Ruggiero hits top of the charts

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Congratulations to former Simi Valley resident and three-time hockey Olympian Angela Ruggiero, who is scheduled tonight to become the all-time leader in games played for Team USA.

Ruggiero, who made her national team debut at 15 and was 18 when she played for the triumphant U.S. team at the first women’s Olympic tournament at Nagano in 1998, will play her 206th game tonight. That surpasses Cammi Granato’s record of 205.

Fittingly, Ruggiero will set the record against Canada, the U.S. team’s traditional rival. The occasion is the Four Nations Cup, being played at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Ruggiero, a defenseman, has been selected the top defenseman in four of the eight Women’s World Championships in which she has played. She also won an Olympic silver medal at Salt Lake City in 2002 and bronze at Turin in 2006. She’s participating in a women’s residency program organized by USA Hockey so she can train for the 2010 Games.

-- Helene Elliott