Step Aside, Mr. Gretzky

When Caitlin K. Cahow ’07 first scored a goal, it felt good. At least for a while.

“I went in on a breakaway, I shot, and put it in the net,” she says. “I was celebrating and dancing, and nobody was celebrating with me. And I looked around­.” The seven-year-old hockey neophyte had just shot the puck into her own net.

Cahow has come a long way since then. Starting Feb. 11, she will be competing with the U.S. women’s hockey team in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. Cahow will be playing alongside past and present Harvard hockey stars Jamie P. Hagerman ’03, 1998 gold medalist Angela M. Ruggiero ’02-’04, and former Crimson hockey team co-captain Julie W. Chu ’06 .

But Harvard doesn’t just churn out American competitors. Past Crimson puckmesiters Sarah M. Vaillancourt ’08 and 2002 gold medalist Jennifer L. Botterill ’02-’03 will also be hitting the ice, but for the Canadian team.

While these young women will be fierce rivals this month, they share a common story of hardhip and dedication in a sport traditionally dominated by men.

THIS IS A MAN’S WORLD

Botteril and her teammates are more than just athletes—they are pioneers. Until recently, it was a widely accepted fact that unless women were in sparkly leotards and dainty white figure skates, they did not belong on the ice. In fact, many of the players on the Harvard women’s hockey team began their careers as figure skaters. Women’s hockey was not made an Olympic sport until 1998, and the National Hockey League (NHL)—the only widely televised hockey organization—is still drenched in testosterone.

“When I was little, I wanted to play in the NHL,” Hagerman, who first played hockey at age three, writes in an e-mail. “As I got older, I realized that wasn’t really a possibility.” Then one day, dreams of the Stanley Cup were replaced by dreams of a burning torch, eternal glory, and global competition. Hagerman knew that she couldn’t play for the NHL, but she could play for her country.

“I wanted to be amongst the best players in the country, and being on the [Olympic] team is just that,” Hagerman writes.

SKATE TO THE GOLD

For Hagerman and her teammates, however, the road to the Olympics has been harder than getting a date for the Freshman Formal.

“In order to be an Olympic athlete, you have to be strong both emotionally and physically,” says Katey B. Stone, head coach of women’s hockey at Harvard. She has coached all six of these women during their time at Harvard and vouches for their incredible work ethic. “They work harder than anybody else. Nothing’s too hard for these kids.”

Every day at the Olympic Training Center, the players would wake up at seven, eat breakfast, and gear up for practice. After at least an hour of off-ice physical conditioning, they hit the ice for three hours of intense hockey before taking a quick lunch break followed by a reptition of the morning’s routine. Their nightlife consisted of watching game tapes as a team for hours a time. Often, watching a 20-minute period of a game would take one-and-a-half hours to get through.

Such a rigorous schedule has forced the players to bench procrastination and develop good time management skills.

Chu and Cahow both took a year off from school to train for the Olympics, but when they were on campus, Cahow says that by managing her time effectively, she could juggle hockey practice and four or five classes each semester.

The struggles of time manangement don’t end after graduation. Hagerman was assistant coach to the Harvard women’s hockey team last year, but she found that she was still able to do everything she wanted.

“Hockey has always been a huge part of my everyday life, so getting to Harvard was really no different in terms of the time I dedicated to all areas of my life,” writes Hagerman. “I just tried to squeeze as much out of the day as possible.”

DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES

To respond to the struggles of training, pressure, and breaking boundaries in a sport dominated by men, the Olympic women of the Harvard hockey team draw strength from a variety of sources. After apologizing for being trite, Cahow attributes her own determination and inspiration to her mom, a doctor who was one of just eight women in her Harvard Medical School class.

“I think she’s a pretty incredible woman,” says Cahow. “She really had to fight for what she wanted to do.”

Cahow has inherited her mother’s ability to push gender boundaries.

“I’m in a similar boat,” she says. “Women’s hockey is not widely accepted. We don’t get a lot of media attention.”

According to Cahow, some people believe women’s hockey is not worth watching. This attitude just makes her fight harder.

“I identify with my mom in that way—in fighting for what you want and what you believe in, and having a sense of equality about that,” she says.

While Cahow and her teammates seek a gold medal, victory is theirs the moment they step on the ice.