The incomparable Shannon Miller debriefed

If you follow women's hockey, it is impossible to not have strong opinions about the legendary coach of the Duluth Dynasty Shannon Miller(her dynasty is now threatened by Wisconsin's Mark Johnson). Her inaugural Canadian women's Olympic team collapsed under the enormous pressure of gold in 1998 Nagano, but the former Calgary police officer has rebounded professionally by building a dynastic program at Duluth. During her tenure she has crushed the NCAA dreams of Brown's Digit Murphy, provided an impenetrable Frozen Four roadblock for Meghan Agosta and Mercyhurst, and prevented Mark Johnson's Wisconsin Badgers from an unprecedented 4-pete. Her 4 titles in the 2000's is truly remarkable, but it is her use of international players, and their subsequent training that may generate her lasting legacy. Check out the nearly two dozen Olympians who have played for her at Duluth, including USA and Canada's very best offensive talent (Potter and Ouellete, respectively), Sweden's top three forwards and a large chunk of Finland's impact players. This does not account for the Team Canada veterans who played for her at Nagano or even USA star Julie Chu, who was her assistant coach in 2008, another championship season.

http://www.umdbulldogs.com/teams-womens-hockey.php?page=19

She has coached Hayley Wickenheiser from the age of 12 to 21, and claims that Wick is not the best player in the world, but can't name anyone better off the top of her head. If you want the lowdown on the who's who of international women's hockey on the eve of the Olympics, read on. Coach Miller goes on the record.

SWE
KIM MARTIN: "Kim's an exceptional person, and exceptional goaltender, she has a great deal of experience playing in NCAA games, world championships, international games, playing in several Olympics. The one thing I like about Kim Martin the most is that she competes with a smile the whole time. She is a great friend, a great teammate, she's a stellar goaltender for team Sweden, and really a backbone of the team. One of the reasons that Kim is so strong in net is because she is technically sound, she moves really well. She's not huge, she's not small, but she's compact when she plays, so because she's technically good, and plays with good angles, and moves really well, she's very effective going post-to-post, she's very effective coming out to challenge, she's great, got great backwards mobility coming in facing breakaways, very solid all-around goaltender."

ELIN HOLMLOV "Erin is a fun player to watch. She has great vision, great hands. She plays with a lot of creativity, that's the one thing I love about coaching her, I see it when she plays for me at UMD, I see it when she plays for Team Sweden, loves to carry the puck, loves to share the puck, very creative when she plays. She used to be a very explosive player, but she's struggled with back surgeries, and has been trying to recover from her back injuries. She's not on the ice and lifting weights as much as her national teammates or UMD teammates, but she makes up for it with her vision and her hands. She is an extremely unselfish player; if somebody's open she finds 'em, she moves the puck, moves to open ice, very effective offensively. I also think she's a great player because she's strong defensively. She's not scared to get in there and forecheck hard, finish her checks in the defensive zone, back check hard, blocks people out and battles in front of the net. she's a very strong two way player and a fun player to coach.

"When you're playing at the NCAA level, or playing at the world championships or the Olympic Games in this situation, people have to be prepared to play through pain. Elin has had back surgery, she's in a little bit of pain every single day when she practices and plays, but you've got to be able to play through pain, and she is one of those players that's willing to step up, play for Team Sweden at the Olympic Games and try and win back a medal to her country."

MARIA ROOTH: "Well Maria Rooth is going to be an impact player for Team Sweden at the Olympic Games, there's no doubt about it. She's fast, she's got great hands, great game instincts, she's a goal scorer. If she's playing with two players that are willing to go into the corner and on the wall and battle for her and bring the puck out and feed her the puck, maybe set her some picks, create open ice for her, she'll be a very effective offensive player for Team Sweden.

"Maria's also a great defensive player. She's got good speed, she's got a great work ethic, so she's good on the forecheck, backcheck within the defensive zone, she's learned how to play the game bothy ways. Maria Rooth can be an offensive threat at any point in the game at any time on the ice as long as she's got the puck and she's got some space.

