It's not so much of a stretch as one may think, to connect Valentine's Day and the Olympics. First, every four years, they intersect. Second, Valentines and the Olympians have ancient traditions. This year it seems there is a sweetheart of an event that makes this all the more wonderful.
This year, the U.S. Women's Hockey Team has a chance once again at medaling, if not actually taking their places atop the gold medal podium. After all, the team won the gold at the 2005 Women's Hockey World Championships for the first time in tournament history.
However, when the team marches into the arena in Torino, Italy, tonight, Feb. 10, they'll be very aware that their close neighbor to the north, Canada, is the team to beat. They lost the gold to them in 2002 and the Canadians have won most of the preliminary match-ups.
The newly minted, younger U.S. team is bereft of pioneering forwards Cammi Granato and Shelley Looney but still has the two-time Olympians defender Angela Ruggiero, and forwards Tricia Dunn-Luoma, Katie King and Jenny Potter, and the captain, Krissy Wendell.
Granato, who was cut by coach Ben Smith from the team last summer, was not only the team captain and highest scoring women's hockey player of all time, but the face of women's hockey, like Mia Hamm was for women's soccer.
She'll be doing analysis during the play for this Olympics, adding a nice little slice of insight.
Her former teammates had to learn how to be a team without her and apparently they have.
"There are no individuals here," one former teammate said. "We realize that we very much need each other. We're willing to do the little things for each other. It's a selfless team."
And that's why we should be rooting for them in every game. They are the nation's Valentines. Sure, it's easy to get gooey over figure skaters—they're so lithe and petite and graceful—but it's a lot of show. Tanya Harding might have done better for herself had she been able to work her frustrations out as a hockey player. These girls rock. They're tough and beautiful, friends and brilliantly tough foes. Plus these are smart girls. They went to such colleges as Yale, Harvard, Brown, University of Minnesota and Dartmouth.
Here are the other members of the current roster: Caitlin Cahow, Julie Chu, Natalie Darwitz, Goaltender Pam Dreyer, Molly Engstrom, Chanda Gunn, Jamie Hagerman, Kim Insalaco, Kathleen Kauth, Courtney Kenney, Kristin King, Sarah Parsons, who is only 18 years old, Helen Resor, Anglea Ruggiero and Lyndsay Wall.
So, how does any of this relate to Valentine's Day? It's roots most likely came from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated for 800 years on Feb. 15. Essentially a bacchanalia with a love lottery, it was held at the site in Rome where the twin sons of Mars (Romulus and Remus) were rescued by a she-wolf (Lupo). The day was dedicated to the god of shepherds, Lupercus, whose temple was built on the sacred site.
Pope Gelasius (492 - 496) suppressed this custom, as it was unacceptable to the Catholic Church. The lottery was changed so that both young men and women drew the names of saints to emulate for the coming year. Valentine instead of Lupercus became the patron of this feast. Despite this change in custom, Roman men continued to seek the affections of women on this date (and frankly every other day of the year) and sent notes of endearment to their sweethearts, including Valentine's name in their missives.
How perfect then, that on this Valentine's Day, the U.S. hockey team will take the ice in Italy and skate into our collective hearts.
Buona fortuna e giorno felice di valentines!
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Women's Hockey Coverage:
The U.S. Women's Ice Hockey Team plays Switzerland on Saturday, Feb. 11; Germany on Sunday, Feb. 12, and Finland on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. The play-off rounds kick into gear with the final gold medal game being played on Monday, Feb. 20. Check local NBC listings for times.
Angela Ruggerio
