Toronto goaltender Erica Howe is pictured in Toronto on Jan. 17, 2023. Howe spent one season with the club as backup goalie to Kristen Campbell.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Thursday began as a good day, and Erica Howe was grateful to feel like herself. She was scheduled for chemotherapy later in the afternoon, so the day was about to get tougher. For now, she was upbeat, and began sharing some deeply personal details about the past few months.
Howe retired in the spring after playing a one-year contract as a backup goalie for Toronto in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. She was set to resume her career as a firefighter in Mississauga. But shortly after Howe made the pivot this summer,…