"Maria Rooth is one of the greatest players to ever play at UMD, and she's the only player to ever have her jersey retired, up in the rafters. Maria is very effective because she's an explosive player: she explodes into open ice with the puck; she explodes off the wall to back check so she's very effective offensively and defensively. She has a great deal of experience playing in NCAA play as well as with team Sweden at international events, and she's a key leader. Definitely a key leader for team Sweden.

ERIKA HOLST: "Erika is the captain for Team Sweden,and there's no question that she is their strongest leader, she is their best centerman, she wins the majority of her faceoffs. She's a great player because she's great offensively, she's great defensively, she's unselfish, she loves to set picks and create space for her linemates, she's great at moving the puck, she can shoot off the pass so she's always a threat to score goals, whether she has the puck or her linemate has the puck. She is also a very strong two-way player. She was very disciplined when she played for me at UMD, you could always count on her to win faceoffs, you could count on her to create space for her teammates, you could always count on her to play good defensive hockey. Erika Holst will be a key player on the power play for Team Sweden, and definitely a player on the penalty kill. When Erika played for me at UMD she was a lot of fun, she had great respect for the game and I believe she still does have that respect today playing at the Olympic level. She is a great teammate, a great friend and a great captain."

(On Team SWE players playing at UMD) "One thing that's very impressive about the kids from Sweden who moved to Duluth and played for me at the NCAA level is that they're studying in their second language. And that's very impressive for anybody, to move to another country, study in a second language, and find a way to balance, and not just balance, but balance and be successful at studying in a second language and be so successful in hockey and successful friendships, and just having a very balanced life. All of them are very good students, and very good hockey players and key people in our program."

Finland
SAARA TUOMINEN: "Saara is one of our strongest two-way players for Team Finland, as well as for my team, my UMD women's hockey team. She is one of those people you can count on offensively, you can count on defensively. She's on our power play, she's on our PK, same thing with Team Finland, on their power play and PK. She's key centerman for Team Finland, key centerman for UMD, someone you can trust to win key faceoffs late in the game, when you need a faceoff to protect a lead or when you need to win a faceoff to run a set play off of a faceoff. Saara is a captain for us and she's one of the captains for Team Finland. Saara is one of the most experienced players, both for UMD and Team Finland. She is one of the older and more experienced players on team Finland and someone he (new Finnish coach Pekka Hamalainen) will rely on for leadership both on the ice and in the locker room.
Saara is a very effective player down low in the offensive zone, because she's willing to get into the corners. she jumps into the corners, she jumps on the wall, she battles people, she comes out with her feet moving, her eyes up and is looking to move the puck to somebody. and after she moves the puck she looks to set a pick to create space for someone else. Very unselfish player, very effective because of the way she plays in the offensive zone.
Saara is in an interesting position because she's a captain of the UMD women's team in an Olympic year, and she's one of the captains for team Finland. So she's in a position where she has a great deal of responsibility here in Duluth with our program as well with Team Finland preparing and competing at the Olympic Games. What's great about Saara is that she understands her responsibilities in both places. She's great because she goes and she gets to play with Team Finland, she's playing at the Olympic Games, we don't have her for three weeks, but she also understands her responsibility when she comes back. So it's a shared relationship, it's a very strong two way relationship and both programs benefit from having that open, positive relationship.

NINA TIKKINEN (Mankato Minnesota State University) is one of Saara's linemates, along with Michelle Karvinen. they all play on the first line together. Nina is a very effective player as well. Tikkinen is a fierce competitor, she's got great speed, she's very tough, she competes hard, she also is a playmaker. She's someone who can come off the wall, feet moving, eyes up, and move that puck and crash the net. Michelle Karvinen, Saara Tuomimen and Nina Tikkanen playing together form a very effective line, very experience line, 3 very good, great players.

Team Finland and Team Sweden have a great rivalry, and it helps that both teams have great goaltenders. Kim Martin in net for Team Sweden, Noora Raty in net for Team Finland...you know Kim, very experienced goaltender for Team Sweden, has played in NCAA championship games, is not playing in our program this year because she's "centralized" with Team Sweden, Noora Raty playing in the WCHA league play this year because Team Finland is not centralized, but both goalies facing off at the Olympic Games, great rivalry between Team Sweden and Team Finland because of those two goaltenders.

