Julie Chu and Caroline Ouellette have shared the bitter United States-Canada women’s hockey rivalry.
Forward Julie Chu competed in five Winter Olympics for the United States (Photo/Nancie Battaglia)
But love conquers all and Chu, a former captain of the U.S. women’s team, and Ouellette, a former skipper for Canada, shared a blessed event last week when Ouellette gave birth to the couple’s first child. They shared the news Tuesday on Instagram.
Chu, 35, is the first Asian-American to play for the U.S. national women’s team and she competed in five Winter Olympics, winning silver medals in 2002, 2010, and 2014. Her team won a bronze medal in 2016.
She was the first person of color to be a U.S. flag bearer at a Winter Olympics closing ceremony when she carried the Stars and Stripes at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Chu, tied as the second-most decorated U.S. female athlete in Winter Olympics history, was named head coach of Concordia University’swomen’s hockey team in Montreal in 2016.
Ouellette, 38, won Olympic gold in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. She retired from the Canadian national team in 2015 and currently plays for Les Canadiennes de Montreal. She was carrying Liv Chu-Ouellette when Montreal won the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’sClarkson Cup in March.
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Congrats to Sista Sled – members of the U.S. Women’s Bobsled National Team – who captured gold and silver medals Saturday at a World Cup event on the track built for the 2018 WinterOlympics in South Korea.
The U.S. Women’s Bobsled National Team. Left to Right, Kehri Jones, Brittany Reinbolt, Aja Evans, Lauren Gibbs, Elana Meyers Taylor, Jamie Greubel Poser, Lolo Jones, and Briauna Jones (Photo/Molly Choma/USA Bobsled & Skeleton).
By finishing first, Jamie Greubel Poserwon the overall World Cup points title. She piloted a two-person bobsled pushed by Aja Evans. The silver medal-winning sled at the PyeongChang, South Korea, event carried Elana Meyers Taylorand Lolo Jones. The second-place finish moved Meyers Taylor to third in overall World Cup standings.
All four women were members of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. That team featured five women of color. This year’s team has six.
Saturday’s showing bodes well for the U.S. women’s chances at the 2018 Winter Games, which runs Feb. 9 thru Feb. 25, 2018. The Meyers Taylor/Lolo Jones sled set a track record with a push time of 5.25 seconds.
There’s still an afterglow on this side of the border following the United States’ dramatic 5-4 comeback win over Canada in one of the greatest International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship gold medal games ever played.
But there’s still also a bitter taste – even among some Team USA fans – that such a thrilling, entertaining, dramatic, and excellently-played championship game was decided by a five-round shootout after an overtime session.
From 1980 U.S. hockey Miracle on Ice Gold Medal Olympian Mike Eruzioneto newly-forged hockey fan Tony X deciding a championship game with a duel between a shooter and a goaltender was about as satisfying as the final episodes of “The Sopranos,” HBO’s “The Night Of,” or the Bobby Ewing dream sequence on “Dallas”in the 1980s.
@MERUZIONE sorry I hate the shootout to win a gold-medal let the players play
I have mixed feelings about shootouts. I don’t think any championship in any sport should be decided by any sort of shootout.
Can you imagine the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Caveliers deciding an NBA championship series on free throw or three-point shootouts? Or a deadlocked Super Bowl being settled by a field goal kickers duel from 50-yards out? Or a tied World Series baseball game being won or loss in a home run derby after the traditional nine innings?
Still, I understand the excitement that hockey shootouts can produce. I was at the U.S.-Russia game at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi when Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie scored four shootout goals in an unbelievable, pressure-filled exhibition of skill.
The National HockeyLeague started using the shootout for regular season games in the 2005-06. But the league doesn’t use it for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The IIHF has used the shootout to decide deadlocked world championship and Olympic games since 1992.
What do you think? Should the shootout stay or go in championship games?
The 2014 Winter Olympics opened a lot of people’s eyes that when it comes to blacks and bobsledding, we are more than just Jamaica.
