Local women’s hockey player’s Olympic dream comes true

Published 9:57 am Tuesday, January 19, 2010

SEATTLE — As a younger girl, Karen Thatcher dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League. She was a good player — playing against boys, no less — and with all the bright optimism of youth she figured, why not?

Years passed, and by then having realized she would never reach the NHL she embraced another goal. At that point, for Thatcher and other young women in love with hockey, “your dream becomes the Olympics,” she said.

This time, the dream is coming true.

Thatcher, who grew up in Massachusetts and lives today in Blaine, was recently named to the 21-member United States women’s hockey team preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

“I’m so excited about it,” she said at a recent pre-Olympic media event. “I think it’s going to be indescribable. Just thinking about it, I get goose bumps.”

Thatcher, a forward, got her first taste of international play when, at age 18, she joined the U.S. Under-22 national team for a series of games in Canada.

“What got me was walking into the locker room (before the first game),” she said. “We walked in and all the (USA) jerseys were hung in our stalls. And I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ It was an absolute thrill.

“This is my fourth year on the senior national team and I had three years before that on the Under-22 team, and it doesn’t matter. Every time you pull that jersey on, it’s a thrill and an honor. I get chills every time.”

Thatcher learned hockey as a youngster in Douglas, Mass. Her mother, a onetime figure skater, had hoped Karen would take up the sport of toe loops and twirls, but she was more interested in following her older brother into hockey.

“So (my mother) went out and got me a stick, and that was it,” Thatcher said with a laugh. “All her dreams of tutus were out the window.”

After high school, Thatcher attended Brown University for one year, and then transferred to Providence College for her final three seasons, finishing in 2006. As a senior she was a second-team All-American and one of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, the top individual honor in college women’s hockey.

Since leaving school, Thatcher has played on top women’s teams in the United States and Canada, but her focus has been on the U.S. national team. Heading into Vancouver, the Americans are the two-time defending world champions, and are coming off another victory two months ago at the 2009 Hockey Canada Cup, also in Vancouver.

Thatcher is playing on her first Olympic team, but other squad members have participated in previous Games. Among them, forward Jenny Potter amd defenseman Angela Ruggiero, who will both be appearing in their fourth Olympics. Four other U.S. players are also Olympic veterans.

The American team is coached by Mark Johnson, the head women’s coach at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, which accomplished the famous “Miracle on Ice.” As an Olympian, Johnson scored two of four U.S. goals in the pivotal game against the Soviet Union and another goal in the finale against Finland, helping the Americans clinch the gold medal.

Despite Johnson’s own Olympic memories, “he has been very clear that this is our experience,” Thatcher said. “He had his Olympic experience as a player, and now this is our team and our time. So he doesn’t overwhelm us with the whole ‘Miracle’ thing.

“But with him being part of one of the greatest Olympic moments ever, I think that will help us.”

Thatcher’s college coach, Bob Deraney of Providence, said he expects her to be a key player for the Americans in Vancouver.

She is, Deraney said, “the prototypical power forward. … She brings so much to the table. She can be first-line winger for you. She can be a penalty killer. She can be a fourth-line checker. She’s so versatile.

“I think what’s made her rise above everyone else is her dedication to the sport,” he went on. “When you get to the national team level, the difference between the athletes is so small. The complete athlete is the one that eventually wins that battle and becomes an Olympian, and Karen knew that at a very young age.”

In addition, Deraney said, Thatcher was close to a straight-A student at Providence, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biology.

“So as great a hockey player as she is, and she’s a great person, too, but she was a great student as well,” he added. “Very few coaches get to coach such a special student-athlete as Karen was.”

Thatcher suffered an elbow injury that required surgery four years ago, denying her a chance to try out for the 2006 U.S. Olympic team. And that’s another reason this opportunity means so much to her.

“Listening to teammates who have been there, I can’t wait,” she said. “This is such an incredible dream, and I’m just so fortunate and grateful for everything.”