Join Emmy-winning broadcaster Tina Cervasio as she talks to hockey great Angela Ruggiero today on Spreecast!

Tune in to SPREECAST (here) at 12pm on Wednesday, January 25 and join in the conversation!

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EspnW -By Bonnie D. Ford

Veteran defenseman Angela Ruggiero showed up at the U.S. women’s hockey team camp in Blaine, Minn., on Wednesday without her gear — a first in her 16-year career. Instead, she carried 10 typed pages of prepared remarks. She didn’t want to wing it and risk forgetting something important.

Ruggiero was still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and wasn’t supposed to be there at all, so her teammates stared at her quizzically when she walked into the locker room. She asked them to gather and told them she was retiring, effective immediately. And then, methodical yet passionate as always, she began spelling out the lessons of a lifetime in the game.

Her teammates hugged her when she was done. She told them they would have more time to talk later. Then the players spilled out on the ice to scrimmage and Ruggiero stayed behind in her street clothes, drained and uplifted.

“Right now, I’m standing behind the glass, and I guess that’s a metaphor for how my life will be going forward,” Ruggiero said by telephone Wednesday night. “It feels right. But it’s emotional. Saying goodbye to anything you’ve done that long is hard.”

Here’s the first and, in some ways, the only thing you need to know about Ruggiero: She is smart and driven and talented enough to have done practically anything with her life, but she chose to play hockey. In so doing, she has enriched her sport and the experience of many of the women who shared the ice with her.

Ruggiero’s retirement from the national team comes as she is about to turn 32, after 256 games, four World Championships and four Olympic medals. She should be a shoo-in to join her former teammate Cammi Granato in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After 16 years, Angela Ruggiero played more games than any other Team USA player (256) and finished with 67 goals and 141 assists for 208 career points. (John David Mercer/US Presswire)”][/caption]

Even amid the scrum of well-educated, articulate women who play at the game’s top level in this country, Ruggiero stood out as one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, a go-to player for reporters who wanted big-picture analysis or an X-and-O breakdown. She was generous, humble, straightforward, steely and dependable. Add leadership ability as obvious as the flashing light behind the net, and it’s easy to understand her longevity. (read more)

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