The U.S. Women’s Bobsled Team featured five women of color. The sisters of sled are back on the track in 2016-17, and they have a new member, rookie Briauna Jones, a former track athlete at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
The U.S. Women’s Bobsled National Team. Left to Right, Kehri Jones, Brittany Reinbolt, Aja Evans, Lauren Gibbs, Elana Meyers Taylor, Jamie Greubel Poser, Lolo Jones, and Briauna Jones (Photo/Molly Choma/USA Bobsled & Skeleton).
On the men’s side, there are two brothers: Adrian Adams, a former North Carolina A&TState University football player, and Chris Kinney, a former Georgetown University hurdler.
The crew of the four-man sled on the U.S. Men’s Bobsled National Team. Left to right, Christopher Kinney, Adrian Adams, Frank Del Duca, and Codie Bascue (Photo/Molly Choma/ USA Bobsled & Skeleton).
For those needing proof that minority interest in hockey is on the rise, look no further than this great story by the Chicago Tribune’s Shannon Ryan about the growth of African-American National Hockey League fans. There’s a neat Color of Hockey shout-out, too. Thanks, Shannon!
The beauty of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban isn’t just his brown skin, but the thickness of it.
Montreal’s P.K. Subban
It allows him to not only play in the intense hockey fishbowl that is Montreal but to thrive in the environment. It lets him deflect criticism in some media and National HockeyLeague circles that he’s nothing more than a flashy, mouthy, high risk-high, high reward defenseman who can’t be trusted with a game on the line.
It allowed the indignity of being the reigning Norris Trophy winner – the prize awarded the NHL’s best defenseman – but only playing 11 minutes for TeamCanada Head Coach Mike Babcock during the entire 2014 Winter Olympics roll off his back and not prevent him from enjoying his experience in Sochi, Russia.
It allowed him to ignore the torrent of boos from Boston Bruins fans at TD Bank Garden Thursday night to score two goals, including the double overtime blast from the blue line that gave the Canadiens a 4-3 victory in the first game of their second-round their Stanley Cup Playoffs series against Boston.
The thickness of Subban’s hide is probably also allowing him to tune out what’s hopefully a sub-section of hockey fans who, infused with keyboard courage and maybe a beer or five, took to their electronic devices after Thursday’s game and let loose some racist emails and tweets aimed at Subban. The N-word, porch monkey, and other outdated racial epithets flashed onto social media no sooner did Subban’s goal hit the back of the Boston net.
The ugly episode had the same modus operandi as when Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward scored a playoff series-ending goal against the Bruins in 2012. That deluge of hate prompted Bruins management and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman to issue statements condemning those so-called fans.
Friday, the Bruins oranization once again found itself admonishing the less-enlightened element of the team’s fan base.
“The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday’s game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” team President Cam Neely said in a statement issued by the team.
Political leaders in Boston, a city that has had its struggles with race in the past, also voiced disdain about the racial hate directed at Subban.
“This is a disgrace. These racist comments are not reflective of Boston, and are not reflective of Bruins fans,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. “I’ve said before that the best hockey in the world happens when the Bruins and Canadiens play each other, and there is no room for this kind of ignorance here.”
Matt Larkin, an associate editor of The Hockey News tweeted: To the people tweeting racist crap about P.K. Subban: you are human garbage, living in the wrong millennium.”
Other tweets and emails raised interesting questions. What do these alleged Bruins fans say or do when black Boston forward Jarome Iginla scores a goal? What will they do if and when top Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban, P.K.’s younger brother who recently completed his rookie season with the American Hockey League’sProvidence Bruins, plays for the big club?
When Willie O’Ree made history in 1958 as the NHL’s first black player, he did it wearing a Boston Bruins jersey. Ironically, O’Ree did it playing against the Canadiens in Montreal. Hockey has come a long way since then. But the racist messages hurled at Subban shows how much farther the game has to go.
SOCHI, Russia _ Montreal Canadiens defensesman P.K. Subban stepped off the ice after the Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team’s first practice Monday at the 2014 Winter Olympics and proclaimed the housing situation and security in Sochi, Russia good.
Team Canada defenseman P.K. Subban praises Winter Olympics housing and security.
“You know what, it just goes to show you what media can do,” the ever-candid Subban said. “It’s just the complete opposite of what I’d thought it’d be, it’s awesome. The setup is great, the rooms are awesome. Guys were even saying the setup here is better than it was in Torino.”
