Hayley Wickenheiser
Hayley Wickenheiser
Hayley Wickenheiser OCis a Canadian women's ice hockey player. She was the first woman to play full-time professional hockey in a position other than goalie. Wickenheiser is a member of the Canada women's national ice hockey team. She has represented Canada at the Winter Olympics five times, capturing four gold and one silver medal and twice being named tournament MVP, and one time at the Summer Olympics in softball. She has the most gold medals of any Canadian Olympian and...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth12 August 1978
CityShaunavon, Canada
It's really exciting. We've been working eight, nine months for this moment. It felt a little surreal, going to the rink, getting our stuff and leaving but we're ready to go.
It's our first meeting since the worlds, so it will be interesting to see what they look like, and how we look as well.
They (Finland) played a great game against the U.S. and we have to get off to a quick start. Finland is always a problem with their speed and scoring ability.
You don't want to leave anything to chance. Unfortunately, because I hate blowing teams out like that.
There were a lot of kids in the crowd and I think a lot of them were familiar with my name and obviously being over here with the attention I received when I was here. It was kind of nice to hear the kids squealing, the atmosphere was good.
This is the Olympics, and it matters. If there was no goal differential that mattered, we would probably dump the puck in and sit back. But it makes a mockery at the same time when you just sit back. Fans don't want to see that. ... If I was watching (the U.S.) scoring so many goals, I might wonder, too, but differential does matter.
We're expecting to go over and win the gold and defend the gold medal. Anything less would be disappointing for us. We know what we have to do. It's just a matter of doing it on the day when it counts the most.
I hope that (Canadians) will be proud and understand how we had to go through this tournament to get to the end result.
I didn't expect much from Italy, but Russia I thought would be better. I don't think they played with much heart.
To be Olympic champions for the second time in a row is great. It's definitely harder to defend gold than to win it.
We haven't faced a lot of adversity in our own end, but I'm sure they'll be fired up when they hear that comment. They'll be ready to go.
We are completely prepared. If we don't beat ourselves, we'll be fine.
You'd never see that on a men's team with a little baby on the bus who is crying at midnight. All the girls enjoy having him around. It's refreshing if it makes her feel comfortable, we're fine with it.
When I got the second goal, I knew I had 100 goals so one of my teammates, Gillian Apps, grabbed the puck for me.