UPEI breast cancer awareness game carries special meaning for veteran player

It was much more than an early-season game for the UPEI women’s hockey team and their captain, Chloe McCabe.

The Panthers shut out the Moncton Blue Eagles 2-0 in their annual Hockey Fights Cancer game at MacLauchlan Arena on the UPEI campus in Charlottetown on Oct. 23. The Panthers wore specially-designed pink jerseys, which included the phrase “Together we will fight,” in the warm-up to raise awareness of breast cancer.

“Our team itself has been impacted a lot by this,” said Panthers forward and team captain Chloe McCabe of Charlottetown. “It’s really important.

“Our community in hockey is really big, and we can use that platform to support a cause that’s bigger than hockey itself and raise awareness and keep the conversation going.”

For McCabe, the game – and cause – hit close to home.

“My mother (Joan McCabe) was diagnosed last July (2025) and her identical twin (Jane Boulter) was actually diagnosed at the exact same time, which was really, really shocking and really scary,” said Chloe. “We had no genetic history of it either…

“They’re both very young; very active; love to work out; love to be moving; very healthy, healthy women.”

Chloe said one of the hardest things to deal with after learning of her mother and aunt’s diagnosis was all the unknowns.

“You don’t really know the end; you don’t know the prognosis; you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Chloe. “So, it’s kind of like you’re in a movie and you don’t know the end, but you don’t want to be part of the movie at all type of thing.”

Chloe said the opportunity to raise awareness for breast cancer is something the entire UPEI team and community takes seriously. Chloe noted the efforts of the student council in helping organize events around the game, which included a fund-raising baking sale. 

“It means a lot to us, and I think that we can use hockey to support something bigger and breast cancer,” said Chloe. “It has impacted so many women in our community and our nation. It’s a really, really important cause to support and raise awareness for.” 

Chloe said the biggest message Joan has for women, based on her experience, is to be proactive in getting checked and do not be shy to push for further testing if they feel it may be necessary.

“Just advocate for yourself,” reiterated Chloe. “That’s what she did.”

Chloe said, from watching her mom and aunt’s journey, it has been really tough to see the impact side effects of treatment can have.

“Seeing how much the treatment had impacted her and how tired she was all the time, it was really, really difficult to see,” said Chloe. “You can ask anyone, Joan and Scott McCabe were at every (UPEI women’s hockey) game; every home game; every away game, and she wasn’t able to make a lot of my games last year, which really hurt.

“Not only just not seeing her myself in the stands, but knowing how badly she wanted to be there and just couldn’t be there. It’s really hard to cope with, but seeing how strong and resilient they both were, really motivated me.”

But this story is headed to a positive conclusion as Joan is scheduled to finish treatments in a couple of months while Jane has completed treatment.

Another encouraging sign is Joan has also been able to attend a lot of UPEI games early in the 2026-27 season. And with Chloe leading the way – playing a relentless two-way hustling style – the nationally-ranked Panthers sit atop the AUS Women’s Hockey Conference standings undefeated at 4-0 (won-lost).

“They’re both looking up,” said Chloe about her mother and aunt. “They both had difficult experiences, but both of them are on the home stretch here.”

As a high-level university athlete, Chloe said watching the courageous battle put forth by Joan and Jane has inspired her.

“It kind of changed my outlook on life, just seeing how treatment’s not a short experience,” said Chloe. “It’s a long experience… The treatment has taken so much energy out of them, but they still wake up every day with a positive attitude.

“That really motivates me – really made me more resilient as a player on the ice, and you want to help them so badly.

“Whenever someone has cancer, especially, whenever it hits this close to home, you want to take this away from them and you can’t help them in any type of way.

“So, I think hockey motivated me and in a different sense, I was able to kind of take my anger out on the ice; try to play my best and support my mom and my aunt.”

Jason Simmonds is the sports editor at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.