Torino, Italy, was the site of the 2006 Winter Games. In the days leading to the Sochi games, media outlets reported about unfinished hotels and shabbily-completed accommodations with questionable water and few working amenities.
However, most Olympic athletes have gushed about their accommodations, which are mainly located near the coastal ice arenas or mountain slopes where they will perform.
“I’ve got to give credit to the people of Sochi and of Russia who have made it really comfortable for us coming here,” he added. “It’s been a great experience so far, and we haven’t even started playing yet. So I’m sure it’s just going to get better.”
While many people in North America were wringing their hands about whether or not to travel to Sochi to watch the Winter Games, Subban’s family came to this Black Sea resort city in force. The Norris Trophy-winning defenseman arrived with his parents, two sisters, and three nephews.
“I think the whole big deal about security is just getting way overblown and it shouldn’t overshadow what these people (Russian Olympic organizing committee) have done.”
After practice, Subban admitted that he was awe-struck by the talent on Team Canada, with its all-star roster that includes forwards Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks and goaltender Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks.
“These are world-class players,” he said. “I like the fact that after practice I can play keep away with Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby. I’m hoping by the end of the tournament, when I play keep away back in Montreal, I better be the best player.”
Say you’ve won the Norris Trophy as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, lead your team in scoring as a defenseman, and are sixth among the league’s blue-liners in goals and assists.
Is that enough to earn a free round trip ticket to Sochi, Russia to represent your country at the 2014 Winter Olympics? Maybe not, if you’re Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban.
Whether or not P.K. Subban should be on Canada’s Olympic team has sparked debate.
One of the biggest questions heading into Hockey Canada’s January 7 announcement of its Olympic team is will Subban, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, make the cut?
“It would be silly not for a Norris Trophy winner to be on the team. I don’t even know why that’s a debate,” said Cyril Bollers, president and head coach of SkillzHockey, a Toronto-based program and team that’s produced a bevvy of minority NHL and major junior hockey players. “You’ve won a prestigious trophy and you’re the best defenseman in the whole entire league, why would there be a debate for you not to be on the Olympic team?”
But questions about whether Subban will make it to Sochi have been brewing since October when media reports indicated that he appeared to be a long shot to play on an Olympics squad assembled by Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman and guided by Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock.
Babcock added fuel to the debate last month when offered what seemed to be read-the-tea-leaves comments about Subban’s game and his chances of making Team Canada.
“The great thing about playing on the Olympic team is you’ve got to be a 200-footer,” Babcock told The Toronto Star. “You’ve got to do it in both ends of the rink consistently and the coach has to trust you.”
“What I mean by that is, you don’t put people on the ice you don’t trust, so you have to be dependable,” Babcock continued. “So that’s the No. 1 priority. I mean, there’s skating, elite hockey sense, but you’ve got to be a trustworthy player – whether you’re a goaltender, defenseman, a center. That’s what we told (the players) at camp, I don’t think it’s different for anybody.”
Babcock’s comments were vaguely similar to the rationale given by Subban’s detractors for why he should be excluded from the Canadian squad.
Subban’s a high-risk, high-reward defenseman whose defensive deficiencies would be exposed on the larger international ice surface that the games will be played on in Sochi, his critics say.
He takes too many penalties, he’s too flamboyant and too cocky for a team-oriented sport, they add. Besides, Team Canada will have enough offensive firepower from the blue line with the likes of Chicago Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith, the Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty, and Shea Weber of the NashvillePredators.
The “Whither P.K.” drama reached reached such a fever pitch in Canada that The Province newspaper of British Columbia wrote a scathing editorial last month headlined “With P.K. Subban, What Are They Thinking?”
“Some say that the hockey establishment’s snubbing of Subban is related to his strong personality and to the fact that he is black,” the op-ed piece said. “He plays the game on his terms and won’t conform to the code of expected behavior. If that’s the case, it’s the establishment and not Subban that should adapt.”
“Subban is one among the greatest defensemen in the world,” the editorial concluded. “He’s exciting to watch, has real joy for the game and is a terrific, entertaining personality. Leaving him off Team Canada would be unthinkable.”
Subban has taken all the Olympics talk in stride.