CAN
CAROLINE OUELLETTE "The thing I love most about Caroline Ouellette is that she is a fierce competitor and a gentle friend. she is a fantastic hockey player, fantastic person, represents team Canada very very well whether she's playing on the ice for Team Canada or conducting herself as an ambassador off the ice. And that's how she conducted herself when she played for me at UMD as well. Our captain, and certainly one of the leaders for Team Canada. Caroline is a power forward, there's no doubt about it, she's big, she's strong, she's explosive. Caroline has great vision, great hands, Caroline is a very unselfish player. She's always got her feet moving, alwyas got her eyes up, always got her great work ethic on and she's always looking to move the puck, to share the puck with someone who might be in a better position than she is. and she also has a bullet for a shot. She's got great shot selection, she's got an accurate, powerful shot, she's a threat every time she has the puck. If you're a goalie facing Caroline Ouellette you never know if she's going to move it or if she's going to shoot it. So she's a double threat all the time.

Caroline's the type of player, she plays on the power play for Team Canada, she plays on the PK for team Canada, because she's got vision, because she's got puck movement, because she's got a great work ethic and she can shoot. She plays on the PK because she's smart, I would bet she's one of their best penalty killers and one of the leaders on the penalty kill unit. When she coached with me at UND, not only did Caroline Ouellette play for me at UMD for three years and win an NCAA championship, but she was also my assistant coach at UMD for two years, was an exceptional role model for the young women, she was in charge of penalty kill, so I know that Caroline has a good understanding of Penalty Kill and what it takes to PK at the Olympic level, and I know she's one of Canada's strongest power play and PK people."

HALEY IRWIN is a power forward, great player, a natural goal scorer. Haley is young, first time playing for Team Canada senior team is in this Olympic year. (actually, she played for Team Canada at the 2009 World Championships) So here she is playing at the Olympic Games for Canada and quite frankly I think she's one of Canada's biggest offensive threats. (Miller took on Irwin as a project that needed lessons in defense and fitness, that you can read about in the CTV article, link below)

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/hockey/news/newsid=15150.html

"She's got great size, she's a fierce competitor, she's extremely tough, she comes out of the corner and off the wall with the puck all the time, feet moving, eyes up, takes the puck to the net. Natural goal scorer, she really is. She's a very very smart player around the net and a natural goal scorer. As long as she's playing with people that are willing to battle with her, and skate with her and can share the puck with her, you're going to see great offensive things from Haley Irwin.

"Haley Irwin knows how to win. Haley Irwin came to UMD as a freshman and played first line centerman and led our team to a national championship. So as a freshman she won her first national championship (and scored the winning goal against Mark Johnson's Badgers). I think one of the reasons that Haley Irwin made Team Canada and the Olympic Team at such a young age, and I think this is important for other young players to understand, is that when she came to UMD to play for us, she needed to become a much better athlete. A better skater and a much better defensive player. learning how to play without the puck, forecheck, backcheck, D zone, penalty kill. And Haley really stepped up and made an unbelievable commitment to those three areas of her game, and in a two year period excelled so much in those areas, there she is, on Team Canada, playing on the Olympic Team."

"JAYNA HEFFORD is a very experienced player playing for Team Canada. she has played at every single Olympic Games, for Team Canada, she's an experienced veteran. Jayna is an offensive threat. She is explosive, she loves to jump and try to get in behind the opponent's defensemen, and hope that someone finds her for that long breakaway pass, so that it's her against the goaltender. She played like that for me back in 1998, she's still playing like that today, and she is, she's a great offensive threat for Team Canada.

HAYLEY WICKENHEISER, clearly one of the top players in the international game, another power forward. Extremely explosive, extremely strong, always an offensive threat whether she has the puck or doesn't have the puck. Sometimes Hayley is the most dangerous player on the ice when she doesn't have the puck. She has great linemates, they know how to play with her, and she is clearly going to be one of Canada's top players at the Olympic Games. Hayley's also very strong defensively, she has become a very good defensive player for Team Canada, forecheck, backcheck, D-Zone, on penalty kill, obviously she'll be on the power play. There's no question that she'll be an impact player at the Olympic Games.

