Maria Dennis is Senior Director of Player Health and Safety & Senior Counsel at the National HockeyLeague Players’ Association (NHLPA), based in Toronto, Ontario. A graduate of Yale University andGeorgetown University Law Center, her legal practice at the NHLPA encompasses a wide array of healthand safety issues (mental health initiatives, concussion management, performance enhancing drugtesting, supplemental discipline, wearable technology, etc.). She also serves as Chair of the NHL/NHLPA Female Hockey Advisory Committee, which was created in 2019 to increase the participation of girls and women in the sport of hockey and ensure that girls and women experience all the opportunities and benefits the sport provides.

Maria started playing hockey with the boys at the age of 6 in Connecticut. While at Yale, she set
numerous scoring awards including All Time Points Leader for both the Men’s and Women’s Varsity Hockey programs, a record which was recently broken (36 years later) by Elle Hartje. While at Georgetown Law, Maria had the honor of winning a Silver Medal as a member of the US Women’s National Team at the inaugural IIHF Women’s World Championship (1990) in Ottawa. While in law school, Maria played on the men’s team at Georgetown University and was the only woman in the Southeast Collegiate Division at the time.

Maria is a staunch advocate for athletes’ rights, having served as an athlete representative on the boards of USA Hockey and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, as well as the Salt Lake Olympic Management Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics.