U.S. Spoils the Party for Canada

Ben Smith insisted it was only one game among many the U.S. women’s national hockey team will play in its pre-Olympic tour, that no great significance should be attached to its 3-0 victory over Canada on Saturday in the finale of the Three Nations Cup.

The ear-to-ear grins and joyous whoops of the U.S. players as they trooped off the ice at the Olympic Center suggested otherwise.

It was, after all, the first time the U.S. women had defeated Canada to win a major tournament after seven runner-up finishes. Coming as it did after a dispiriting 5-4 loss to Canada on Wednesday, in which the U.S. squandered a 4-1 lead, it was especially sweet revenge.

“We’re walking out of here with gold medals. Even though it was one game, it was a championship game, and they’re walking out of here with silver medals, which they’ve never done before,” said former Simi Valley resident Angela Ruggiero, Team USA’s youngest player at 17 and its most effective defenseman Saturday. “They know we’re right on their tails.

“We knew we had to prove ourselves tonight. After the last game, we wanted to come into this one and be on fire and set a precedent.”

That they did. Goaltender Sara DeCosta, who is on leave from Providence College, made 23 saves to give the U.S. its first shutout victory over Canada and improve its pre-Olympic record to 22-5-1. Canada, which had never been shut out in top-level competition, is 18-4 in pre-Olympic play.

So seriously did the Canadians take the loss that Coach Shannon Miller canceled the team’s Christmas party and prohibited players from drinking alcohol during the Christmas break. She also vowed not to drink, as her own penance.

“We weren’t prepared. We were terrible. We didn’t deserve to win,” said Miller, the only female head coach of a national women’s hockey team. “We were too busy packing and planning our party. This is a tough pill to swallow, but better now than in February.”

Said defenseman Cassie Campbell: “We embarrassed ourselves and we embarrassed our country. We’re all disappointed in ourselves.”

Canada lacked its usual polish around the net, but that can be attributed to Team USA’s solid defensive effort. Ruggiero was exceptional, keeping the Canadian wingers from using their speed on the wide, Olympic-size rink.

“I’m pleased with how we played in most areas,” Smith said. “This is a situation where if you win, you’re happy. If you lose, you know the big games are in February.”

The U.S. players, however, hoped they planted a seed of doubt among the Canadians heading into the Nagano Games.

“It’s good for our confidence going into the Olympics knowing we can win in big games against them,” DeCosta said. “This was exciting. No question about it, it was a team effort. Our penalty killing was unbelievable and we were just on fire all night.”

Left wing Gretchen Ulion, who had been cut from the U.S. team in August 1995, scored twice Saturday as part of a 41-shot U.S. barrage at Canadian goalie Manon Rheaume.

Ulion lifted a rebound over a helpless Rheaume during a power play, at 4:06 of the second period, and at 14:22 poked in a loose puck that Rheaume couldn’t freeze. Center A.J. Mleczko scored the final U.S. goal, taking a perfectly timed pass from Tricia Dunn and lifting it over Rheaume by the left post at 18:17.

Smith, who was appointed coach of the U.S. team in June 1996, praised Ulion’s work ethic and determination.

“I can honestly say I didn’t see enough of her,” Smith said of Ulion, who played at Dartmouth and made the 1994 and 1995 U.S. national teams before being cut by then-coach Karen Kay. “A friend of mine who coached at Dartmouth said, ‘Hey, Ben, you might want to take another look at this Ulion kid,’ and 12 minutes into her first practice I said, ‘Who the hell cut her?’ ”

Being cut in 1995 was painful for Ulion. She got her master’s degree in education and took a teaching job at a private school in Massachusetts, but an invitation to the 1996 tryouts inspired her to give hockey one last chance.

“Looking back, that was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Ulion said. “It was a little wake-up call.”

And if Saturday’s U.S. victory was a wake-up call for Canada, so much the better.