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PWHL Hamilton’s Emily Clark and the New York Sirens’ Jaime Bourbonnais have accomplished great things together on the ice. Both have emerged as stars in the PWHL over the last two years, trained for the Olympics together and claimed two IIHF World Championships as Team Canada teammates. So it comes as no surprise that they took the next step in their relationship off the ice.
Clark and Bourbonnais announced their engagement in an Instagram post showcasing the two longtime partners celebrating the moment.
“Forever and ever and ever,” Bourbonnais captioned the photos showing off Clark popping the question on a dock against a backdrop of evergreens and mountains in Kananaskis Country near Calgary, Alberta..
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“The joy of my life,” Clark wrote, ending her celebratory caption with a heart emoji.
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The moment was the next milestone in Clark and Bourbonnais’s relationship that began through hockey and flourished beyond the sport. The two initially met during a tournament in Germany and became close while training together in Montreal.
“We would slowly start going to the rink earlier and staying later to spend time together,” Clark said during an appearance with her fiancé on fellow out PWHL player Zoe Boyd’s No Straight Answers podcast last year.
“I would be in my car in the parking lot and she would be at my window for, like, an hour and a half after practice just chatting,” Bourbonnais added.
They began dating in 2021 during Team Canada’s Olympic training, but kept their relationship secret for the first few years, even from their teammates, though both describe themselves as not being sly at all about keeping their teammates in the dark.
“We didn’t want to be a distraction or be drama on the team. Dating a teammate, you want to handle it properly, be professional and keep those two things separate,” Clark said. “Our relationship wasn’t going to take precedent over all of that, so we wanted to keep it DL … but we weren’t very good at it,” Bourbonnais continued.
The couple went public with their relationship in 2024.
“I’m proud to be dating her and I want people to know about us,” Bourbonnais said. “Also, I want someone to be able to relate to us, too. My experience telling my family, going through those confusing emotions, I feel like it’s important for people to see that that’s normal. I didn’t know my whole life that I really liked girls and I still don’t really know what my label is, but you don’t need one.”
“I feel like there was part of me that was like, ‘I don’t want to be part of the stereotype,’ when I had to work through that and accept who I am and stuff. But, it’s like, who cares? It’s really not that serious, and I feel like Jaime has helped me blossom into who I really am,” Clark said. “I feel like there are so many people who are together in women’s hockey that have made us way more comfortable with it, too … for them to be so proud and vulnerable and lead the way for us, we’re obviously very appreciative, and we want to do our part and pull our weight, too.”
Outsports congratulates the happy couple on their engagement and for continuing to show that Courage is Contagious.
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