Canadian hockey great Hayley Wickenheiser says she is interested in joining the National Hockey League. But the four-time Olympic gold medalist expects her role will involve a different sort of body checking.
âIâd love to stay in hockey,â she told Âéśš´ŤĂ˝ Channel on Saturday. âI think Iâd like to combine it with my pursuit of medicine in some way.â
Wickenheiser, , announced her retirement via Twitter on Friday. The 38-year-old Shaunavon, Sask. native says she doesnât want to put off going to medical school any longer.
She plans to devote most of her time to her studies after taking a moment to âsit back and absorbâ the end of her long and gilded hockey career, but admits her connections to the NHL are not far from her mind.
âItâs something I think I could add value to,â she said. âIâve trained and played with a lot of players in the league through the years, and have great relations within a lot of teams.â
Wickenheiser started playing minor hockey at age 15, rising through the ranks when girlsâ teams were years away and few signed up to play on boysâ teams.
âThere were times when I wasnât always welcome in the rink. I was told that girls shouldnât come into that game. Now, Iâm really proud of the fact that any little girl can walk into a rink with a stick and a bag and nobody thinkâs twice about it.â
Wickenheiser has one of the most decorated international careers of any women in the gameâs history, netting 168 goals and 379 points, and winning most valuable player at the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games. She is one of only five athletes in the world to win a gold medal at four consecutive Winter Games, and she considered going for a fifth with team Canada as recently as six months ago.
âReally, I have grown up in the national team,â she said. âPlaying for Team Canada has been what I have known for all of my adult life so far. I just consider it a hounour to play as long as I have for Canada.â
Wickenheiser further advanced the perception of women in hockey by becoming the first to score a goal in a menâs professional game while playing in Finland in 2003. She considers her time as a professional in Europe âone of the greatest times of my life and my career.â
âPlaying professional menâs hockey really took me out of my comfort zone and taught me that I had to be my best over there every single day, whether it was a practice or a game, in order to survive and have any sort of success,â she said.
Moving on to her next chapter in academics, she remains confident the next generation of Canadian women will continue her legacy on the ice.
âThere have been many players before me and many more to come,â she said. âWhen young girls play the game, they always look up to the national team, and watch the Olympic Games. Thatâs really what helps to elevate the level of womenâs hockey in this country.â