A Medal, but No Pot of Gold; Red-Hot Women's Hockey to Melt Away

No rivalry at these Winter Olympics has been more hotlycontested than the struggle for the first-ever women's hockey goldmedal.

In 14 meetings over the past 18 months, the United States andCanada have skated to a 7-7 draw. Along the way, the bad bloodbetween the teams has been evident in shouting matches, high sticksand illegal body checks.

But after Tuesday's decisive game -- to break their tie anddecide the gold medal -- where will women's hockey go? The sport hasbeen one of Nagano's hippest and most appealing sports, with ticketsfor the final almost impossible to get. (The game was to be playedTuesday at 4 a.m. EST and replayed from 7 to 9 a.m. on WUSA-TV-9).But once the battle is over, women's hockey will disappearuntil the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.Players are struck by the paradox -- hot today, frozentomorrow.In U.S. forward Karyn Bye's home town of River Falls, Wis.,many store windows have signs wishing her good luck. She is gettingabout 40 e-mails a day from fans."I wish I could be two people; one here and one back home toget a feel for how big this is," Bye said. "People are sayingwomen's ice hockey is the talk of the Olympics. I really don't thinkI can grasp it."But while women's hockey is just now becoming popular, thereis no professional league in which the players can continue theircareers."For us, it's like you work, you work, the whole teamtravels together for a year, and then it's over," said U.S. teamcaptain Cammi Granato.Women's basketball leaped toward professional play in NorthAmerica with a U.S. gold medal from the 1996 Summer Games inAtlanta. Within months, the women's professional American BasketballLeague began play, followed in June 1997 by the Women's NationalBasketball Association, with both leagues filled with Olympicplayers.But women's hockey is not professionally viable. There havebeen rumblings of a professional league coming out of New Hampshirefor the last month, but players here have played down thatpossibility."I don't think women's hockey is ready for a professionalleague yet," Granato said. "The sport just doesn't have the depthfor something like that and, for us, this isn't really what all ofthis is about right now."The women here see their Olympic experience as an opportunityto grow the game at the grass-roots level, much the way the women'ssoccer and softball teams in Atlanta encouraged local development intheir sports."This is an opportunity for all of us," Granato said of theirhumble and realistic expectations. "This is our chance to show theworld, all different types of people, that women can play hockey."Just by reaching the gold medal game, the U.S. women haveshown what they can do, said Anita DeFrantz, the U.S. member of theInternational Olympic Committee's executive board and a formerOlympic rower."They've already made an enormous difference," said DeFrantz,who will be awarding the medals Tuesday night. "Now young girls canaspire to be hockey players. It's just tremendous."For hockey to grow from grass roots upward, for it to beembraced by a professional sports culture, will be a slow, arduousand perhaps impossible process.The majority of high schools in the United States do not havea men's hockey team, much less a women's squad. In 1990-91, therewere only 149 female teams at any level -- an average of three teamsper state, according to USA Hockey. That number has grown to 910female teams in 1996-97, although the average is still low, 18 teamsper state. International depth is also a problem. While themen's Olympic hockey tournament is being billed as a "dreamtournament" because the talent is so spread out it is impossible tocall any one squad a "dream team," the women's tournament has beenmuch less competitive. The United States and Canada have crushed thefour other teams here by a combined score of 61-19.In Canada, a few more opportunities exist for girls and forwomen, although few in that hockey-crazed country believe it couldsupport a serious professional league, either. Many of Canada'selite women play in the amateur Central Ontario Women's HockeyLeague, but the talent pool is so shallow that when the nationalteam began touring last year, three of the six teams stoppedoperating because of a lack of players, Canada Hockey spokesman JohnMacKinnon said."There are a lot of places where there is nowhere for a girlto play," said U.S. defenseman Angela Ruggiero, a California native."You just have to play on the boys' teams. When I first startedthere were hardly any teams at all, but then Wayne Gretzky came toLos Angeles, and the rinks came."Most of the 20 women on the U.S. team will leave here andreturn to lives as college students or coaches; one is a high schoolstudent. Granato is one of only two female Olympic hockey playerswho have seriously explored options in the National Hockey League.Granato, whose brother Tony plays for the NHL's San Jose Sharks, hasspoken to the New York Islanders about a tryout next year; Canadiangoaltender Manon Rheaume once played in the Tampa Bay Lightningorganization. But as a goaltender, Rheaume was not subject to theNHL's hard hitting. Granato, who weighs 140 pounds, fears she wouldnot be able to fight off NHL opponents 50 pounds heavier."With us, not only do you have an offseason, but there'snowhere for you to go next year if you're out of college," Granatosaid. "We realize that after this, it's over until the nextOlympics."

