------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title:       No place for pom-poms: the tough U.S. women were 
             second in the first worlds. (Hockey)
Authors:     Fichtenbaum, Paul
Citation:    Sports Illustrated, April 2, 1990 v72 n14 p59(1)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subjects:    Sports for women_Analysis
             Hockey clubs_Analysis
             Northeastern University_Athletics

Reference #: A8837229

========================================================================

Full Text COPYRIGHT Time Inc. 1990

Don MacLeod handles overnight letters nearly every day, but the envelope
he received last week is one he will never forget.  The return address
read, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, The White House." Inside was a letter
from President Bush stating that the American people will be rooting for
another "Miracle on Ice."

Is this an Olympic year already?  No, not really.  MacLeod, a courier
for Federal Express full time and coach of the Northeastern University
women's ice hockey team on the side, moonlights as coach of the U.S.
women's hockey team, which last week played in the first International
Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship, in Ottawa.  The
round-robin tournament featured teams from the U.S., Canada, Finland,
Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany.

"I have run off copies of the President's letter and put them in
envelopes, and I'll give them out," MacLeod said before Sunday's
championship game. "I'm going to use some of the President's words about
togetherness in my pregame talk and see if they will work."

Knute Rockne he may never be.  The U.S., the underdog against a strong
Canadian team, lost 5-2 at the Civic Centre before a near sellout crowd
of 8,784 and had to settle for the silver medal. Finland, which lost to
both the U.S. and Canada by one goal earlier in the week, beat Sweden
6-3 for the bronze.

Women's hockey is not the pajama party you might imagine.  In the
mid-1970s, when many U.S. college programs started, some women arrived
for tryouts in figure skates with pom-poms on them or even carried their
equipment in pillow cases embroidered with ballerinas.  Now they know
how to play the game.  Their breakout plays are the same ones used in
the NHL, their passes are short and crisp, their skating strong and
their puckhandling skills extraordinary. "I've had some men's coaches
say to me during warmups, `What do you do on the ice?  You're girls,' "
said U.S. assistant coach Karen Kay. "Once they see us, they say we do
the same things as the men.  It's hockey.  It's skills."

And as with the men, it's hitting.  Just ask U.S. team captain Tina
Cardinale, whose right forearm and elbow were a mass of purple-and-blue
welts, courtesy of a slash early in the tournament.  Canada's France
St.-Louis spent three days in a hospital after taking a stick across the
throat, and Finland's Kirsi Hirvonen was carried away with a neck injury
after being cross-checked.

Bodychecking in women's hockey is illegal in the U.S., but tournament
rules allowed for full-contact checking with certain limitations along
the boards.  That did not present much of a problem for a U.S. team
whose members ranged in age from 17 to 30 and included high school and
college players, a law student and a construction worker.

"They're tougher creatures than we ever gave them credit for," said
MacLeod. "Lauren Apollo [6 feet, 170 pounds], she'd like to rip the
building down.  Shawna Davidson [5' 9 in., 170], she's tough as nails. 
Most of the girls like the hitting."

A good thing, because the U.S. needed to be tough to keep up with Canada
in the final. Despite their hot-pink uniforms, the Canadians proved to
be a rugged, physical team.  The Americans started strongly, taking a
1-0 lead 2:25 into the game on a goal by Cindy Curley, the tournament's
high scorer.  Davidson added to the U.S. lead by banging in her own
rebound almost 14 minutes later.  But then the Canadians scored five
straight goals to win the gold medal.

The success of the tournament bodes well for the future of women's
hockey.  The IOC is considering a proposal to give the sport Olympic
status by 1994, and the IIHF plans to hold a world championship every
four years, beginning in '92.  Until then, the U.S. team will have to be
satisfied with a silver medal -- and a greeting from the President.

CAPTION: Bodies went flying when Canada homed in on the U.S. goal.