I'm very familiar with SARAH VAILLANCOURT because of the healthy rivalry we have between UMD women's hockey team and Harvard. She played for Harvard for 4 years, I played against her, I coached against her,and she is always a threat when she's on the ice. Sarah Vaillancort won the Patty Kazmaier award, which is like the Heisman trophy for player of the year for women's hockey. So, definitely one of Canada's top young players."

"MEGHAN AGOSTA, one of Canada's top offensive players, explosive player like Jayna Hefford, loves to jump in behind the opponent's defensemen, look for those breakaways, and she's a sniper, no question that she comes in on the goaltender, she's a sniper. She typically shoots high glove, high glove, high glove, and occasionally doesn't. Normally 9 out of 10 shots high glove, and she's got a bullett, so even if you tell your goalie that, typically there's one that still gets by your goalie, if not two, in a game.
"Great Rivalry as well. Plays for Mercyhurst College, UMD has played Mercyhurst several times in NCAA play, she's gone head to head with our former goalie Kim Martin and will again in the future after this Olympic year, a healthy rivalry between Meghan Agosta and Kim Martin. It's a lot of fun to see Kim Martin in net against Meghan Agosta. Meghan Agosta is such a sniper and Kim Martin is such an exceptional goaltender that it's a really good head-to-head matchup, it's fun."

"JESSIE VETTER likely the number one goaltender for Team USA at the Olympic Games. I'm very familiar with her through the UMD-Wisconsin rivalry. I saw Jessie Vetter develop before my own eyes for four years. She went from being a young, inexperienced goaltender with a great deal of potential, to becoming an exceptional goaltender by the time she was a junior and senior in college. She backstopped Wisconsin to 3 national championships in 4 years, and here she is in the Olympic Games playing as the key goaltender for Team USA. Jessie Vetter is very technically sound, moves extremely well, plays with a smile on her face just like Kim Martin does, she's relaxed, she's calm, she's very solid."
(Could Vetter steal the Gold Medal Game?) "Oh yeah, I've seen her do that, holy cow she's good. (pause) Well, Vetter would probably be a big part of the reason they steal the game."

"JULIE CHU, one of the veterans for Team USA, one of the few veterans Team USA has playing for them this year at the Olympic Games. Key leader for Team USA, Key leader for Harvard when she played there. Very effective player when she played in the NCAA, very effective player at the World Championship and the Olympic Games. great hands, vision, skater, puck movement, great shot. Also fun player because she is very creative. She's creative on power play, she's creative 5 on 5, 4 on 4, loved coaching against her in college, loved watching her play with Team USA, just a fun player to watch. She was a key leader at Harvard, team leader at team USA. Team USA has a very young team at the Olympics this year, and Julie Chu along with Angela Ruggiero, Natalie Darwitz and Jenny Potter, those are going to be the four leaders for TEAM USA at the Olympic Games this year.
"I also know Julie Chu very well because I brought her to UMD to coach with me. She coached with me in 2008 when we won our fourth national championship. My assistant coaches were Caroline Ouellette from Teeam Canada and Julie Chu from Team USA, so we had a very well seasoned international coaching staff together when we won our 4th national championship, and Julie Chu was a big part of that."

JENNY POTTER
I've watched a lot of competitions between Team CANADA and USA, in the lat 10 years, and arguably Jenny Potter has been the best player on the ice a lot of those nights, and certainly one of the best players for Team USA. It's because she's explosive. She comes out of the corner with the puck all of the time. Any time she goes into the corner, into a battle, on the wall or the half wall, she always comes out with the puck, her feet are moving, her eyes are up, she makes a nice play. She is a threat because she can skate, she can shoot and she can pass.

***
And she's probably the best skater in the women's game today. If I was going to take a video of someone skating to teach my college kids proper techinche: the powerful stride, the quick recovery, I'd use Jenny Potter.
***

She's an exciting player to watch because she's small, explosive, fast, a fierce competitor and always an offensive threat, whether or not she has the puck."

"I really admire Jenny Potter for all the things she has accomplished in her life to date at such a young age. She was playing for me at UMD, she stayed in school but left our hockey program for a year to have a child, came back and helped us win our 2003 National championship for our program, obviously she was a key player on the team that year. Since then has had another child and continues to excel as a mother, balancing that family life and also continues to excel in the game of hockey, and to be a dominant player, one of the best players in the world today."

