Katie King Crowley will always be part of history. So were 20 others like her.
They were USA’s first women’s hockey Olympic gold medal winners in 1998, which is exactly 25 years ago.
There is something to be said for being the first.
“It still is surreal when I think about it,” said King Crowley, a Salem, N.H., native, then just Katie King and a young center on team USA.
“I was one of the young players on that first team,” said King Crowley, the Boston College women’s head coach who now lives in Needham. “My eyes were wide open. I was excited to be there. But then I noticed a lot of the older women on the team, and how serious they were. It really hit home how important this was to a lot of people.”
The national team spent nearly a year together, making cuts around Christmas time, about a month before the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
“We became a family being together so much,” she recalled. “It was the best year of my life back then. We became so close on and off the ice. It makes a difference.”
What made the experience different is that despite the disparity in experience on team USA, nobody had played in the Olympics before with this being the first.
“That made it extra special, going through this together,” she said. “Nobody knew what it was going to feel like, the whole experience, getting the gold medal, and then winning it. That’s what makes our bond so great.”
“We have group (text) chat, the entire team,” said King Crowley. “It’s been pretty cool lately, reminiscing a little bit. We’re all acting like kids with our messages back and forth.”
Can’t blame her or any of her teammates.
Women’s hockey took off in the USA after that gold medal performance. Girls youth hockey finally became a thing. and most of the players on that team had to play on boys teams for much of their youth careers. The few girls teams were more regional, which meant traveling more than an hour three times a week just for practices.
King Crowley, who had four goals and two assists over those 1998 Games, including a hat-trick against Japan, played college hockey at Brown University and her teammate, star defenseman Tara Mounsey, was a key figure on that team.
Another best friend, Tricia Dunn Luoma, who is also married and has three daughters in Minnesota, grew up in Derry, N.H., and was the USA’s fastest skater back then.
In fact, King Crowley’s hometown school just started a girls hockey program this winter.
“I saw that the other day and that really made me happy,” she said. “I don’t think there was a rink in Salem (N.H.) when we won. It’s a great sport and I hear a lot from young women over the years say they were inspired by our gold medal.”
One of those females who is catching the fever of the team is King Crowley’s daughter, 9-year-old Camryn, who like her mom is among the tallest of her classmates.
“I went to her class at school last year around the time of the Olympics and brought my medals with me (including gold, silver and bronze),” she said. “They were a big hit. Camryn started realizing how important the Olympics are and our team. Now she is starting to get it. She’ll see a video and know the players. It’s awesome. and she’s playing hockey now and she’s pretty good.”
She should be. Her father is a pretty good hockey player too, having played at Boston College followed by a long career in the AHL with a short stint in the NHL, where he played for the New York Islanders during the 1998-99 season.
Speaking of family, sharing the Olympic experience with her brother and parents, who flew over to Nagano, Japan, was the cherry on top of everything.
“My parents gave up a lot for me to play hockey,” said Crowley. “The fact they were able to come over, which wasn’t easy, with my brother, was special.”
Because about half of the 1998 team is involved in some sort of a hockey season, a get-together on the anniversary date (Friday, Feb. 17) was out of the question.
It appears they will try to get everyone together somewhere nice in June.
For now, though, her focus is on her BC women’s team, which has won six of its last seven. That loss, though, was a tough one, 2-1, to No. 5 ranked Northeastern in the Beanpot Championship.
BC, which swept Providence over the weekend, is currently in the 16th spot in the Pairwise ranking system. With the NCAA D1 tournament committee naming 11 schools to the NCAA, Crowley’s team has some work to do.
“It was a tough loss to Northeastern, but we rebounded nicely and just have to focus playing our best the rest of the way,” said Crowley.
“The anniversary is a great topic of discussion,” she added, “and I’m sure my former teammates will have a lot to say when we get together, but we have some work to do.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com