Wickenheiser not ready to give up ‘good gig’
Player is all-time leader in international games
CALGARY — On her final shift of the Olympic women’s hockey final in Vancouver, Hayley Wickenheiser took her eyes off the puck.
“I was actually looking into the stands to see people cheering and take it in. I never did that in any of the other Olympics,” she recalls. “I was pretty confident we were going to win. The puck was in the other end.”
It sounds like the perfect moment to cap a long, successful career. But it wasn’t over for Wickenheiser.
As the 2014 Winter Olympics approach, Wickenheiser is asked relentlessly if her sixth Olympic Games will be her last.
“I don’t know, and that’s the truth,” the 35-year-old forward says. “I still love to play. I feel I have lots left in the tank. I would like to get into medicine at some point and there’s other things to do in life, but at this point I haven’t decided.
“Vancouver was a special experience and something that you’ll probably never experience as an athlete again, but being on the ice every day, being in this environment is something I’ve done for so long. I don’t really see myself doing anything else at this point.
“I love to just be an athlete. It’s a great lifestyle. You’re kind of your own boss. You get to decide what you want to do and make a living at it. It’s a good gig.”
Wickenheiser’s gig includes, so far, five Olympic Games — four in women’s hockey and one in softball — three Olympic gold medals and one silver, all in hockey, two decades of representing Canada in sport and more games, goals and assists than any other player in national women’s team history.
From the only girl playing midget AAA hockey in Calgary at 15 to participating in Philadelphia Flyers rookie camps to her forays into the men’s pro leagues in Finland and Sweden, Wickenheiser took risks to push her own boundaries and those of her sport.
Her reward is hockey experiences no other woman has and a series of firsts, including one of the first two women to be featured in an NHL video game. In kicking at hockey traditions, she’s drawn both praise and censure during her career.
“Oh, a big price, a high price,” Wickenheiser says. “It was difficult for me personally to go and play in the men’s game and come back to the female game.
“A lot of people thought I was abandoning the female game or I thought I was too good for the female game. A lot of resentment that way.” The Shaunavon, Sask., native continues to seek the unorthodox in an effort to extend her career.
Since 2010, she’s skated in the summers with NHL players Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Sam Gagner, but she’s also spent time in the gym with bobsled pilot Kaillie Humphries and bike raced through the Arizona mountains with sprint coach Stuart McMillan. She’s run in the mountains and on the beach with endurance athlete Syl Corbett.
“I like to surround myself with people who are better than me,” Wickenheiser explains. “So many interesting people that keep inspiring me to get better and I feel like I can.”
“I think for my mental, spiritual, emotional side, I need to get away and do things that are stimulating and fun and different each summer because 20 years of being on this team, I don’t want to do the same every year.
“I like to learn and pick brains of the best people I can find, so maybe I get a chance to be in different arenas like that.”
Wickenheiser and teammate Jayna Hefford will be the only players in the 2014 women’s hockey tournament who have played in every Olympic Games since female hockey made its debut in 1998.
Wickenheiser is Canada’s all-time leader in international games (265), goals (166) and assists (204). She was the top scorer and most valuable player in the 2002 and 2006 Olympic tournaments.
She played through a broken wrist in 2006.
After Cassie Campbell retired in ’06, Wickenheiser served as Canada’s captain until recently when Caroline Ouellette was chosen captain of the Olympic team by head coach Kevin Dineen. Wickenheiser will be an alternate.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt,” Wickenheiser said.
“I’m a player that leads by example. I go out every day and do the best that I can.
“It’s not really going to change anything in the way that I lead or what I do day to day.
“As far as what I do on the ice and what I do around the team and what I’m going to do in the community and with the rest of my life, I don’t think it really changes a whole heck of a lot. I still am going to be the person and the leader I’ve always been. Now Caro will step in and do a great job in that role.”