“The forward, who grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia, after her family immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands, joined the Princeton Tigers in 2021-22. She posted five points through seven games, a promising start, until a shoulder injury eventually became too much to push through. 

“I came in right away and within the first month tore my labrum in my shoulder, so I was just trying to play through it, and then at a certain point it just really wasn’t do-able anymore,” said Paul about her freshman season to APX Hockey reporter Sydney Wolf. That injury ended up requiring surgery in January of 2022. 

What she unfortunately didn’t know was that the shoulder surgery would be one of the least of her worries over the next calendar year.

“Looking back, the shoulder surgery was actually quite a smooth process but I didn’t quite know that at the time because just a couple months later in that same year I actually had a very serious knee surgery and then took a gap year,” she added. 

Paul had a surgery on her knee to try and save her sophomore season in September of 2022, but that ended up not quite fixing things, so she had to have another surgery in December of that same year. Because there wasn’t any hope that she would be able to play in that season, she decided to go back home and take a gap year to focus on rehabbing that injury instead of being on campus and not be able to participate in anything, considering that she couldn’t even walk or drive for an extended amount of time. 

Being off the ice for seven to nine months was incredibly tough. In addition to that, things were hard mentally while being at home in the cold, dark winter while being away from friends that were out at school and Paul couldn’t even drive or walk around for such a long amount of time. She didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her talent in hockey though, she kept on track with her rehab and was able to eventually get back on the ice for what would’ve been her third season with the Tigers. 

In 2023-24, Paul put up incredible numbers for someone who had to go through three surgeries in one year not too long ago. She wound up scoring 16 goals and 23 total points for Princeton, which was the fourth-most points on the entire roster and the second-most goals (only second to now PWHL star Sarah Fillier). 

“My first season back, physically I was sure I was okay to play but I wasn’t really actually quite there and mentally it was so different, I thought I felt good off the ice and in practice but then things in-game are entirely different,” she said about her first full season of collegiate hockey. “It’s crazy, they tell you it’ll be about a year or 15 months (to get back to normal after knee surgery) but it’s been two and a half years out and I’m just now finally considering myself ‘normal’.”

Paul then proceeded to put up incredible numbers this past year in 2024-25. She didn’t lead the Tigers in overall scoring but she did lead the team in goals, 28, which was the fourth-most out of anyone in the entire nation. Incredibly, those 28 goals were scored in 9, 10 and 11 games less than the only athletes who scored more goals than her in 2024-25, so she could’ve easily led the nation in goal-scoring with just a handful of more games played. Again, this is an athlete who had missed out on essentially two full seasons of hockey while going through extensive injury rehab. 

Although her numbers easily jump off the page now, Paul doesn’t think that she’s reached the final level of her game just yet. She says that she’s got plenty more to show over the next two seasons. 

“I wouldn’t reflect on my last season and say that I was at the top of my game, I definitely feel and know and trust that I have a lot more (to give and to show) and it is so exciting this offseason with how good I’ve been feeling - knock on wood,” she said. “This offseason is totally not even comparable with the last two.” 

Paul decided to enter the transfer portal this past spring to look for a new opportunity. She only had positive things to say about her time at Princeton in her interview with APX but she decided that she wanted to try something new for 2025-26. 

“If I”m going to give up the Ivy League degree for hockey I’m gonna go all in with it and give myself the best opportunity to reach my goals and chase my dreams and stuff, so for me it was totally a hockey decision,” said Paul, who had a few ideas of where she would want to go when she originally entered the portal. “I want to practice against the top players and get beat in practice more often and get to develop even more … I wanted to go where the best hockey is being played and for me Minnesota is that.”

Paul officially announced her commitment to the Gophers on April 18, 2025, by saying that she had ‘landed in the state of hockey’ on her Instagram page.

"Sarah is an elite goal scorer with a big shot," said Gophers head coach Brad Frost in a press release from the university. "She can shoot it from distance and we are excited to see what she will bring to our program. Sarah is passionate about the game and ready for the challenge of the WCHA.”

Paul joins two other transfers to the Minnesota roster this fall in Jamie Nelson (previously of Minnesota State) and Molly Jordan (previously of Boston College). There will be seven total incoming freshmen to the roster as well in 2025-26 in Sydney Bailey, Olivia Kortan, Sienna D’Alessandro, Avery Hovland, Tereza Plosova, Layla Hemp and Bella Fanale. 

The forward from Kelowna didn’t take any visits before deciding on where to take her hockey future but she will have a little bit of familiarity on campus in Minnesota since she will be living with fellow Kelowna skater Gracie Graham this fall. 

Paul, a former Team Canada U18 silver-medal winner, is likely set up to have an enormous season in 2025-26. Things will obviously be quite different competing in the WCHA compared to the ECAC but there will be plenty of talent on the Golden Gopher roster to set Paul up for success. Having two prolific goal-scorers on the team in Abbey Murphy (33 goals in ‘24-25) and Paul (28 goals in ‘24-25) will be a dangerous dynamic to deal with for any opponents in the conference. 

The talented forward from Princeton was previously studying sociology at school and will continue to do so at Minnesota. She will likely finish up her undergraduate degree this upcoming season and then plans to pursue a master’s degree the year after, possibly in something related to business. She has two more years of eligibility left since she received a medical hardship waiver for her freshman season and then took a gap year in what would’ve been her sophomore season with the Tigers. 

Watch for Paul out on the ice with the Gophers this fall in 2025-26.