Position Defense CWHL team Boston Blades Playing career Role Author Weight 87 kg TV shows The Apprentice | Shot Right National team United States Name Angela Ruggiero Height 1.75 m Career start 1998 | |
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Born January 3, 1980 (age 44)
Panorama City, CA, USA ( 1980-01-03 ) Education University of Minnesota, Harvard University, Choate Rosemary Hall Similar People Jenny Schmidgall‑Potter, Julie Chu, Natalie Darwitz, Bill Hay, Chris Pronger Profiles | ||
Angela Ruggiero Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Speech (2015)
Angela Marie Ruggiero (born January 3, 1980) is an American ice hockey defenseman. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and was a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team, medaling in four successive Winter Olympic Games, including one Gold medal, two Silver, and one Bronze. She competed in ten Women's World Championships winning four Gold medals and six Silver. She also authored a memoir about her hockey experiences called Breaking the Ice. She also was a contestant on the NBC reality show The Apprentice. She announced her retirement from USA's national hockey team on December 28, 2011 and recently received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Ruggiero was born in Panorama City, California, but grew up in Sylmar, and Simi Valley, California. On June 29, 2015, Ruggiero was announced as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2015. She was inducted on November 9, 2015. She is only the fourth woman and second American woman to be inducted. She is also the only person to be inducted that was born in California. Angela is the All-Time Leader in Games Played for Team USA, male or female. 256 games.
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Angela ruggiero hockey star
Playing career
Ruggiero played prep school hockey at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. While a senior at Choate, Ruggiero was the youngest member of the gold medal-winning 1998 United States Olympic Hockey Team in Nagano, Japan. She was also a member of the silver medal-winning 2002 team in Salt Lake City, Utah, a member of the bronze winning 2006 team in Torino, Italy, and a member of the silver winning 2010 team in Vancouver, Canada.
In her senior year at Harvard University, Ruggiero won the 2004 Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in U.S. women's collegiate hockey. As of 2015 she is the only defenseman to win the award. She graduated from Harvard cum laude in 2004 with a degree in government. She received her Master's Degree in Sports Management from the University of Minnesota in 2010.
Ruggiero made several U.S. professional hockey "firsts" on January 28, 2005, when she played for the Tulsa Oilers in a Central Hockey League game against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. She was the first woman to actively play in a regular season professional hockey game in North America at a position other than goalie. In addition, since her brother Bill Ruggiero, who was goaltender for the Oilers, they were the first brother-sister combination to play professionally at the same time. She recorded an assist on the final goal of the game making her the only woman to score a point in a North American professional hockey game.
Ruggiero was also credited with the game-winning goal in the shoot-out that won the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships for the United States against the Canadian national women's hockey team, winning the first gold medal ever for the United States at the world championship. At the 2005 Esso National Women’s Championships, she was named the Best Defenceman for Group A.
While representing the United States in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Ruggiero was widely quoted for comments she made to the Sports Illustrated website regarding the Canadian team's behavior during the preliminary round of the women's hockey tournament:
"I'm upset that Canada has been running up the score, especially against the host nation... There was no need for that. They're trying to pad their stats... Canada is running up the score for whatever reasons — personal, short-term." Her remarks were criticized by people ranging from members of Team Canada to sports commentators, although others such as Don Cherry agreed with her statements. Her concern was that the one-sided results (Canada outscored their competitors 36-1) could jeopardize women's hockey Olympic status as it might be perceived as not competitive enough.
While with the Minnesota Whitecaps, Ruggiero had the opportunity to play with 1998 Canadian Olympic goalie Manon Rheaume during the 2008-09 Whitecaps season. In December 2009, Ruggiero was named to her fourth Olympic hockey team. To prepare for the 2010 Olympics, she joined a group of NHL players in the summer of 2009 for workouts at Athletes’ Performance in Carson, California. Her preparation relied less on powering through workouts and paid more attention to detail. The training group included Chris Drury, Richard Park, and George Parros.
On January 14, 2010, she was named as an alternate captain for the United States Olympic hockey team. In addition, she was announced as one of nine current and former athletes standing for election to become members of the IOC in Vancouver. The announcement was made on January 20, 2010. Ruggiero is seeking to become the third IOC member from the U.S., joining Jim Easton and Anita DeFrantz. On November 10, 2010, Ruggiero was selected to serve on the evaluation commission that will inspect the three cities competing to host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. She will be one of four Americans on the 11-member panel that will travel to potential host cities for on-site inspections from February 8-March 5, 2011. During the 2010–11 Boston Blades season, Ruggiero scored the game-winning goal on December 19, 2010, which snapped the Montreal Stars undefeated season.
On December 28, 2011, her retirement was announced via Twitter.
Ruggiero presented the gold medals to the US Women's Soccer team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Personal
After Ruggiero claimed the gold medal at the Nagano Winter Games, she was refused the opportunity to participate in a local game at a rink in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Despite willing to pay the entry fee, she was advised that only men could participate at the rink. An undercover news crew investigated the matter, and the rink acquiesced to allow women to participate at the rink.
Ruggiero is the author of a memoir, Breaking the Ice: My Journey to Olympic Hockey, the Ivy League & Beyond, published by Drummond Publishing Group in 2005. The book details her hockey career, including her experiences with misconceptions about women's hockey and the challenges of being a female player in a male-dominated sport. She was the former Director of the New York Islanders’ Project Hope, as well as the New York Islanders Children’s Foundation.
She graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in Government. In May 2006, Ruggiero was selected from a field of twelve Olympians to be a candidate on the sixth season of NBC's business-themed reality game show The Apprentice. The season debuted in January 2007. During Ruggiero's time on the show, many references were made to her Olympic and hockey experience. She was eliminated on the season's tenth episode, airing on March 25, 2007. At the conclusion of her stint on the television show, she was offered a job from Donald Trump.
Ruggiero was a member of a goodwill tour of Olympic athletes that traveled to Afghanistan. In addition, she traveled to Uganda with the Right to Play program. Angela was enrolled at the University of Minnesota pursuing a master's degree in sports management. The objective was to implement a sporting program for children. She is currently working at Bridgewater Associates. On October 6, 2011, it was announced that Ruggiero was to be inducted into the National Italian Sports Hall of Fame. Ruggiero was inducted on October 22 in Chicago. EA Sports officially announced that Ruggiero would be among the first two female hockey players in NHL 13. Along with Hayley Wickenheiser, she has a playable character in the game which can be added to any team of the user's choice. Ruggiero has committed to serve as a member of the IIHF Athletes Committee from 2013-16. Of note, she is the only female that is part of the group.
Awards and honors
She helped the Minnesota Whitecaps to the Western Women's Hockey League championship in 2008-09. She skated part-time for the Whitecaps in 2007-08 and ranked second on the team with 18 points (8-10) in 15 games. She made history on January 28, 2005, when she and her brother, Bill, competed for the Central Hockey League's Tulsa Oilers, becoming the first-ever brother-sister tandem to play in a professional hockey game. She was the first female skater to play in a North American professional hockey game, where she recorded an assist. Ruggiero joined the National Women's Hockey League's Montreal Axion part way through the 2004-05 season.