is intramurals," said Gareau with excitement. "If you can join an intramural team for anything, it is so fun. I've been on a dodgeball team for three years now, and it is genuinely so fun."
Gareau has been part of a dodgeball team and, in the past, an intramural volleyball team with close friends. Those nights became non-negotiable breaks from the stress of school, placements, and hockey.
Being around people she cares about is also a huge part of how she stays grounded. Her teammates, especially, have become her main source of balance.
"I like to spend time with my teammates a lot," said Gareau. "We make a joke that I am Kerrin Kerr, Neely Van Volsen, and Shannon Harris's fourth roommate. It's this ongoing joke that I practically live there now."
Song reinforces the importance of that support system.
"It is also important for me to have family and friends around who can support me when things start getting stressful or when I just need someone to talk to," said Song. "This really helps me let go of frustrations and allows me to refocus."
For Gareau, it's her teammates and the supporting community around her that make the rough days easier and help her push through when things get challenging.
Over the years, Gareau's relationship with hockey has evolved along with her role on the team. What simply started as adjusting to university sport has grown into having a much bigger role on the team. The more a player grows on a team and the more you develop within it, the more Gareau was able to learn.
"I'm somebody that works extremely hard," said Gareau. "It's very annoying for some of my teammates sometimes in practice. I'm a very no-quit, no-losing type of person, so I like to leave it all out there on the ice. I've come to love the sport."
With reality setting in, she knows the end of her competitive career may come sooner than she wants.
"I don't know when I'm going to have to tie up the skates," said Gareau. "If university is going to be the last stop for me, I want to leave it all out there on the ice."
However, with the emergence of professional opportunities for women's hockey, it has changed how she views the future. Whether she pursues a master's degree, gets an opportunity to work and grow in hockey, or eventually steps away from it, the sport has shaped her in ways that will last long after her final game.
Looking back on her journey, Gareau hopes her story encourages others to be involved. For her, building connections across the entire athletics community has always been important. She makes an active effort to reach out to everyone when there is an event—from varsity clubs to varsity teams and athletics staff—with the goal of getting everyone involved.
Her message is simple: show up for one another.
"Be involved, branch out—there's so much more to university than just your team," Gareau emphasizes, speaking to all student-athletes.
Whether through mentorship, SAAC, blood drives, or simply attending another team's game, Gareau hopes athletes understand the power they have to support one another. For her, that sense of connection is what has made her university experience unforgettable and what she hopes will define the culture she leaves behind.
