Hannah Miller (ice hockey)

Hannah Miller
Miller with PWHL Toronto in 2024
Born (1996-02-16) February 16, 1996
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb; 12 st 11 lb)
Position Forward
Shoots Left
PWHL team
Former teams
PWHL Vancouver
Playing career 2014–present
Mi Le
Traditional Chinese米勒
Simplified Chinese米勒
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMǐ Lēi
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMáih Lahk

Hannah Miller (born February 16, 1996), also known by the Chinese name Mi Le (Chinese: 米勒; pinyin: Mǐ Lè),[1] is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for PWHL Vancouver of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

She has previously played for the Chinese national ice hockey team and represented China in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.[2]

Playing career

Miller played ice hockey in the Junior Women's Hockey League (JWHL) with the under-18 prep team of the Okanagan Hockey Academy, based in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, from 2012 to 2014.

College

Miller played college ice hockey with the St. Lawrence Saints women's ice hockey program in the ECAC Hockey conference of the NCAA Division I from the 2014–15 season to the 2017–18 season.[3] As a junior in the 2016–17 season, she ranked sixth in the country with 0.92 assists per game and eleventh nationally with 1.33 points per game, tallying 15 goals and 33 assists for 48 points in 36 games, and was recognized as the ECAC Player of the Month on 2 February.[4] She was selected as team captain for the 2017–18 season via player vote and, in her senior season, was the ECAC Player of the Week for October 11.[5] Miller was named to the Second-Team All-ECAC Hockey in 2016–17 and 2017–18 and earned ECAC Hockey All-Academic honors in 2017–18.

Professional

After reaching out and expressing interest in playing with the China-based Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) team, Miller was drafted in the third round, fifteenth overall in the 2018 CWHL Draft by the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays.[6][7] She signed with the team for the 2018–19 CWHL season and finished her first professional ice hockey season tied with Emma Woods for second on the team with 10 goals and ranked fifth with 15 points in 20 games.

Following the collapse of the CWHL in 2019, Miller remained with the KRS Vanke Rays as they became the first non-Russian team to join the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). In the 2019–20 ZhHL season, she scored 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points in 24 games, ranking second on the team for goals and fourth for assists, and won the 2020 Russian Championship.[8]

Miller was drafted in the 13th round, 74th overall, by PWHL Toronto in the 2023 PWHL draft.[9] She signed a one-year contract in November 2023.[10] During the 2023–24 season, she recorded seven goals and seven assists in 23 regular season games and one goal and two assists in five games during the Walter Cup. On June 21, 2024, she signed a one-year contract extension with Toronto.[11] During the 2024–25 season, she recorded ten goals and 14 assists in 29 regular season games for the Sceptres. On June 16, 2025, she signed a three-year contract with PWHL Vancouver.[12]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Women's ice hockey
World U18 Championship
2014 Hungary
2013 Finland

As a junior player with the Canadian national under-18 team, Miller participated in the IIHF Women's U18 World Championships in 2013 and 2014, winning a gold medal at both. At the 2013 tournament, she represented Canada alongside future Chinese national team teammate Kimberly Newell on a roster that also included future Canadian senior national team players Emily Clark, Sarah Nurse, and Sarah Potomak, among others.

Miller was officially named to the Chinese women's national team roster for the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics on 28 January 2022. The circumstances surrounding her eligibility to play for the team were not made public, though questions were raised during the tournament regarding her continued Canadian citizenship (Chinese dual citizenship is not possible) and lack of Chinese ancestry.[13] She scored China's first goal of the tournament, in the opening game of the preliminary round against the Czech Republic.[14]

On March 21, 2025, Miller was named to the roster for Canada women's national ice hockey team for the 2025 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships a year after China removed all players from their roster with dual passports.[15]