A Medal, but No Pot of Gold; Red-Hot Women's Hockey to Melt Away

No rivalry at these Winter Olympics has been more hotlycontested than the struggle for the first-ever women's hockey goldmedal.

In 14 meetings over the past 18 months, the United States andCanada have skated to a 7-7 draw. Along the way, the bad bloodbetween the teams has been evident in shouting matches, high sticksand illegal body checks.

But after Tuesday's decisive game -- to break their tie anddecide the gold medal -- where will women's hockey go? The sport hasbeen one of Nagano's hippest and most appealing sports, with ticketsfor the final almost impossible to get. (The game was to be playedTuesday at 4 a.m. EST and replayed from 7 to 9 a.m. on WUSA-TV-9).But once the battle is over, women's hockey will disappearuntil the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.Players are struck by the paradox -- hot today, frozentomorrow.In U.S. forward Karyn Bye's home town of River Falls, Wis.,many store windows have signs wishing her good luck. She is gettingabout 40 e-mails a day from fans."I wish I could be two people; one here and one back home toget a feel for how big this is," Bye said. "People are sayingwomen's ice hockey is the talk of the Olympics. I really don't thinkI can grasp it."But while women's hockey is just now becoming popular, thereis no professional league in which the players can continue theircareers."For us, it's like you work, you work, the whole teamtravels together for a year, and then it's over," said U.S. teamcaptain Cammi Granato.Women's basketball leaped toward professional play in NorthAmerica with a U.S. gold medal from the 1996 Summer Games inAtlanta. Within months, the women's professional American BasketballLeague began play, followed in June 1997 by the Women's NationalBasketball Association, with both leagues filled with Olympicplayers.But women's hockey is not professionally viable. There havebeen rumblings of a professional league coming out of New Hampshirefor the last month, but players here have played down thatpossibility."I don't think women's hockey is ready for a professionalleague yet," Granato said. "The sport just doesn't have the depthfor something like that and, for us, this isn't really what all ofthis is about right now."The women here see their Olympic experience as an opportunityto grow the game at the grass-roots level, much the way the women'ssoccer and softball teams in Atlanta encouraged local development intheir sports."This is an opportunity for all of us," Granato said of theirhumble and realistic expectations. "This is our chance to show theworld, all different types of people, that women can play hockey."Just by reaching the gold medal game, the U.S. women haveshown what they can do, said Anita DeFrantz, the U.S. member of theInternational Olympic Committee's executive board and a formerOlympic rower."They've already made an enormous difference," said DeFrantz,who will be awarding the medals Tuesday night. "Now young girls canaspire to be hockey players. It's just tremendous."For hockey to grow from grass roots upward, for it to beembraced by a professional sports culture, will be a slow, arduousand perhaps impossible process.The majority of high schools in the United States do not havea men's hockey team, much less a women's squad. In 1990-91, therewere only 149 female teams at any level -- an average of three teamsper state, according to USA Hockey. That number has grown to 910female teams in 1996-97, although the average is still low, 18 teamsper state. International depth is also a problem. While themen's Olympic hockey tournament is being billed as a "dreamtournament" because the talent is so spread out it is impossible tocall any one squad a "dream team," the women's tournament has beenmuch less competitive. The United States and Canada have crushed thefour other teams here by a combined score of 61-19.In Canada, a few more opportunities exist for girls and forwomen, although few in that hockey-crazed country believe it couldsupport a serious professional league, either. Many of Canada'selite women play in the amateur Central Ontario Women's HockeyLeague, but the talent pool is so shallow that when the nationalteam began touring last year, three of the six teams stoppedoperating because of a lack of players, Canada Hockey spokesman JohnMacKinnon said."There are a lot of places where there is nowhere for a girlto play," said U.S. defenseman Angela Ruggiero, a California native."You just have to play on the boys' teams. When I first startedthere were hardly any teams at all, but then Wayne Gretzky came toLos Angeles, and the rinks came."Most of the 20 women on the U.S. team will leave here andreturn to lives as college students or coaches; one is a high schoolstudent. Granato is one of only two female Olympic hockey playerswho have seriously explored options in the National Hockey League.Granato, whose brother Tony plays for the NHL's San Jose Sharks, hasspoken to the New York Islanders about a tryout next year; Canadiangoaltender Manon Rheaume once played in the Tampa Bay Lightningorganization. But as a goaltender, Rheaume was not subject to theNHL's hard hitting. Granato, who weighs 140 pounds, fears she wouldnot be able to fight off NHL opponents 50 pounds heavier."With us, not only do you have an offseason, but there'snowhere for you to go next year if you're out of college," Granatosaid. "We realize that after this, it's over until the nextOlympics."