Path on “Gold or Bust” for USA Women’s Olympic team journey starts in Tampa

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
May 1, 2017

Wesley Chapel, Fla. – Sun, sand and surf. All the ingredients needed for a large group visiting Florida.

Just as summer temperatures are starting to heat up the mercury around town, 42 hopefuls for the USA Women’s Olympic Hockey team have hit the ice this week at Florida Hospital Center Ice for the selection camp that will determine the group of players that will represent the United States in 10 months in South Korea.

Holding the camp in Florida presents a vastly different backdrop for the players, who are used to being surrounded by snow and ice when the teams gather for these type of camps.

”To have a hockey camp in warm weather like this is exciting,’’ two-time Olympian Kacey Bellamy said. “We are always stuck in New England or Minnesota in the snow. So I think this is good for us mentally and physically getting outside in the sun and just a different atmosphere.’’

While there will be some down time to enjoy the Florida outdoors, make no mistake, this camp is all business for the 42 women vying to be named to the final 23-woman Olympic roster that will be looking to bring home the first Gold Medal for the U.S. in women’s hockey since 1998 and ending a run of Olympic disappointment.

”This time through, it’s gold or bust,’’ forward Hillary Knight said.

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That will be the motto for whatever group of players are selected for this team.

Finding Olympic gold has been like reaching for that brass ring for the U.S. Women’s team, often close enough to feel like they can get a grip on it only to see it be just out of reach. Not since the inaugural women’s tournament in 1998 at Nagano, Japan, has USA stood atop the podium.

”We realize we haven’t won a gold medal in 20 years, that’s the elephant we’ll address right away,’’ Knight said.

In the four Olympics since, it’s been a couple of tantalizing close moments.

In 2002, on home soil in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the chance to defend the gold medal, the U.S. saw a 37-game winning streak end in a 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the final and settled for silver. At the 2006 games on Torino, Italy, the Americans suffered an upset shootout loss to Sweden in the semifinals before beating Finland in the bronze medal game.

The Olympics returned to North America in 2010, but after rolling through the preliminaries and semifinal game by outscoring their opponents 40-2, host Canada once again captured the gold medal in a 2-0 victory in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Then there was the ultimate heart break for the U.S. women in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. In the gold medal game, the U.S. built a 2-0 lead early in the third and looked to be on the way to erasing the disappointments of the previous three Olympics, maintaining that lead heading in to the final five minutes.

But Canada scored with 3:26 to cut the lead in half and then tied it with 55 seconds to go in the regulation before winning the game on a power play goal 8:10 in to the third period.

It’s the type of gut-wrenching defeat that sits in the pits of your stomach and resurfaces time and time again, reminding one of the pain it inflicted.

”You never get over it,’’ Knight said. “It’s tough, it’s really bittersweet.’’

Even now, just over three years since that defeat, it feels like a fresh wound to the 14 returning players from that 2014 team in attendance at the camp this week. It’s something that is talked about and discussed among the group and will be until the puck drops on the 2018 tournament in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which opens on Feb. 10.

”We look at our silver medals and obviously it’s upsetting, but it’s still such an honor and I try to look at the journey that brought us there,’’ Bellamy said. “But I also think that you are also given the hardest battles for something that is our most important thing. Going through the struggles makes you bigger and better in the end and that has really helped us a lot.’’

There is a lot of camaraderie in this group, a bond that is tighter than it has ever been. That will hold true no matter which players survive the cuts and earn a spot on the roster.

In late March, just before the 2017 World Championships were scheduled to get underway in Plymouth, Michigan, the players scheduled to represent the U.S. went on strike, threatening not to complete until some labor issues between the women’s team and USA Hockey were hashed out and resolved. The situation went on for nearly a week without resolution as USA Hockey officials tried to recruit other players in the national team pool, including those still in high school in an attempt to put a team on the ice.

But the resolve among the player pool ran deeper than anybody could have anticipated as team officials were turned down by potential players at every corner. As the campaign for a fair labor deal went viral on social media and the mainstream picked up on the story, the pressure was on for a deal to be struck. Two days before the World Championships were scheduled to start, the two sides struck a deal and the U.S. Women’s team went on to capture the gold medal, beating rival Canada in overtime on Knight’s winning goal.

That situation and how it played out showed strength in standing together for a cause they believed in and resonated not just with that particular group, but for all female hockey players who took notice.

”It was amazing,’’ said forward Makenna Newkirk, who is attending her first selection camp after just completing her sophomore year at Boston College. “What they are doing for us as girls across the country is amazing. They are improving our situation for years to come. So for them to make a stand for what we believe in, we are all supportive of them around the country.’’

It’s already created a unity and resolve among the players, even with the new kids on the block.

”They are awesome about including everyone and making sure that everyone is welcome and making you feel as comfortable as can be,’’ Newkirk said. “It’s kind of scary coming in to an Olympic trial, but they are amazing and really inclusive.’’

It’s a resolve they hope will carry them right to the top of the podium.

”In 2014 we were just looking at the gold medal, the gold medal, the gold medal, that was the only thing on our mind,’’ Bellamy said. “I think we look at something bigger, just with our team and fighting with each other going for the same goal. We are professionals and done such a good job of staying united and being a unit.

“Now we are not so much focused on the gold medal as much as what we can do little by little, camp by camp, starting from learning things from the beginning stages and making us experts in whatever we can do in practice or games.’’

That nine month journey to reach that goal starts here in Tampa.

”It’s about working on ourselves and having that self-improvement and self-evaluation to continue to raise that level of compete,’’ Knight said. “What better honor to win a gold medal and bring it back to the United States.’’

Schedule for the remainder of selection camp

All on-ice sessions take place at Florida Hospital Center Ice

Tuesday

Practice – Team White 9-10 a.m.; Team Blue 10:10-11:10 a.m.

Scrimmage – Blue vs. White 5-7:30 p.m.

Wednesday

Practice – Team Blue 9-11 a.m.; Team White 2-4 p.m.

Thursday

Scrimmage – Blue vs. White, 12-2:30 p.m.

Friday

Olympic roster revealed during a publicized event, details TBA..
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