HAYLEY’S LEGACY

Trailblazer, game-changer, or even difference maker — the mangled term that TV sports announcers love. Hayley Wickenheiser is all of those, and more. The Canadian phenom who turned women’s hockey on its ear has hung up her skates after 22 years of thrilling fans and racking up medals and accomplishments. But more than the three Olympic medals and seven IIHF world women’s championship medals, what Wickenheiser should be lauded for is the inspiration she has provided to generations of girls.

“She was a hero to a lot of the younger players that are on the current National team … the higher the pressure was, the higher the stakes, the more she excelled,” noted longtime teammate Cassie Campbell-Pascall.

Now 38, Wickenheiser also led the way for younger teammates at the University of Calgary, where she played while studying kinesiology. Those Dinos couldn’t ask for a better mentor, and playing and training alongside probably the most dominant, intense female hockey player to ever lace ’em up likely set them ahead by years.

She is now passing the leadership baton on to other female athletes at the top in their respective sports: soccer star Christine Sinclair and two-time Olympic bobsled champion Kaillie Humphries, who retweeted many of the glowing tributes to Wickenheiser this weekend while competing at a World Cup event.

But it’s not just big league play where Wickenheiser excels. She volunteers to mentor kids through Classroom Champion, a program that marries Olympians and Paralympians with classrooms across Canada, the U.S., and Costa Rica. She’s a big supporter of youth organizations such as JumpStart and Kids Sports, which provide underprivileged youth the chance to play and see sports they wouldn’t otherwise get. She launched the annual Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival for girls.

Her off-ice achievements also include being named to Sports Illustrated Toughest Athletes in the World list, being a two-time finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation Team Athlete of The Year, twice named among the Globe and Mail’s “Power 50” influencers in sport, and was among QMI Agency’s top 10 “Greatest Female Athletes in the History of Sports.”

Wayne Gretzky probably paid her the best compliment a hockey player could ever hope for when he said “You are the Gordie Howe of women’s hockey,” during a tribute Saturday at Rogers Place, prior to the Calgary Flames/ Edmonton Oilers clash.

When she took to the podium, Wickenheiser told the packed crowd that playing for Canada was the “greatest honour of her life.”

Actually, Hayley, the honour was all ours.