Hello everybody, I am posting this story written by David Bailey on
Team USA making a quick stop in Orono for a practice before traveling
to Canada. The story appeared in todays paper. Dave is the women's
hockey team beat writer for the Maine Campus this winter and he'll be
posting his articles as well.
by Dave Bailey
The United States Olympic women's hockey team made a pit stop at Alfond
Arena yesterday morning, on their way to New Brunswick for a pair of
games with Team Canada this weekend.
With the drills of hard-hat workers blaring in the background (new sky
boxes are being built in the Alfond), the Yanks held some drills of
their own for about 90 minutes in front of a modest crowd. Members of
the University of Maine men's and women's hockey teams were also on
hand for the practice.
The team has spent the last week in New England playing exhibitions
against various collegiate squads.
The Americans will be playing more warm-up games over the next three
months in preparation for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
According to Team USA head coach Ben Smith, Olympic status for women's
hockey translates into a bright future for the game.
"I think it's going to be a big boost for this sport," said Smith, who
ran up a 70-92-18 mark as Northeastern's coach from 1991-96. "It's a
sport in the stage where people still say, 'Women play hockey?'"
Team USA's players are in unison with Smith.
"It's going to give the women's game a huge boost [in terms of]
participation and awareness, because there's people out there who have
no idea that women's hockey is even a sport," said forward Cammi
Granato, a veteran of USA's rink wars since the team's inception in
1990.
"The more media we get, the more coverage we get and the more people
are going to realize that women's hockey is a great sport and that it
doesn't belong to men," said forward Barb Gordon, who amassed 110 goals
at Colby College from 1993-97.
Smith said that he felt that one of the appeals of Olympic hockey to
potential fans is its emphasis on teamwork.
"By being an Olympic sport, where there aren't a lot of team sports per
se -- I don't want to take anything away from our ski team, or our
cross-country teams," said Smith. "But in most instances, those people
aren't as depending on the other people when they go down the hill when
it's their turn, so to speak."
"In our sport, the players have their individual skills, but they have
to integrate them with their teammates, which is something that
American sports fans kind of identify with. I think when people see it,
people will enjoy it."
Enjoy it enough to the point that they' would support a professional
league?
"I'm not sure," Smith said. "I think it would be off a ways. Right now
we don't have a lot of players in our country playing this sport. We've
probably only got upwards of 20-25,000 women involved in the sport."
"I don't think that outside of our particular team, there are that many
other outstanding athletes that could help form a league."
Granato isn't as pessimistic, however.
"It's just come to the forefront right now and if people are aware of
the level and excitement of women's hockey, then I think down the line,
there could be a pro league for women," Granato said.
Before envisioning professional glory, however, Team USA will have to
worry about the threat from the Great White North. Since 1990, the
Yanks have played the Canadians in six consecutive tournament finals
and have skated away with just a silver medal each time.
The 1997 Women's World Championships were the biggest heartbreaker yet
for the Americans, as they fell in overtime to Canada in the final, 4-3.
Smith is hoping that his team will finally shake off its Canadian jinx
once and for all come Olympic time.
"[Canada] knows we're around," Smith said. "We're going to be playing
them a dozen times before we go to Japan, and I think that's something
we're going to be focusing on, trying to knock off that other team."
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