URL:http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyWomen/mar28_woman.html March 28, 1997 U.S. PLAYER HAS SIGHTS ON NAGANO  LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) -- Gretchen Ulion thought her days on the U.S. women's hockey team were history. Then she got a letter in the mail last summer and suddenly it was her job as a high school teacher that was history.  The letter was from U.S. coach Ben Smith inviting her to camp -- after she had been snubbed three times.  "I was a little surprised," Ulion said. "The letter came out of the blue. I was left with a lot of decisions at that point because I'd come to a crossroads."  The two-time Ivy League player of the year hadn't envisioned her hockey career would end playing in some men's league once a week. After being an integral member of the national team twice, she had set her sights on the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, where women will compete for a gold medal in the sport for the first time.  "Ever since I've known that it's been a reality (that women's hockey would be a medal sport at Nagano), that's been a goal," said the 24-year-old from Marlborough, Conn. "You can't grow up playing hockey since age 6 without having that goal."  The summer of 1995 had brought that dream to a sudden halt.  "I was still playing, but I had come to camp and was cut," said Ulion, who scored a school-record 85 points (49 goals, 36 assists) in her senior year at Dartmouth and set 11 school records and four Ivy League marks before graduating in 1994. "I was a little disappointed with that, and was looking to get back into it and hoping to be invited to the Christmas camp."  She wasn't.  "I was upset," Ulion said. "I made a couple of calls. I didn't feel like I had any concrete answers, but the pool is competitive. They were looking at some new faces. I guess I wasn't one of them at that point."  Nor was she one when March camp began.  "I had been training all that time," Ulion said. "So it was a little unexpected."  Despite her impressive credentials, Ulion had been lost in a shuffle of coaches. Until last summer, USA Hockey had used several coaches for the women's team, and there was a lack of continuity.  Enter Smith, who was chosen national coach last June. He had been one of the coaches shuffled in and out of the program, and he cut Ulion in August 1995.  "I was new to the group, and I had no background with the players," said Smith, who coached the Northeastern men's team for five years before taking over the women's national team.  After his 1995 stint with the women, Smith went back to Northeastern, and because he hadn't selected Ulion, she was left out of the mix again and again. Once Smith took over the women's team, though, Dartmouth coach George Crowe put in a plug for Ulion.  So Smith brought 40 players to camp last summer for a series against the Swedish National Team. Ulion was No. 40 on the list, but that quickly changed.  "The first night of practice we skated on the small rink," Smith said. "At the end of practice I thought to myself, 'Who cut this kid?'  "I grabbed her after I selected her and said, 'Gretchen, how do you explain your turnaround here?' And she said, 'Last year I came here to try to impress the coaches. This year I just came for myself, to see whether I was good enough.' "  She was. A week ago she was selected to the national team and now is headed for the Women's World Championship, which begins Monday at Kitchener, Ontario.  "I guess it was something to prove to myself, that I did belong here, that maybe my career got cut a little short," said Ulion, who scored twice Wednesday night in an exhibition game against Russia. "I was excited at a new chance. I think the year off gave me a new perspective on my goals." _________________________________________________________________ CANOE home Copyright (c) 1997, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved.