From Badgers to Olympians
February 07, 2006 | Women's Hockey
The road to Torino, Italy, and the 2006 Winter Olympics stopped in Madison, Wis., to pick up five former Badger hockey players. Skating for Team USA on the men's side are Brian Rafalski (1991-95) and newly appointed team captain Chris Chelios (1981-83). Former Badger Dany Heatley (1999-2001) will skate for Canada. On the women's side are Wisconsin native Molly Engstrom (2001-05) and for Canada, Carla MacLeod (2001-05).
Still a new sport, this year's Games will be just the third time women's hockey has competed, while the men's game has been part of the Olympics since the 1920 Games. The United States won the first women's gold medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano while Canada came back to claim the gold in 2002 when Salt Lake City hosted.
In the off-Olympic years, the countries have battled in the women 's World Championships with Canada dominating the last eight years before USA took the gold after a dramatic shootout in the 2005 Worlds.
Barring any upsets, the Olympic championship game looks to be another rematch for Canada and the U.S. But first, the teams will have three games leading up to the semifinals. The U.S. starts its run on Feb. 11 against Switzerland. The team will then face Germany on Feb. 12 and finally Finland on Feb. 14. Canada's route will have the team facing Italy on Feb. 11, Russia on Feb. 12 and Sweden on Feb. 14.
The semifinals will be held Feb. 17 followed by the gold-medal game on Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. The bronze-medal contest will be held earlier that day at 9:30 a.m. (all times Central)
NBC and its affliate stations (USA, CNBC, MSNBC) will be televising all the preliminary games as well as the semifinals, gold- and bronze-medal games. For a complete schedule visit nbcolympics.com.
For Engstrom and MacLeod, after four years skating together for the Badgers, each admits the transition was tricky, but not without its charms.
'All I know is we have fun with it, and I always tell her to pass the puck to me in the slot when I'm out there, hoping one time she 'll forget I'm on the other team!' joked MacLeod.
Smiling, Engstrom added, 'It's always nice to know someone from the other side and Carla has put a face on those Maple Leafs for me. '
No stranger to the Olympics, Wisconsin women's hockey head coach and former Olympian, Mark Johnson also addressed his skaters' participation in the Games.
'Obviously it helps our program to have that caliber of player and we can put it on the website and you can put pictures in the locker room, and it 's great for recruiting,' explained Johnson. 'But my satisfaction comes from knowing they're getting an opportunity to really fulfill a dream. It's not about money. It's not about fame. It's just that opportunity, that they're going to put that jersey on and experience two weeks that they'll cherish for the rest of their lives.'