(On the USA-CANADA rivalry)
"You know there's always been a great rivalry between Team Canada and Team USA, most often at world championships and Olympic Games vying for a Gold medal. But it's a healthy rivalry, it really is. A lot of these players have played against each other or on the same teams in college hockey. An example, Jenny Potter who plays for Team USA and Caroline Ouellette who plays for Team Canada, both of them played for me at UMD and won a national championship together. Not only did they win a national championship together, but they were linemates, and very effective linemates because they're both great players.

"And then you've got Team Sweden, the year that Potter and Ouellette won a national title together at UMD, we also had Erika Holtz and Maria Rooth from Team Sweden on our team, so there's 4 players playing at the Olympics this year that were teammates in 2003 that won an NCAA championship together. I think that's one of the great things about Women's hockey is, yes there are healthy rivalries, yes they're all spread out playing for their respective countries, but that have been teammates, they have competed against each other, in some cases lived in the same houses, and they are friends and that's very healthy."

"Well IYA GAVRILOVA playing for Russia at the Olympic Games, I think it's awesome. She played for UMD for less than one season. She is probably the best offensive player we'ver had at UMD. Just natural game instincts, natural hands. She's very very smooth, and there's no question she's one of the top players for Team Russia if not THE top player for Team Russia though she's quite young. She really has an uncanny ability to handle the puck in traffic, get open, great hands, great goal scoring instincts. She's a raw, natural goal scorer and she's fun to watch."

ZUZANA TOMCIKOVA- Bemidji State "It's kind of exciting to have Slovakia in the Winter Games, it's the first time for the women's team, and they've got a great goaltender, Zuzana, she's a goaltender I'm familiar with because she plays in the WCHA so our UMD Team plays against her team regularly in our league. She's got great size and is a great athlete, technically sound and moves extremely well. She goes up and down and lateral faster than most goaltenders I've seen. In college hockey she can literally beat opponents by herself. We've played her team (Bemidji) and she's extremely difficult (to score on). She's been absolutely amazing in WCHA league play, I'm very excited to watch her in the Olympics and how she backstops her team."

MOTHERS "There are three women playing ath the Olympic Games this year that have children: Hayley Wickenheiser, Jenny Potter and Becky Keller (veteran defenseman for Canada), and there might be more that I dont know about, but I'm familiar with those three, and I very much admire their ability to have children, to raise children, to be great mothers, but also to be such great athletes and such impact players at the Olympic Games. They are tremendous role models for young women out there who want both--they want to have a family life and they also want to play at the Olympic Games. And so hat's off to those three, and good luck to all of them."

(more from Miller describing her intense rivalry with Wisonsin's Mark Johnson in a future post)

NY times raises competition issues

Monday's big story in the NY Times was kind of a good-news bad news media scenario for U.S. women's hockey advocates. The good news was that nearly three weeks prior to puck drop in Vancouver the "Paper of Record" devoted some serious space to women's hockey; the bad news is that reporter Pat Borzi made a very good case that USA is suffering from lack of competition at crunch time, while their arch rivals, Team Canada, is not.

Three weeks earlier, Sports Illustrated hockey reporter Sarah Kwak was making her own inquiries along the same lines on January 3 at a post-game press gathering in Hamden. USA has just stomped the ECAC college All-Stars 8-2, and Kwak asked young U.S. star Hillary Knight about playing competition that wasn't nearly as challenging as Team Canada, while the Canadians were enduring a schedule chock full of boys midget teams.

Knight's response:
“It’s hard to get the amp that we get against Canada, get that high tempo, get the high pace, get the heart rate moving, get that good competition. There really isn’t any other feeling. We’ve got a couple of games against High School boys, and the Quest tour obviously, we’re trying to promote our sport. The growth of women’s hockey, this is important…to have more supporters going into Vancouver…."

Just when USA seemed to have finally caught up to the level of the Team Canada with spirited near misses over New Year's, they find themselves with no more games against them to force up their level of play, while Team Canada continues to strive against challenging male competition. This is not a good sign, and it is no secret to the mainstream media. USA will be facing Finland for a couple of games immediately prior to Vancouver, including a national telecast Feb. 4 on NHL Network. They will face a team, and more importantly, a goalie Nora Raty, who beat them in September at the Hockey Canada Cup in Vancouver. Women's hockey fans can judge USA women's play for themselves on the eve of the Olympics.

