Record-Journal

On a sunny, blue-sky Sunday morning, 240 Choate Rosemary Hall seniors sat in front of the Archbold Building for their commencement ceremony, ready to receive their diplomas and pose for pictures with Headmaster Alex D. Curtis. They listened to motivating speeches from peers, faculty members and a certain 1998 Choate graduate who followed her dreams, took risks, accomplished — and scored — many goals.

Angela Ruggiero — a 32-year-old four-time Olympian, author and retired professional hockey player — gave the commencement speech.

“It’s an honor for me to be here,” Ruggiero said. “The four years here changed my life.”

Ruggiero, originally from California, remembers her pre-Harvard University days like they were yesterday. She recalled days in the Choate library and dormitories and, of course, the senior prank that involved unleashing hundreds of rubber ducks into the school’s pond.

As Ruggiero reminisced about her time at Choate, she told the soon-to-be graduates three things to do in life.

“Take risks, take many risks,” Ruggiero said. “You’re building confidence in yourself each time you put yourself out there.” (read more)

Women Who Will Change the Way Sports Are Played
EspnW

Forty years after Title IX was passed, there are still ceilings to be broken, boundaries to be pushed and paths to be paved. espnW and ESPN The Magazine selected these game changers, women who will change the way sports are played:

The Activist: Angela Ruggiero

President-elect, Women’s Sports Foundation
In the dizzying days after she won gold at the 1998 Olympics, Angela Ruggiero plunked down $5 at a rink in St. Clair Shores, Mich., to play a little pickup hockey and was turned away — MEN ONLY. Ruggiero returned with an undercover news crew and wound up with a great story. Under the crush of bad publicity, the rink’s rules were changed to allow women.

“When something like that happens, you can’t sit by and say, ‘Well, that’s how it is,’” Ruggiero says. “If you have the power to get out and do something, why wouldn’t you?”

In her 32 years, Ruggiero has done plenty — cum laude degree from Harvard, four Olympic medals with the U.S. women’s ice hockey team, a book, a master’s degree and an eight-year term as an athlete representative to the International Olympic Committee. Next year, she will add president of the Women’s Sports Foundation to her list of accomplishments. Founded in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King, the organization’s mission is to help women and girls through sports.

For Ruggiero, it’s the logical next job for an idealist who says she’s “never followed the money,” because the position doesn’t pay. “That’s OK,” says Ruggiero, who supports herself by doing summer hockey schools and camps and consulting for NBC Sports, “because having opportunities changed my life.” (read more)

Angela Ruggiero included in Sports Illustrated esteemed list of Top 40 Athletes of the Title IX Era

Sports Illustrated

Who made the grade?
Considering the explosion of athletic opportunities over the last four decades, and the extraordinary women who have taken advantage of them, compiling a list of the top 40 female athletes of the Title IX era was a monumental undertaking. Paying homage to the original aim of the legislation — increasing gender-equity in higher education — we narrowed the pool of candidates with the stipulation that each had to have competed in a sport for at least one year at the college level. Doing so removed a [few] worthy athletes, but it opened up spots for many other women who also deserve accolades. After soliciting input from editors, producers and writers from the magazine and website, we present the top 40 female athletes of the last 40 years.

Angela Ruggiero
The all-time leader in games played for Team USA helped the country win the first gold medal in Olympic history at the 1998 Games. She continued steering the U.S. team in the next three Olympics, guiding it to two silver medals, one bronze and three world championships. In 2003, The Hockey News named her the No. 1 women’s hockey player in the world. At Harvard, Ruggiero won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2004, given to the nation’s top female college hockey player. She made history in 2005 when she took to the ice for the Tulsa Oilers, becoming the first woman to play in a men’s game at a position other than goalie. (read more)

Boston Business Journal

MC10 has tapped Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and several other pro-athletes to form a Sports Advisory Board (SAB) to help it develop the next version of its athletic performance monitoring devices. Included in this group of elite athletes is four-time ice hockey Olympic medalist Angela Ruggiero.

The Cambridge-based maker of flexible electronics will get feedback from the athletes on its sensing platform that allows for sensors to measure hydration, heart rate, muscle activity, motion, and other indicators of athletic performance. The sensors are small and nearly invisible, according to the company. (read more)

Record-Journal

WALLINGFORD — One of the most decorated players in United States Women’s Hockey history, Angela Ruggiero returned to Choate Rosemary Hall earlier this week.

It’s where her hockey journey began.

Ruggiero, 32, was a standout defenseman for the U.S. National Team for 16 years. Her career included four Olympics. As an 18-year old, she nabbed a gold medal at the 1998 Nagano (Japan) Games while still attending Choate.

Ruggiero, a 1998 Choate graduated, returned to Wallingford on Tuesday to prepare for a commencement speech that she will deliver on June 3.

“It’s amazing to be back,” said Ruggiero, who grew up in California. “I missed the campus and the people and just the whole experience that I had attached to my time here. The memories are so vivid because I spent four instrumental years here.” (read more)