On March 31, 2025, Miller was deemed ineligible to play for Canada at the Women's World Championships by the IIHF, citing a by-law that players must not have been under contract to a club in another country for 730 days before changing which country they represent internationally. She was replaced by Sceptres teammate Julia Gosling.[16][17]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 Okanagan HA JWHL 28 21 9 30 26
2013–14 Okanagan HA JWHL 28 13 10 23 46
2014–15 St. Lawrence Saints NCAA 20 4 7 11 8
2015–16 St. Lawrence Saints NCAA 36 11 14 25 23
2016–17 St. Lawrence Saints NCAA 36 15 33 48 30
2017–18 St. Lawrence Saints NCAA 32 13 26 39 36
2018–19 KRS Vanke Rays CWHL 21 10 5 15 16
2019–20 KRS Vanke Rays ZhHL 24 12 13 25 8 5 2 1 3 4
2020–21 KRS Vanke Rays ZhHL 28 17 19 36 28 2 2 2 4 0
2021–22 Djurgårdens IF SDHL 25 12 7 19 20
2021–22 Shenzhen KRS ZhHL 10 1 5 6 6 5 2 0 2 8
2022–23 Shenzhen KRS ZhHL 32 25 23 48 56 2 1 2 3 4
2023–24 PWHL Toronto PWHL 23 7 7 14 8 5 1 2 3 0
2024–25 Toronto Sceptres PWHL 29 10 14 24 8 4 1 2 3 0
PWHL totals 52 17 21 38 16 9 2 4 6 0

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2013 Canada U18 5 1 2 3 6
2014 Canada U18 5 1 2 3 4
2022 China OG 9th 4 1 0 1 2
2022 China WC D1B 1st 5 6 6 12 2
Junior totals 10 2 4 6 10
Senior totals 9 7 6 13 4

References

  1. ^ "Rays ready for Beijing bow". HC Red Star. January 29, 2022. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  2. ^ "Beijing 2022 – Athletes: Le MI". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  3. ^ "Women's Ice Hockey 2017-18 Roster: 10 Hannah Miller". St. Lawrence University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  4. ^ Krajewski, Ed (February 2, 2017). "League's Monthly Awards Presented to Miller & Neatby" (PDF). ECAC Hockey (Press release). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "Miller Named Saints Captain, Edney is Assistant Captain". ECAC Hockey (Press release). June 15, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  6. ^ Whelan, Kirsten (August 30, 2018). "CWHL Draft in Review: Worcester, Toronto, and Markham". The Victory Press. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Whelan, Kirsten (September 3, 2018). "CWHL Draft in Review: Calgary, Shenzhen, and Montreal". The Victory Press. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  8. ^ Potts, Andy (January 28, 2022). "Chinese women target QF". International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  9. ^ Ganter, Mike (December 20, 2023). "PWHL: Distance is no object when it comes to Hannah Miller and the game she loves". Toronto Sun. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  10. ^ Kennedy, Ian (November 15, 2023). "Montreal Signs Free Agent Invite Sarah Bujold, Miller Signs In Toronto". The Hockey News. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  11. ^ Kennedy, Ian (June 21, 2024). "PWHL Toronto Brings Back Hannah Miller On One-Year Deal". The Hockey News. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  12. ^ "Hannah Miller signs three-year deal with hometown PWHL Vancouver". thepwhl.com. June 16, 2025. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  13. ^ Baptista, Eduardo; Keating, Steve (February 5, 2022). "Ice hockey-Chinese divided over imports on ice". Reuters. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  14. ^ Murphy, Mike (February 3, 2022). "Hannah Miller scores first Olympic goal for China in 12 years". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  15. ^ "Hockey Canada announces Women's World Championship roster". Sportsnet.ca. March 21, 2025. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  16. ^ "Hannah Miller to miss 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship". www.hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
  17. ^ "Toronto Sceptres forward Hannah Miller ruled ineligible to play for Canada at IIHF worlds". TSN. The Canadian Press. March 31, 2025. Retrieved April 1, 2025.