If it's Sunday it must be Hamden

A record 16,000 fans were rocking Ottawa's SBP Arena. There has never been a bigger crowd to see a women's game, ever. Three of Team USA's top forwards, Meghan Duggan, Gigi Marvin and Monique Lamoureux were warming up in mismatched equipment that belonged to other players. Any of you readers ever tried playing in someone else's skates? Now imagine using those skates to play against the best team in the world in front of the biggest crowd in history. Hey, that sounds like the classic recurring hockey dream, where you just cant get your equipment squared away before the game of your life. Well, that dream is all part of life on the tour. For the record, the three players got their equipment 15 minutes before puck drop and Team USA excelled, taking Canada to a shootout before falling 3-2 on January 1. To USA coach Mark Johnson, this was just an exercise in adversity, an exercise that Johnson has also been subjected to.

"I've been wearing these clothes (pulling at his tan turtleneck) for the last four days," said Johnson two days later in Hamden. He was asked if it was maddening. "No, I've been around the business, I travel enough, it's just part of what we do. We had three players the other night warm up in other's people equipment and other's people's skates. The equipment finally arrived in Ottawa right after we got done with warmups. So today we had a couple, three kids missing today because their equipment didn't show up. One of them played in someone else's skates and she's almost crying because her feet were sore."

That player was defenseman Kerry Weiland, who described her experience. "I had to play with Jenny Potter's skates," said Weiland after the game against the ECAC All-Stars. "There was no support at all in the skates, so her dad attached this plastic to the sides, drilling holes but leaving the screws in. I was in so much pain, I couldn't even stand in warmups. Coach saw me and said "Facing adversity?" and I said "oh no, I'll be OK."

"Hey," said Johnson in his post game press conference. "Welcome to life. You just have to deal."

Veteran Angela Ruggiero, preparing for her fourth Olympic Winter Games, gets it. "Road trips are fun, but they get exhausting when they lose your bags and that kind of thing. But it's all part of the process. You got to learn to deal with adversity, and sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to, you just got to deal with it and play and show up that day."

Rookie Hilary Knight, an immense talent who is emerging as a quiet leader because of character and awe-inspiring ability, has a mature take as well. "This trip has actually been the hardest trip," said Knight, referring to the St. Paul-Ottawa-Hamden, CT in a 5-day crunch. "Not only are we going back-to-back-to-back all over the place, but we've lost our bags, our coach hasn't had his luggage for five days or something; we've definitely had some adversity over this this trip, but as you can see we definitely keep bouncing back. Against Canada in front of that huge crowd of 16,000 something, some of the girls didn't get their equipment until 16 minutes before the first period. So it just shows you that we aren't getting the bounces right now but we're persevering through all this. It's great to actually see that because we're just coming together at the right time."

Players and coaches are one thing, but what if you are the team's media liaison, someone accountable to the public like Christy Jeffries of USA Hockey? She lost her bags before New Year's, and greeted the East coast media throng in Hamden wearing a stylish black pantsuit. "I borrowed a player's," said Jeffries. Finally, on January 19, a full 3 weeks later, her suitcase made it back in her hands. "I hugged it." The traveling hockey minstrel show goes on, with or without luggage and equipment.

Requiem for the IT Girl

She was USA Hockey's "It Girl". At 17 she was a solid contributor to Team USA's first World Championship Gold in 2005. She made the 2006 Olympic team before college, replacing the offense of the vanquished legend Cammi Granato. The normally grumpy Coach Ben Smith gushed about her like no one else, calling her a natural scorer in any sport she tried, whether it be soccer, hockey or tiddly winks. Some speculate that being Smith's "pet" may have ultimately led to Sarah Parsons' demise.
She was one of the rare bright spots in USA's disastrous bronze medal showing in Torino, as the Americans failed to make their appointment in the gold medal game with Canada. It was Smith's swan song as a coach, but Parsons continued along her own star path.

