P
rimerano was nine years old when, at a workshop with her soccer team, she filled out a form detailing where she wanted to be in 10 years, at the age of 19.
“I would go to the Olympics for hockey and swimming,” Primerano wrote. “I would play in the FIFA world cup 2026. I would have a lot of money from all of my sports. I would be the first girl to go in the NFL and I would play for the Arizona Cardnals [sic].”
Primerano laughs recalling what she wrote down that day. “I guess I thought I was going pro in everything,” she says, before joking that she’ll give Canada’s most decorated swimmer ever, Summer McIntosh, “a run for her money” at the next Summer Games. Her nine-year-old self did potentially get some of the timing right, though: When the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games open, Primerano will be 19, just like she forecasted.
Primerano started playing hockey four years before she wrote down those dreams. She was always a defender, first in a girls’ league, though that lasted only a few months, partly because the boys’ league played out of a rink closer to her family’s home. She got cut from an atom A1 boys’ team when she was nine. “She did not like that,” her dad, Joe, says now, with a laugh. He recalls telling his daughter about the likely realities of being the only girl trying out. “You’ve got to do your best to not be on the bubble if you want to make this team,” he said. “Nine times out of 10, they’re not gonna take the girl over the boy if you’re at a similar skill level. So, you better be prepared for that.”