HANGING UP THE SKATES
Wickenheiser’s legacy iconic
When Hayley WickCALG ARY enheiser sees girls dragging hockey bags into arenas, she feels a sense of accomplishment.
The normalcy of girls playing hockey is what she sweated for, fought for and shed tears for.
When Wickenheiser started playing 33 years ago, there were no girls’ teams. She played with boys and wasn’t always welcomed by players or their parents.
“The greatest stride’s been made in the acceptance of girls playing the game,” says Wickenheiser. “Any little girl in this country can walk into a hockey rink and no one is going to think twice or look twice. There’s female hockey changerooms in a lot of rinks now.
“I remember when I was a kid, I hid in the bathroom and tucked my hair up so no one would know I was a girl. I just went through hell, really, to play. Girls don’t have to go through hell anymore to play hockey.”
The fact female hockey has arrived at this stage soothes the difficult decision to end her playing career.
The country’s all-time leading scorer announced her retirement Friday after 23 years on the Canadian women’s team and almost a dozen Olympic and world championship gold medals.
“Dear Canada. It has been the great honour of my life to play for you. Time to hang em up! Thank you!” Wickenheiser posted on her Twitter account.
Not only was Wickenheiser a star in women’s hockey when the game desperately needed one, she changed perceptions of what women are capable of in sport.
The 38- year- old from Shaunavon, Sask., told The Canadian Press in a sometimestearful interview she didn’t want to postpone her entrance into medical school any longer.
“I’ll miss it,” Wickenheiser said.
The number of registered female players in Canada went from 16,000 in her first year on the national team to almost 87,000 today.
Bob Nicholson, who was Hockey Canada’s president and chief executive during most of Wickenheiser’s career, said she played a big role in giving “girls the dreams that boys had.”
Her body of work in hockey is broad, deep and unique.
A five- foot-10, 171- pound forward with a heavy shot and creative hands, No. 22 was the dominant female player in the world in this century’s first decade. Named MVP of the 2002 and 2006 Olympic women’s hockey tournaments, Wickenheiser’s 379 points for Canada — 168 goals, 211 assists in 276 games — will be difficult to match.