The next year she was Dartmouth's top scorer as a freshman. Surrounded by three golden Olympians from Team Canada, she amassed 50 points for one of the top teams in the nation, sweeping to an ECAC league championship. Although Dartmouth suffered an early upset loss in the NCAA quarters, Parsons changed jerseys and kept her magical season rolling for America at the World Championships in Winnipeg.
Now a core member or Team USA, she helped first year national team coach Mark Johnson collect silver while falling to Canada. Sarah ranked third on the team in scoring. At age 19 Parsons was living a remarkable hockey dream: an Olympic bronze medalist; owner of a world championship Gold and Silver; and the leading scorer of the ECAC champions as a freshman. But from Mark Johnson's perspective, she was just another member of a national team that had been beaten badly by Canada in the World Championship gold medal game, a team that needed an overhaul.

In 2007-08, Dartmouth fell to earth after losing their three Canadian Olympic gold medalists. Parsons' point total dropped to 34, her team exited quietly from both the ECAC's and the NCAA's, though her season ended on a high note. She helped the Americans win a rare World Championship gold over Canada. It was not Johnson whom she impressed, but Ohio State coach Jackie Barto who guided Team USA to their upset over Canada. She, too, gushed over Parsons, because of her "grit and determination," picking up 4 pts in 5 games and coming up with "huge blocked shots on the penalty kill along with an excellent job on the power play." All of this was second hand information to Johnson, who was busy building relationships with his NCAA champion Wisconsin Badgers. In the meantime, Parsons had added precious metal to an IIHF collection that now included two World Championship Golds along with her Olympic bronze.

The 2008-09 season introduced adversity to Parsons in the form of a nagging leg injury suffered in Dartmouth's opening game vs Princeton, an injury that plagued her the entire season. She spent most of the season scoring less than a point a game, something unheard of in the Parsons sports universe. Then in a dramatic post-season reversal, Parsons put the Big Green on her back, sniping 7 goals and 12 points in 5 games while leading Dartmouth to their second ECAC title in her three years at Hanover. It was a courageous effort, something worthy of the IT GIRL of women's hockey. Dartmouth's reward? An NCAA clash with Johnson's defending champs in Madison. The result? A dismal 7-0 drubbing at the hands of the Badgers. It's difficult to imagine Johnson being impressed with either Sarah or her Dartmouth teammates. Ten days later the injured Parsons limped to the world championship tryouts, and for the first time since she was 15, was cut from a team.

"I was just getting healthy again, and never really got my speed back up. It was definitely tough, but you know, but I figured I had the whole summer to work out." So she headed to Blaine, Minnesota for the Olympic trials in August of 2009 cautiously optimistic. She and 20 other legitimate prospects, many of them stars in their own right, were sent home from Minnesota with shattered dreams.

When asked about Parsons last week, how the IT GIRL of 2006 was left off this year's squad, Johnson was matter of fact.

"Our talent pool has gotten bigger. Back in 2006 they were trying to pick 21 kids out of 25, where we had 41. During this evaluation process it's your time to shine. Showcase yourself, I don't want to go looking for you."
Parsons admitted that she was given a decent shot, and that she was put on a quality line.

"It was fine, yeah, they give everyone a great opportunity, I guess I wasn't what they were looking for." She scored her customary points, but was not a dominant player. And boom, the IT GIRL, one of America's most gifted offensive players, an Olympic veteran in her athletic prime, is now a former Olympian. It is both logical and unimaginable.

She is close to Helen Reisor, another of Ben Smith's favorites from 2006 and a prep school teammate. Reisor was also a surprise victim. Sarah and Helen speak frequently, but don't dwell on the pain.

"There's only so much you can say," said Parsons following a Janurary game in Princeton. "What happens, happens, and you have to respect that they made the right decision based on what they saw, and that they picked the team they wanted."

Coach Johnson reflected on the difficult cut of Ralph Cox in 1980, the elite scorer from University of New Hampshire, the famous last cut from the Miracle on Ice.
"When you get down to your final choice, whether it's Ralph Cox or Mark Wells...So you end up picking Mark Wells and you win the gold medal. Well you made the right choice. If you lost the gold medal, then it's 'you should have picked Ralph Cox.' "

There is no apparent bitterness in Parsons, who is enjoying her final year at Dartmouth. She is happy to be graduating with her class, wearing the captain's 'C' on a mediocre team that coughed up a third period lead at Princeton this afternoon in early January. It was in that third period, however, that Parsons began to exert her considerable will on the ice. She scored a short-lived go-ahead goal, whipping in a low wrist shot from a bad angle. When she left her feet to preserve the lead with a fearless, supremely athletic blocked a shot on a penalty kill, at least one fan got on his feet. Parsons also paid her dues with selfless corner grinding in a valiant, but losing, effort.

