Samantha Cogan

Samantha "Sam" Cogan (born July 7, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey player, currently playing forward for the PWHL Toronto in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She played college ice hockey in the NCAA Division I for the Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WHCA) and won a national title with the team.

Playing career
Cogan first started playing hockey at six years old. Her father was initially apprehensive about her playing hockey but her mother and friends convinced him to let her play the sport. She shoots left.

Junior
Cogan began her junior career in the Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL or Provincial WHL; renamed Ontario Women's Hockey League in 2023) playing for the Nepean Wildcats in her home city of Ottawa, Ontario. She spent four seasons with the team, from 2011 to 2015, and in her final season was named alternate captain and helped lead the team to their first regular season championship. Cogan was the team's leading scorer in her second season and was a top-three point and goal scorer during her other three seasons.

NCAA
Cogan's time in the NCAA Division I was spent representing the Wisconsin Badgers in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WHCA) from 2015 to 2019, as she majored in physical education. In her rookie season, Cogan led her rookie teammates in goals, assists, and points. She was also the runner up in the same three categories across all WHCA freshmen. Cogan's standout rookie season secured her a spot on the 20015–16 WHCA All-Rookie Team and awarded her WHCA Rookie of the Month twice in 2015–16, and WHCA Rookie of the Week on three occasions in 2015–16. She was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week once in 2018, and to the 2017–18 WCHA All-Academic Team.

In her senior year, Cogan helped lead the team to the 2019 NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey tournament national championship. She recorded 100 career points, joining only 25 other Badgers in obtaining that achievement.

Professional
Cogan joined the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in 2020 and played for Calgary-based Team Scotiabank until 2022, at which time she switched teams and spent the 2022–23 season with Toronto-based Team Sonnet. In her first season with Team Scotiabank, Cogan was selected as a PWHPA All-Star, and her second season with the team was victorious, making Team Scotiabank PWHPA Champions. In 2023, the Professional Women's Hockey League announced its inaugural season. Cogan was noted as a player to watch ahead of the 2023 PWHL Draft but, to her own surprise, was not selected during the draft. She was invited to PWHL Toronto's preseason training camp and signed with the team as a free agent.

On March 2, 2024, she scored her first PWHL goal against her hometown team in a 5–2 PWHL Toronto win over PWHL Ottawa.

International play
As a junior player with the Canadian national under-18 ice hockey team, Cogan participated in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships in 2014 and 2015, winning gold and silver medals, respectively. Her performance in the 2014 championship awarded her an opportunity to be a part of the Canadian National Team Fall Festival.

Personal life
Cogan was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Don and Heather Cogan, and is Jewish. She has a sister, Casey, and a brother, Tyler. She attended Glebe Collegiate Institute for high school, where she was on the honor roll for three years.

She served as an assistant coach to the Calgary Dinos women's ice hockey program during the 2021–22 season of U Sports women's ice hockey. The Dinos coaching team in that season was led by head coach Carla MacLeod and Kelty Apperson was an assistant coach alongside Cogan.

Cogan resided in Calgary during 2020 to 2023.