Vicky Sunohara (born May 18, 1970) is a Canadian ice hockey coach, former ice hockey player, and three-time Olympic medallist. She has been described as "the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey" and is recognized as a trailblazer and pioneer for the sport. In 2020, Sunohara was named to "TSN Hockey’s All-Time Women’s Team Canada," in recognition of her status as one of Canada’s best female hockey players of all time. She was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.
Sunohara is currently the head coach of the Varsity Blues women's ice hockey team of the University of Toronto. She was nationally recognized in 2019–20 and 2021-22 as the U Sports Women's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year and was named the 2019–20 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Female Coach of the Year across all sports.
Sunohara began to play hockey as a small child. Her late father, David Sunohara, was a hockey enthusiast who played college ice hockey with the Ryerson Rams.
Sunohara's father built a backyard rink in the winters and introduced his daughter to skating at the age of two and a half. "My mother said that from the minute my father introduced me to hockey, I wouldn't do anything else," Sunohara commented, "I just loved it."
She began playing organized hockey on a boys team at age 5, but was eventually banned from the boys' leagues due to her gender.
Sunohara attended Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, a suburban district of Toronto, where she was a standout on the women's ice hockey, field hockey, soccer, and flag football teams.
Following high school, Sunohara received a full athletic scholarship to Northeastern University in Boston, where she played two seasons with the Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey program in the ECAC Hockey conference of the NCAA Division I. In her freshman season, she led the Huskies in scoring as they claimed the 1989 ECAC Hockey conference championship title and was recognized as the ECAC Rookie of the Year. In the 1989–90 season, she led the team in scoring again and was named to the NCAA All-American team. Across 45 games with Northeastern, she scored 122 points (78 goals and 44 assists).
Sunohara also played hockey for the University of Toronto, where her team won the Ontario University Athletics women's ice hockey championships in 1990–91 and 1991–92. She was named the OUA women's ice hockey Rookie of the Year in 1990–91.
Sunohara also played in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League with the Scarborough Firefighters (1990–1994), Toronto Red Wings (1994–1996), and the Newtonbrook Panthers (1996–97).
In 1995-96, she was a goal-a-game player with the Toronto Red Wings when she scored 28 goals in 25 games. She finished sixth in the scoring race with 44 points. In March 1996, she played at her first National Championships in Moncton when she was picked up on loan by the North York Aeros. The Aeros lost the Canadian Final 3-2 in overtime to Hockey Québec.
In 1996-97, she scored a career-best 42 goals in 29 games with the Newtonbrook Panthers and finished third in the league scoring race with 70 points. In March 1997, she was again picked up on loan by the Aeros to participate at the National Championships. This time, the Aeros finished in third place
She was named the top forward of the tournament in 2005 and her team, the Brampton Thunder, won the national title in 2006.
At Hockey Canada's 2006 National Championships, she helped Brampton capture their first Abby Hoffman Cup after a 2-1 win over the Montréal Axion. Sunohara scored the 2-1 winner late in the second period.
In 2006-07, she captained Brampton to their first NWHL Cup in the playoffs. The Thunder won 4-0 over the Montréal Axion in the playoff final.
Sunohara won an Olympic silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She continued with an Olympic gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, and another gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Besides the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics, Sunohara represented Canada in numerous international ice hockey competitions. She won seven gold medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships, the first one coming in 1990. In total, she won 15 gold medals and 3 silver medals as a member of Canada's national team.
Sunohara excelled for Team Canada in major tournaments. She had 13 points in 16 games during three Olympics, and 41 points in 40 games during eight World Championships. Sunohara finished her career with Team Canada with 119 points (56 goals and 62 assists) in 164 games. As of 2020, she continued to rank in Canada's all-time top ten for games played, goals, and points.
Sunohara was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.