While her former teammates are playing in front of 17,000 fans in Ottawa, Parsons is performing in front of less than 100 here at Baker Arena in Princeton. In the four months since her cut, Sarah has managed to find peace.

Having already fulfilled her academic requirements, Parsons will relax during her senior spring with a limited schedule of working and research, and may even practice with the lacrosse team. She has mapped out her future, intending to spend the next two years working for Morgan Stanley in New York. It's very unlikely she'll return to the rink. "At this point I'm trying to focus on the good things, you know, and move on." But will she watch her former team next month in Vancouver?

"Ummm..." she pauses poignantly, and then smiles. "yeah, I will. I mean, they're still my friends and I wish them the best of luck, obviously; my heart is still with the team."

Parsons joins a pantheon of dramatic "victims" of this often cruel business of women's Olympic hockey, a group that includes Stephanie O'Sullivan, Kathleen Kauth, Ali Brewer and others. But none have handled it with the mindful acceptance of Sarah Parsons. In one month Olympic history will reveal who suffered more from this hard-to-fathom cut, Parsons or Team USA.
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Post Script Team USA was shut out in the Gold Medal game against Canada, looking anemic in the offensive end. The bright and cheery newcomers with little or no Internatiional experience, Erika Lawler and Karen Thatcher, both lost their check in 5 on 5 play in their own end, both mishaps led to goals. It was a one-game tournament where every shift counted. It was a game where a coach needs players with experience and a scoring touch. Johnson suffered more than Parsons. Shoulda picked Ralph Cox.

Angela stands tall

Soon to be four-time Olympian Angela Ruggiero is the defensive stalwart on a Team USA that has just lost their 5th straight game to arch rival Canada, and she is postively brimming. Canada and the U.S., the women's hockey superpowers reminiscent of the Canada-Soviet rivalry of the 1970's and 80's, are playing their once-every-four years game of cat and mouse, possum, or rope-a-dope, depending on your viewpoint. History tells us that you don't want to be the favorite going into the Winter Games, and that burden has gone to Canada. Hence, Angela's joy. We caught up with the author/pioneer/Apprentice at Team USA's recent tour stop Hamden, CT, two days after their shootout loss to Canada in Ottawa.

"I couldn’t be in a happier position for these Games. I mean, we are poised in every sense of the word. We have such good talent. We haven’t been winning, but to be honest, we’ve gotten better every game. We’ve generated a lot of momentum. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves, and so the fact that we’re not winning, just puts all that pressure right back on Canada’s shoulders. And they were starting to say that they we're the underdogs back in September, but not anymore, they’re the favorites now. That coupled with the fact that they’re hosting, it’s their national sport, they’re defending Olympic gold medallists, I can just keep going on and on."

TR "It sounds like you're describing yourself in 2002"

Angela: "It’s tough, I was in those shoes, I remember it. You got to that middle of the (gold medal) game and you start sensing it ‘ We have to win this game.’ And when your thinking mentally ‘you have to win’ which inevitably they’re going to be thinking, I know that, it’s tough just to play. So that’s the challenge, and they know that. Obviously we just have to concentrate on ourselves at this point. I’m excited for the next month and a half because we have to fight and hit our peak, and we’re going to hit it in February, I just know it."

Prior to the 2002 Winter Games, USA had beaten Canada 8 times in a row, and Canada's hockey media was beside itself. Up stepped Hayley Wickenheiser, fearless and unblinking before the hot lights. She never faltered in her comments that all the pressure was on the U.S. hosts, and that those eight losses were merely exhibitions. Ruggiero is channeling Wick from 8 years prior, and based on the quote from Hamden, doing a powerful job.

The next time womens hockey fans get to see the exquisite battle of Wickenheiser and Ruggiero will be in the 2010 Gold medal game at GM place. Even casual fans should enjoy that showdown.