By Bonnie D. Ford, ESPN.com Angela Ruggiero is a world-class athlete who also happens to have a world-class mind and a varied skill set. A mainstay defenseman for the U.S. women's hockey team for a decade, Ruggiero has also taken a few breaks to explore a subsequent career. She worked in commercial real estate; she ran charitable programs for the NHL's New York Islanders. And Ruggiero kept playing, moving ever higher on the all-time appearances list. She frequently wondered how long she could maintain her double life. Finally, the Harvard graduate had one of those fish-or-cut-bait moments. It came early last year, shortly after Donald Trump barked "You're fired!" 10 weeks into "The Apprentice."  Trump then took Ruggiero aside and told her how impressed he'd been with her. He wanted to hire her -- for real. The same week, Ruggiero was named to the U.S. team that would compete in the world championships and knew she'd come to a fateful intersection. Meanwhile, she skated circles in her mind. At 27 going on 28 years old, did she really want to do what it would take to make a fourth Olympic team? She'd been playing on elite teams since she was 15, compiling a list of academic and athletic awards the length of her arm. She'd been a four-time All-American, a two-time world champion and owned the full set of Olympic medals -- one of each color. Might it be time to move on? Ruggiero's undimmed love affair with the game trumped Trump. She wrote the magnate a thank-you letter, telling him she was aiming to compete one last time in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. "Hopefully, you'll be in the stands watching," she added. (read more)

The New York Times-By Pat Borzi

BLAINE, Minn. — The turnabout demanded a celebration. With the United States women’s hockey team seconds away from a loss, defender Angela Ruggiero carried the puck across the blue line, cut to the top of the right circle and unloaded a slap slot that zipped just inside the left post for the tying goal.

Three-tenths of a second remained on the clock. Enthusiastic high-fiving and helmet-rubbing greeted Ruggiero, a three-time Olympic medalist, when she returned to the bench.

But this was not a major international women’s game, or even a women’s game at all. It was a playoff semifinal in the Wednesday night men’s A/Elite division of the Minnesota Wild Adult Hockey League. The opponent was a skilled team called Top Cheese, made up largely of former college players in their 20s and 30s.

 Since September, Ruggiero and 15 other Olympic hopefuls have trained in the Blaine Residency Program, based at Schwan, a sprawling eight-rink complex built on farmland 20 miles north of Minneapolis. USA Hockey, the sport’s national governing body, established and subsidized the program to help postcollegiate women prepare for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The 41-game schedule for the American women in the Blaine program, which began in September and ends in mid-March, includes varied opponents: women’s college and semiprofessional, boys high school and Junior A, and adult men in the Wednesday league. Seven of the Olympic hopefuls also suit up for the Minnesota Whitecaps, the lone United States franchise in the Western Women’s Hockey League, one of Canada’s two elite leagues for women.

“This situation is great for us,” said Ruggiero, who with Jenny Potter is trying to make her fourth Olympic team. “Although half of us had to move here, which is a huge sacrifice in and of itself, the fact that we’re getting to train full time every single day with the best postgraduate women in the U.S.A. is definitely a huge advantage for us.” (read more)

U.S. Women's National Hockey Team Fan Page on Facebook!

MinnPost.com The Wild have milked the marketing logo "The State of Hockey" when referring to puck-centric Minnesota. The suggestion is that it's more than a sport; hockey is an ingredient of the state's culture. But there's a need to modify that pronouncement. Minnesota has become the "The State of Women's Hockey," too. For the next 15 months, Blaine is home base for the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team as it skates towards the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. A deal between USA Hockey and the National Sports Center in Blaine has brought most of the nation's top post-collegiate women players to the metro area.  Amongst them is Angela Ruggiero. (read more)

USA Hockey - Members of the 2008-09 U.S. Women's Select Team will visit Children's - St. Paul hospital on Friday as part of the team's commitment to serving the communities near Blaine, Minn., where USA Hockey has established a women's residency program. Additionally, members of the team will read to students at Aurora Charter School in Minneapolis on Thursday, November (read more)