By Cassie Campbell-Pascall
For too long the world has failed to recognise that the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement are about fine athletics and fine art.
~Avery Brundage
I had always loved sports and hockey in particular. As a kid I remember watching with total fascination as all the athletes entered the stadium during the opening ceremonies at an Olympic Games. I even had imagined myself, as kids are prone to do, walking amongst them, though I had no real idea what sport I would be playing. Women's Hockey was not an Olympic sport at that time so hockey wasn't an option, or so I thought.
For too long the world has failed to recognise that the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement are about fine athletics and fine art.
~Avery Brundage
I had always loved sports and hockey in particular. As a kid I remember watching with total fascination as all the athletes entered the stadium during the opening ceremonies at an Olympic Games. I even had imagined myself, as kids are prone to do, walking amongst them, though I had no real idea what sport I would be playing. Women's Hockey was not an Olympic sport at that time so hockey wasn't an option, or so I thought.
The moment I put on skates I was hooked. The only issue was that my parents made me wear white skates and the ones I really wanted were black. My first year of skating was as a figure skater, because that was what you were supposed to do if you were a girl at the time. Nothing against figure skating, but it just wasn't for me.... I wanted to play hockey. And as I skated that first year, I always kept one eye on my brother's hockey practices. I was always watching him play. I wanted to play too, but whenever I asked, I always got the same answer – "Girls don't play hockey."
When I was six years old, I started to really watch a girl named Jennifer Minkus who played on my brother's team. I still remember her name because she became the final and winning argument I had for my parents when it came to them allowing me to play. They had no comeback when I simply reminded them that "Jennifer plays!" They respected her and her family so much and she became a role model to me without her even knowing.
The next year I was playing on a boy's team. I was only seven, my hair was cut short and, like the rest of the team, I would arrive already dressed for the game. I never remember hearing anything negative, but my parents heard things from time to time. As a kid, it doesn't even occur to you that people might have an issue. As it turned out the team didn't really understand that I was a girl until the end of the year party... which turned out to be a swimming party!
We had been living in Northern New Jersey and my first team was the Ramapo Saints. I played in the Mites division and continued to play there for two years before we moved back to Canada. It was exciting for me at the time to finally be playing the same sport as my brother. I had always been a tomboy and I idolized my older brother. I had played street hockey with him, even wearing some of his cast-off clothes sometimes. He just seemed to be the coolest person I knew.
After we got back to Canada the opportunities to play women's hockey improved. We moved to Brampton, Ontario, which, at the time, had the world's largest women's hockey association — the Brampton Canadettes. I just loved to play and even though a lot of my friends quit during their teen years, I kept playing. My first major tournament was the Canada Winter Games held in Prince Edward Island in 1991. By 1994 I played in my first women's hockey World Championship, and then in 1998, the Olympics!
Even now, more than thirteen years later, I remember so vividly walking into the stadium in Nagano for the opening ceremonies. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It felt like I was having an out of body experience. There I was walking into the Olympic stadium yet I was also picturing myself watching as a little girl at home. It was a surreal moment. And I was thinking, "Wow, can you believe it?" It was almost as if I was talking to that little girl... to me. It was a truly amazing, unforgettable moment. I could see myself in my old house, glued to the TV, entranced by the opening ceremonies, dreaming of the day... and it all came back to me in an instant. The endless times my parents had driven me to practices and games. All the training and workouts, plus all the people who had helped me along the way, including coaches and friends. There are so many people that are involved in getting a player to the Olympics or to a national team or the NHL for that matter. It was all of those people that I was thinking about when I entered that stadium.
The Canadian women's hockey team was the favorite that year and the feeling that I had come all this way and that I was representing my country and for the first time ever, women's hockey, well it was overpowering. We wanted to bring the gold home that winter, but we lost to the U.S. in the gold medal game. I was crushed. I thought that I had let my team down, especially because there were older players there who would never get another chance to win gold at an Olympics. It wasn't until about six months later that it finally registered as a win. It finally dawned on me: "Hey, we brought home a silver medal in the Olympics!" It was the first Olympic Games to include women's hockey and we got the first silver medal.
Losing that game definitely made me a better player. We learned so much about ourselves from that loss. I intensified my training, and I became a better leader. We all became better players and better people after the challenging time we had in Nagano. Four years later I returned to the Olympics in Salt Lake City, and this time we beat the U.S. team in the final game and brought home the Gold! It was a game we should have never won — the U.S. had their "dream team" and had put so much money into their program. But we managed to play our best when it mattered the most... on gold medal game day!
