| Angela James is a legendary name among Canadian women's hockey. The decision to leave her off the roster of the 1998 Olympic Team was as controversial as the decision to leave Mark Messier off the men's team that year. James had been a member of Canada's gold medal teams at each of the previous four Women's World Championships. She was Canada's leading scorer with eleven goals at the 1990 Women's World Championship and was an All-Star forward in 1992. James had also been a top Canadian scoring threat at the 1994 and 1997 World Championships and represented her country at the Pacific Rim Championship in 1996. |
 |
 |
Hilda Ranscombe is one of hockey's immortals. Possessed with dazzling speed, she was considered by many the equal of most boy players, some of whom went on to play in the NHL as men. She led the Preston Rivulettes throughout the 1930s, a baseball team that formed a hockey team and lost just two of 350 games played during that decade until war brought an end to their dynasty. Ranscombe led the Rivs to six Dominion championships and it was her fame that enabled a women's league to flourish in Ontario and for women's hockey to become popular right across the country. After retiring as a player, she became a coach and before her death donated all her equipment to the Hockey Hall of Fame. |
| Perhaps the most famous female hockey player in the world, Manon Rheaume was the first woman to play with an NHL team when she saw action in a 1992 pre-season game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. She has since played for a variety of men's minor pro teams. Rheaume first appeared with Canada's National Women's Team in 1992 and was named to the All-Star Team when Canada won the Women's World Championship that year. Rheaume was also an All-Star with Canada's winning entry at the 1994 event, but was cut from the team prior to the 1997 World Championships. An aggressive goaltender who could handle the puck well, Rheaume regained her spot on the National Team and was the better of Canada's two goalies at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. |
 |
 |
The oldest player on Canada's women's team at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, 39-year-old France St. Louis was a veteran of Canada's Women's World Championship teams from 1990 to 1999. She was the top scorer in the Quebec Senior Hockey League as a 38-year-old in 1996-97, but was noted as an outstanding defensive centre who exceled at winning face-offs. She was Quebec's Athlete of the Decade in hockey and lacrosse for 1980 to 1990 and the Athlete of the Year in 1986. She retired shortly after Nagano as one of the most experienced and decorated of all Canadian hockey players internationally. |
| Vicky Sunohara was a star player with Northeastern University who represented Canada at the first official Women's World Championship in 1990, collecting six goals and three assists in five games. She did not play with the National Team again until 1997. Sunohara was a member of the Canadian women's team at the 1998 Olympics, where she attracted much attention due to the fact that her grandparents were born in Nagano. She won gold with Team Canada again at the 1999, '00 and '01 tournaments. |
 |
 |
A physically dominant player who is also an excellent passer, Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the pre-eminent players of women's hockey today. The Philadelphia Flyers offered her an invitation to training camp with the team in 1998. Wickenheiser first joined the Canadian Women's National Team as a 15-year-old in 1994 and helped the team win the Women's World Championship in 1994, '97, '99, '00 and '01. Her four goals and five assists at the 1997 tournament ranked second in scoring and earned her a spot on the All-Star Team. She repeated the all-star honour in 1999, and in 2000, led the team with seven assists. Growing up, Wickenheiser consistently rated as the best player on boys teams in older age groups. As a 12-year-old in 1991, she scored the winning goal in the gold medal game in the 17-and-under girls division at the Canada Summer Games. In the summer of 2000, she became the only woman to represent Canada at both the summer and Winter Olympics when she made the softball team for Sydney. She is the fourth cousin of former NHLer Doug Wickenheiser. |
| A veteran of Canada's Women's World Championship teams in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997, Stacy Wilson served as a team captain with tremendous leadership skills. In the national championship in 1997, Wilson had a medal she received as MVP of a game cut into 20 pieces in order to share it with her teammates. Her five assists at the Olympics in 1998 ranked her second on the Canadian team behind Hayley Wickenheiser and tied her for second overall in the tournament. |
 |
Back : More Notable Women
History and Timeline | Notable Players Index | Notable Players: Bye - Heaney
|
