For the women hoping to defend the United States' Olympic gold medal in hockey, the road to Salt Lake City begins Monday in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Forty-five of the nation's best female hockey players, ranging in age from 16 to 30, will converge on the host city of the 1980 Winter Games to participate in the 2001 USA Hockey Women's National Team Festival.
The festival is both a training camp and a qualifying event for the 2002 Olympic team. The women will be divided into two teams. Practices will be held Monday and Tuesday, then the Blue and White squads will play five games over the next eight days to help coach Ben Smith determine which players will make the 2001-2002 national team.
The announcement of the 25-player national team will be made at the conclusion of the festival Aug. 23. Smith will take those players on a 32-game pre-Olympic tour through the fall and early winter, then select 20 of them to represent the U.S. in the 2002 Winter Games in Utah.
All 25 members of the 2000-2001 U.S. national team, which lost the world championship to Canada last April in Minnesota, have been invited to participate in the festival. Sixteen of the invitees won gold medals in Nagano in the 1998 Winter Games, the first Olympiad to feature women's ice hockey as a medal sport.
"The players who took part in our (national team) residential program over the last year should, in most cases, come into this camp with a little bit of an advantage," Smith said in a telephone interview from his home in Boston. "But it's not like it's a slam dunk for those 25."
Veterans Cammi Granato and Karyn Bye are both 30 but remain among the world's elite. Sarah Tueting and Sarah DeCosta, the goalies from the '98 Olympic team, are just 25 and 24, respectively, and hope to retain their slots on the national squad.
The youngest camp invitee is Lyndsay Wall of Churchville, N.Y., near Syracuse. She turned 16 on May 12.
"She's a kid that came to our 16- and 17-year-old camp in the last week of June in Lake Placid, and she did so well that we invited her to come back and play with the 18- and 19-year-olds," Smith said of the 5-foot-8 defenseman.
Smith said he wouldn't be surprised if some of the younger players take roster spots away from the veterans.
"There are kids coming from underneath, if you will, in the age and experience factors who are going to have to be reckoned with," he said.
"The toughest thing was to put the last of the 45 together, because you get down to those last 10 or 15 spots on the (festival) roster, and there are another 15 or 20 players who are in the mix."
The pre-Olympic tour will take the team across the United States and overseas. USA Hockey has kept a lid on the official schedule but intends to release it soon.
Some games, however, have been confirmed, including an Oct. 20 game against Canada in West Valley City's E Center and a January game against China in Boise. Games in China against both the Chinese and Russian teams also are planned.
Women's National Team Festival rosters
Blue Team — Goalies: Ali Brewer, Racine, Wis.; Sara DeCosta*, Warwick, R.I. Defensemen: Winny Brodt, Roseville, Minn.; Karyn Bye*, River Falls, Wis.; Courtney Kennedy, Woburn, Mass.; Sue Merz*, Greenwich, Conn.; Vicki Movsessian*, Lexington, Mass.; Gen Richardson, Monroe, Conn.; Nicole Uliaz, Perkasie, Pa.; Lyndsay Wall, Churchville, N.Y. Forwards: Alana Blahoski*, St. Paul, Minn.; Natalie Darwitz, Eagan, Minn.; Tricia Dunn*, Derry, N.H.; Cammi Granato*, Downers Grove, Ill.; Annamarie Holmes, Apple Valley, Minn.; Kathleen Kauth, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Andrea Kilbourne, Saranac Lake, N.Y.; Erin Magee, Troy, N.Y.; Jenny Schmidgall*, Eagan, Minn.; Brooke Whitney, Snohomish, Wa.; Hilary Witt, Canton, Mass.; Carisa Zaban, Glenview, Ill.
White Team — Goalies: Erika Silva, Middletown, R.I.; Sarah Tueting*, Winnetka, Ill. Defensemen: Chris Bailey*, Marietta, N.Y.; Jamie Hagerman, Wenham, Mass.; Kim Insalaco, Rochester, N.Y.; Nicki Luongo, Tyngsboro, Mass.; Kerry Maher, Chittenago, N.Y.; A.J. Mleczko*, Nantucket, Mass.; Barbara Prall, Hull, Mass.; Angela Ruggiero*, Simi Valley, Calif. Forwards: Laurie Baker*, Concord, Mass.; Julie Chu, Fairfield, Conn.; Brandy Fisher, Colton, N.Y.; Katie King*, Salem, N.H.; Kristin King, Piqua, Ohio; Shelley Looney*, Brownstown Township, Mich.; Stephanie O'Sullivan*, Dorchester, Mass.; Kelly Stephens, Seattle; Jessica Tabb, Holland, Mass.; Ambria Thomas, Fairbanks, Alaska; Krissy Wendell, Brooklyn Park, Minn.; Brooke White, Boston.
* — member of 1998 Olympic gold medal team.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com