To this day I believe that if we had not lost in Nagano, we wouldn't have won in Salt Lake City. It was as if we needed that big loss in order to take a serious look at ourselves and become the players and team we did become.
Moving on, I was fortunate to compete in my third Olympics, which I knew was going to be my last. In 2006 in Turin, Italy the Canadian team again brought home the Gold. It was by far the best Team Canada I ever played on as far as talent and depth.
As a young girl, I never knew that I would be able to go to the Olympics as a female ice hockey player, but I had a vision and I was lucky enough to have it come true! From watching the Olympics on TV as a child to playing on the biggest stage in the world! It was truly my dream come true!
When I was six years old, I started to really watch a girl named Jennifer Minkus who played on my brother's team. I still remember her name because she became the final and winning argument I had for my parents when it came to them allowing me to play. They had no comeback when I simply reminded them that "Jennifer plays!" They respected her and her family so much and she became a role model to me without her even knowing.
The next year I was playing on a boy's team. I was only seven, my hair was cut short and, like the rest of the team, I would arrive already dressed for the game. I never remember hearing anything negative, but my parents heard things from time to time. As a kid, it doesn't even occur to you that people might have an issue. As it turned out the team didn't really understand that I was a girl until the end of the year party... which turned out to be a swimming party!
We had been living in Northern New Jersey and my first team was the Ramapo Saints. I played in the Mites division and continued to play there for two years before we moved back to Canada. It was exciting for me at the time to finally be playing the same sport as my brother. I had always been a tomboy and I idolized my older brother. I had played street hockey with him, even wearing some of his cast-off clothes sometimes. He just seemed to be the coolest person I knew.
After we got back to Canada the opportunities to play women's hockey improved. We moved to Brampton, Ontario, which, at the time, had the world's largest women's hockey association — the Brampton Canadettes. I just loved to play and even though a lot of my friends quit during their teen years, I kept playing. My first major tournament was the Canada Winter Games held in Prince Edward Island in 1991. By 1994 I played in my first women's hockey World Championship, and then in 1998, the Olympics!
Even now, more than thirteen years later, I remember so vividly walking into the stadium in Nagano for the opening ceremonies. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It felt like I was having an out of body experience. There I was walking into the Olympic stadium yet I was also picturing myself watching as a little girl at home. It was a surreal moment. And I was thinking, "Wow, can you believe it?" It was almost as if I was talking to that little girl... to me. It was a truly amazing, unforgettable moment. I could see myself in my old house, glued to the TV, entranced by the opening ceremonies, dreaming of the day... and it all came back to me in an instant. The endless times my parents had driven me to practices and games. All the training and workouts, plus all the people who had helped me along the way, including coaches and friends. There are so many people that are involved in getting a player to the Olympics or to a national team or the NHL for that matter. It was all of those people that I was thinking about when I entered that stadium.
The Canadian women's hockey team was the favorite that year and the feeling that I had come all this way and that I was representing my country and for the first time ever, women's hockey, well it was overpowering. We wanted to bring the gold home that winter, but we lost to the U.S. in the gold medal game. I was crushed. I thought that I had let my team down, especially because there were older players there who would never get another chance to win gold at an Olympics. It wasn't until about six months later that it finally registered as a win. It finally dawned on me: "Hey, we brought home a silver medal in the Olympics!" It was the first Olympic Games to include women's hockey and we got the first silver medal.
Losing that game definitely made me a better player. We learned so much about ourselves from that loss. I intensified my training, and I became a better leader. We all became better players and better people after the challenging time we had in Nagano. Four years later I returned to the Olympics in Salt Lake City, and this time we beat the U.S. team in the final game and brought home the Gold! It was a game we should have never won — the U.S. had their "dream team" and had put so much money into their program. But we managed to play our best when it mattered the most... on gold medal game day!
To this day I believe that if we had not lost in Nagano, we wouldn't have won in Salt Lake City. It was as if we needed that big loss in order to take a serious look at ourselves and become the players and team we did become.
Moving on, I was fortunate to compete in my third Olympics, which I knew was going to be my last. In 2006 in Turin, Italy the Canadian team again brought home the Gold. It was by far the best Team Canada I ever played on as far as talent and depth.
As a young girl, I never knew that I would be able to go to the Olympics as a female ice hockey player, but I had a vision and I was lucky enough to have it come true! From watching the Olympics on TV as a child to playing on the biggest stage in the world! It was truly my dream come true!
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