WinterSports2002.com - U.S. loss to Canada could be win for women's hockey

WinterSports2002.com, Monday, February 25, 2002

U.S. loss to Canada could be win for women's hockey

By Zack Van Eyck
Deseret News Olympic specialist

WEST VALLEY CITY — The U.S. women's hockey team ended the season with a 35-1 record. But wouldn't you know it, that one loss came in the gold-medal game of the 2002 Olympic tournament.

It was a heartbreaker for the 20 women in Team USA jerseys, the majority of whom spent the past two seasons living, training and traveling together with one goal in mind — a goal they did not achieve.

But the loss for the U.S., a hard-fought 3-2 setback to mighty Team Canada, could be a win for women's hockey. They play a World Championship each year, but it's only once every four years that much attention is paid to the sport where bodychecking is illegal and the two world powers have never lost to anyone but each other.

"One of the things we set out to do with this team as a by-product was to give the game an identity and I think this was a great showcase for the sport of women's hockey," U.S. coach Ben Smith said after Thursday's gold-medal game. "This doesn't play in Peoria, but here we are at 7 p.m. on the East Coast on NBC."

It's a sport that doesn't have a pro league and probably won't for a long time. Its finest performers, Canadian MVP Hayley Wickenheiser and longtime U.S. team captain Cammi Granato, aren't exactly household names. Only a couple of hundred women play hockey in some of the countries that have national teams.

But the key to improving the level of competition and public acceptance of the sport is to increase the number of girls and women who play it. The numbers in the United States and Canada increased dramatically after the Nagano Games, with about 100,000 now playing the game in the two nations combined. The sport's ambassadors hope for more of the same over the next four years.

"Obviously, any time you don't reach what you set out to do, it's disappointing," Granato said. "But I've been with this team for two years now, and I know that our coaching staff did everything they could to prepare us. We just fell short.

"It was a great experience to be able to play the Olympics at home. I'm thankful for the opportunity to play here, and the crowds were energetic all the way through the tournament."

Many players on both teams, as well as on the Finnish, Swedish and Russian squads, will return to college teams. Some, like Americans Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, will begin their college careers next season. But in the collegiate ranks, they will play for a few hundred, maybe several thousand, fans each night — not the 8,599 who screamed for every minute of the gold-medal game.

Other players, perhaps as many as 13 on the American side, will hang up the skates and move on to other things, like coaching, broadcasting, motherhood and whatever the future may hold. But others will keep coming back, to the World Championships next spring in China and the 2006 Winter Games in Italy. There, they will pursue gold once more — for themselves, and for the good of the sport they love.

"You bet I'll be there, because I love this game too much to give it up," said the 23-year-old Wickenheiser, who tied for the Olympic tournament lead in scoring (10 points) with Granato and Canadian teammate Danielle Goyette.

The 2002 Winter Games tournament showed the pecking order in women's hockey hasn't changed much since the first Women's World Championship in 1990, when Canada defeated the United States for gold and Finland beat Sweden for the bronze. And the gap between the top two teams and the next two remains considerable.

Sweden pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, nipping Finland 2-1 for the bronze medal behind 15-year-old goalie Kim Martin. It was a huge win for the Swedes, who finally medaled in a sanctioned event after finishing fourth to the Finns so many times. And it gave the players something to wave in the faces of their country's Olympic committee members, who just a few months ago thought seriously about canceling the team's invitation to the Olympics.

"Hopefully now they will support the program more," Martin said.

Despite finishing fifth, the Russian program showed it is on the rise. American players in particular were complimentary of the progress the team has made. Coaches from the country's traditionally strong men's program have become involved on the women's side, and head coach Viacheslav Dolgushin believes his team is just a few years of increased governmental support away from being more competitive.

"The time will come when we'll be able to defeat them occasionally," Dolgushin said after losing 7-0 to Canada.

When that day comes, it will be sad for the Team Canadas and Team USAs of the world but a good one for the sport.

E-mail: zman@desnews.com