URL:http://www.globeandmail.com/docs/news/19970403/Sport/SHOKI.html GLOBEnet PASSION FOR HOCKEY DRIVES TEEN TO BE A TOP WOMEN'S PLAYER WORLD CLASS / Calgary's Hayley Wickenheiser is an imposing presence at the world championship. Thursday, April 3, 1997 By Beverley Smith Sport Reporter The practice was over, but Hayley Wickenheiser, intense and determined, was not finished. Long after most of her teammates had left the ice, the 18-year-old hockey prodigy from Calgary still took the time to hone some skills on a quiet day at the women's world hockey championship. A handful of people watched, warmed by the thought of Canada winning its fourth consecutive world title. Although the Canadian team is a collection of skilled competitors, Wickenheiser is, and always has been, regarded as a gifted player, 170 pounds of boundless desire. She was first chosen for the world team in 1994 when she was only 15. Now she's "an awesome hockey player," coach Shannon Miller said. "Hayley, without question, has arrived as one of the best players in the world, and is going to be a future leader in women's hockey." Wickenheiser's opportunities were limited by a torn ankle ligament in her first world tournament, and she did not get a shift until the semi-final round. "It was kind of tough, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me," she said yesterday. "I didn't put pressure on myself, and I was able to get my feet wet." Wickenheiser, the tallest player on the team at an imposing 5 foot 9, was chosen top Canadian in the tournament opener this week against Switzerland, Canada, 2-0, will need her in what promises to be a punishing match against China tonight. "They do use their sticks a lot," Miller said. "I'm a bit concerned for the safety of my players." Miller said she expects the Canada-China game will produce "tons of penalties. I expect we are going to fight back." Collectively, Canada is one of the smallest teams. The players, however, are also among the fastest. "Even if they [the Chinese] are big, we are pretty fast. We can skate around them," team veteran France St. Louis said. Bodychecking from the Chinese is the least of Canada's worries. "We don't mind the bodychecking," Miller said. "It's the stick work that bothers us more." Wickenheiser said she would welcome bodychecking in the China game--or any game at all. "It might cut back on the sticks and it would be easier to referee," she said. If the Chinese are chippy, Wickenheiser is one of the most passionate. "She still needs to mature as a player," Miller said. "She is highly skilled, but she plays with a little too much intensity and that hurts her a bit. She needs to control her emotions." Her father, Tom, coached her from the time she started to skate as a four-year-old on a pond in Shaunavon, Sask. When she started playing minor hockey a year later, her father had her play defence to teach patience. "It was good," Wickenheiser said. "You have to skate backward and forward in defence." Wickenheiser, a distant cousin of former National Hockey League player Doug Wickenheiser, is a centre. She was chosen the outstanding forward at the 1995 Pacific Rim Championship, which included Canada, the United States, China and Japan. Miller's job as coach is to channel Wickenheiser's emotion in productive directions, and Wickenheiser also works with a sport psychologist. Miller tries to be a calming influence and carefully chooses when Wickenheiser takes the ice. Sending her out to kill penalties might be akin to dropping a bomb on a volcano. "It gets her even more wound up," Miller said. But that quality also works in her favour. Wickenheiser is so committed that she anticipates plays, reads the action and responds in a blink. "Hockey is my passion," she said. "It's the thing I truly enjoy and love to do. It's such a combination of so many physical skills and mental stamina. "You have an ability to be creative and to make things happen." Wickenheiser certainly intends to. Copyright (c) 1997, The Globe and Mail Company ® All rights reserved.