Angela Ruggiero
Angela Ruggiero
Angela Marie Ruggierois an American ice hockey defenseman. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and was a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team, medaling in four successive Winter Olympic Games, including one Gold medal, two Silver, and one Bronze. She competed in ten Women's World Championships winning four Gold medals and six Silver. She also authored a memoir about her hockey experiences called Breaking the Ice. She also was a contestant on the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth3 January 1980
CountryUnited States of America
She's one of the toughest girls I've ever met. When she gets on the ice, she throws her weight around. She's a tough competitor.
She's always smiling and ready to do anything asked of her. She's only going to get better from here. We let her down in her first game against Canada, but she had the right attitude to bounce right back. To have someone like her who has been on the bubble for so long, it brings a smile to your face.
She played like I expect her to play -- perfect.
Obviously, we'd love to be ahead the whole time, but if we're down by one or two goals against a great team like Sweden or Canada, we'll see it's OK. We were able to come back. For me, I'm happy it happened. We stayed composed on the bench. We didn't throw our hands up in the air.
I live to play Canada. It's one of the biggest rivalries in the sport because it always comes down to the U.S and Canada.
We love her, and she is a great athlete. She's probably going to be on this team in a few years.
We were excited to win the game and excited to win a medal, but I think maybe in the back of our heads we wished we were playing (against Canada). But we're still proud of ourselves.
It's taken away from hockey. That wasn't hockey today, in my opinion. That was power play and penalty kill. And it brought me back to last Olympics, when it was no rhythm. It was power play and penalty kill. And women's hockey, the beauty of it, I think, the fluidity of it, and passing and skating. When you have power play and penalty kill, that's all systems ... so we haven't had that much opportunity to work that.
It's hard when all the pressure is in their end, and then they finally break out of it. That's when bad things can happen. We didn't play our best game, and we paid the biggest price for it.
It was really important for her to play at this tournament, get the nerves out. That's the biggest thing for the goalie. Had they scored earlier in the game when they had the chances, it might have been a different ballgame.
They are the reason I play hockey. I play hockey to beat Canada.
It's hard to build the game when it's being played like this. I'm here to promote our game on the biggest stage it's got, and it's not the best hockey in the world when the teams are so different.
It's happened two Olympics in a row. Will it be three?
It's a really tough day for everyone: We're really excited, but we're also distraught that someone we're so close to won't be with us. Shelley's been a part of this program since 1992, and with that she has brought so much experience and leadership to the team. We're definitely going to miss her and everything she did for the team, both on and off the ice.