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.