Cammi Granato and Angela James will be the first two women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
On Monday 8 November, the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto will induct its 2010 honourees. The ceremony will be the first in which female hockey players will be inducted into the Hall. Stand-out
USA Hockey team member Cammi Granato will join Canadian star Angela James as the first two female players to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
James, who was referred to as “the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey,” started playing on all boys’ teams before joining a girl’s hockey squad at the age of 10. James played her college
hockey for Seneca College where she led the team to three consecutive Ontario College Athletic Association Championships from 1983-1985. She was named Seneca’s College Athlete of the Year in 1984 and 1985.
James also played in the Ontario Women’s Hockey League for almost 20 years, during which time she was the league’s leading scorer in eight seasons and the most valuable player in six seasons.
James recalled the differences between the NHL and the OWHL, “The life of a women’s hockey player playing competitive hockey is, you got to work, you rush home, you get something to eat,
you rush to the rink, try to get there, you warm up, you play and then you do the same thing the next day. It was a pretty large commitment on behalf of the players.”
In 1990, James joined the Canadian team for the Women’s World Championship. James lead the team to the gold in that inaugural championship event and followed up with three more gold medals
in the World Championship in 1992, 1994 and 1997.
In 1998, James was one of the final cuts from the Canadian Olympic squad, a move that shocked many fans and pundits. United States Olympian Cammi Granato was stunned that James was not
on the team, “She was the most clutch player in the game. She was the player that every time we played she was so intimidating and she scored all the big goals. We didn’t understand what was going on.”
James admits that the snub still bothers her, “It’s a big sink in your stomach…but really, the bottom line is that I knew I should have been there. To me that’s all that really matters.”
James has had many honours bestowed upon her during her hockey career, including being named to the Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario College Athletics Association Hall
of Fame, the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Angela James is currently employed by Seneca College as the school’s sports coordinator; she is
also
the owner of the Breakaway Adult Hockey School in Ontario.
Cammi Granato was born in Downer’s Grove, Illinois, and began her hockey career at the age of five, playing on the boys’ team. Granato would continue to play on boys’ teams until high
school, when at the age of sixteen she stopped playing scholastic hockey. Body checking was allowed at the high school level and Granato found herself targeted by the larger, stronger boys and opted to pursue other sports for her final two years of high school.
Cammi then attended Providence College on a hockey scholarship. In her freshman year, she was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s Women’s Hockey Player of the Year. In her
final two years at Providence, she led the team to two ECAC Championship titles.
During her time playing with the Providence Friars, Granato joined the fledgling United States Women’s National Hockey Team. The team would finish second in the first Women’s World Championship
event, held in 1990. She would go on to play in eight other World Championship tournaments, capturing seven silver medals and one gold in her final tournament in 2005.
In 1988, with Women’s hockey an official Olympic sport, Granato and her team-mates stunned the Canadian team and captured the gold medal in Nagano, Japan. Cammi, the captain of the squad,
was honoured for the victory by being selected as the flag-bearer for the United States at the event’s closing ceremonies.
Granato and the women’s hockey club would win the silver medal at the 2002 Olympics, falling to the Canadians at the Salt Lake City event. Granato’s Olympic tenure ended when she was not
selected for the 2006 team. After learning that she failed to make the squad, she said, “I am heartbroken right now. I could never fathom this is how my hockey career would end.”
Granato ended her international career playing in 54 games, in which she scored 54 goals and 42 assists. She is the all-time leading scorer in women’s international hockey.
Her many awards and accolades include the 2007 Lester Patrick Trophy, for her contributions to hockey in the United States. She has also been inducted to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s
Hall of Fame as well as the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Granato currently operates an annual hockey camp for girls in Chicago and is also a partner in BelaHockey, a manufacturer of hockey equipment and accessories tailored toward girls.
Dino Ciccarelli will join James and Granato in being enshrined in the player’s category in the 2010 Hockey Hall of Fame class.
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