“Obviously, just like most of the Canadian players in the league, I’d love to have that opportunity to represent my country,” Subban said on Sirius XM’s “HockeyNight in Canada Radio” in November. “There’s a ton of players to pick from. The reality is that in Canada we’re so good we could send maybe even two teams over if we had to. I don’t think there are too many people who would want to be in Steve Yzerman’s position right now because there are so many great players to pick from, but I’m confident he’ll make the right decision in selecting a team, for sure.”
Putting together a hockey team to compete in the high-pressure Olympic tournament isn’t as simple as putting together an NHL All-Star team, said Darren Lowe, head coach of the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues men’s hockey team.
Yzerman and Babcock must put together a team of players who fill specific roles and Subban could become a victim of numbers because of that, according to Lowe, who was the first black skater to play hockey for Canada in the 1984 Winter Olympics.
Adding to the roster anxiety is the fact that the Olympics is happening outside of North America and away from NHL-sized rinks. Team Canada and Team USA have performed poorly on the larger international ice surfaces used in Europe and elsewhere. Hockey Canada and USA Hockey are looking at players who they think have the skating skills and hockey sense to thrive on the 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide international ice.
“He seems to have a very good offensive game, that’s without question,” Lowe said of Subban. “Based on how many offensive or power play guys they’re going to select for the team, and how many guys they’re going to have as shut-down guys, there becomes a debate. There are obvious guys who are going to make the team and then there are those who are that sort of in-between who are good at something. But how many guys will they have who are good at whatever he’s good at? That’s the only reason why I would think there’d be a debate.”
Subban’s advocates scoff at the claim that he’s a potential liability on big ice by reminding people that he played junior hockey for the Ontario Hockey League’sBelleville Bulls. They play their home games on a international-sized rink
Remember, they say, that Subban helped power Canada to Gold Medals at the 2008 International Ice HockeyFederation World Junior Championship – a tournament played on big ice in the Czech Republic – and the 2009 IIHF Junior World Championship that was played on NHL-size ice in Ottawa.
They debunk the Subban is penalty-prone argument by pointing out that he had 41 penalty minutes as of Dec. 31, 2013, only one minute more than the Kings’ Doughty.
JohnParis, Jr., the first black hockey head coach to win a professional league championship, said the criticisms of Subban should actually be considered compliments.
“We go back to the best of them all, who was Bobby Orr by far,” Paris, Jr., told me recently. “Some of the most ridiculous comments we heard about him were ‘He can’t play defense, he can’t do this, he can’t do that.’ Bobby Orr did everything that was physically and mentally possible for a defenseman to do – the best one ever to put on a pair of skates. But they found a way to criticize him enormously. Doug Harvey was the same thing, Paul Coffey was the same thing. Nicklas Lidstrom, for a while they gave him a difficult time. Good hockey players are always subject to a little bit of controversy. Subban is in the same category. Being an extraordinary athlete, it’s normal they’re going to criticize.”
But Bollers believes the criticism aimed at Subban has a certain edge to it.
“I think the issue is if you watched when P.K. first entered the league he brought that sort of swagger, the low-fives and all that sort of stuff, and I guess the NHL wasn’t ready for that,” he told me recently. “At times he’s very confident about in how he plays and his ability and sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.”
It rubbed “Hockey Night in Canada” commentator Don Cherry rougher and tighter than one of his starched, high-collared shirts. The man with the flamboyant wardrobe wasn’t a fan of the player with the flamboyant game.
But Cherry has been one of Subban’s biggest boosters as the Team Canada roster announcement nears. So has Edmonton Oilers great Wayne Gretzky.
“I keep hearing a doubt that he’s going to be on Team Canada,” Cherry said on a recent “Coach’s Corner” segment during a “Hockey Night in Canada” telecast in December. “What are they, nuts?”
Cherry took it a step on “Hockey Night in Canada Radio” a few days later.
“But if they let him go, he could turn it on with that big ice surface, and that cannon (of a shot) he’s got from the point,” Cherry said. “I don’t understand how they can think about (not choosing him). I’m not knocking the guys that they’ve got, but good gravy. He’s supposed to be the best defenseman, you think he’d be there somewhere.”