In hindsight, seeing where she currently sits in the aftermath of coach Mark Johnson and Co.'s painstaking selection all-nighter over Sunday/Monday, Karen Thatcher has been granted a considerable cushion via fate and fortune.
With a once 41-member roll call of U.S. Women's Olympic prospects now slimmed to 23 -and with two lockers still needing to be vacated by December- the 2006 PC graduate is essentially both the eldest of the newbies and the youngest of the elders. At age 25, she is the eldest among a rash of forwards who shall pursue their first taste of Olympic ice in the forthcoming Qwest Tour.
And with a cumulative 35 games wearing the Star-Spangled Sweater at other levels and tournaments, she is easily one of the more internationally seasoned players in that same department of neophytes.
Thatcher could not be reached for comment in time for this report, but while addressing the general assembled media yesterday, veteran teammate Julie Chu offered an indirect, though dead-on assessment of her impact.
"I think that 2006 was a bit of a turnover with younger players coming into a situation where, in the past, as a younger player you were on the third or fourth line to kind of get your feet wet," remarked Chu -who saw action in Salt Lake in 2002 and Turin in 2006- during yesterday's assembly in Blaine, Minn. after the Qwest Tour roster was disclosed.
"But (instead) we had players that would come in and become impact players, play on the first or second line, and play critical roles. And it was incredible to see these younger players really take a hold of it and make (themselves) part of the team. So they're the veteran players now."
No question, Thatcher falls under that roomy roof of fast-produced vets. During the Turin Games, one will recall, she was wrapped up in the climax of her final campaign in the Divine City. Upon grabbing her degree at The Dunk, though, she proceeded to fill one of the many new openings in the USA program. That subsequent autumn, she would be one of nine relatively new players to take part in the Four Nations Cup as their first non-U22 competition.
And now, all nine of those players -plus six others who arrived even later, including freshly graduated New Hampshire Wildcat Kacey Bellamy and contemporary Boston College Eagles Molly Schaus and Kelli Stack- were all still standing when the cuts were made yesterday. Conversely, a mere six skaters come in with prior Olympic experience.
Of course, like everybody else, Thatcher still has to ensure she is not one of those last two prospects filtered out between now and the conclusion of the tune-up tour, an unlikely but unpleasant fate that infamously befell fellow Friar alumna and established folk hero Cammi Granato prior to the last Olympic tourney in 2006. That still-debated moved effectively equaled a hiatus in PC influence on the American squad.
But conventional wisdom assumes that between seven defenders and 13 strikers, only one personality from each of those positions will be rooted out. And Thatcher does boast the aforementioned advantage of experience dating back to the start of the program's 2006 overhaul as well as a gold-fingered semipro resume.
Beyond her time with USA Hockey, Thatcher's profile tells of a sparkling rookie year with the British Columbia Breakers in 2006-07 (42 points in 26 games), followed by a Canadian Women's League championship with the Vaughn (Ont.) Flames in 2008, followed by a Women's Western League banner with the Minnesota Whitecaps this past spring.
That is to say nothing of the back-to-back gold medals she has soaked in at the latest two World Championships.
Again, there are no guarantees concerning the events of the next calendar year. But Thatcher's enticing resume and crisp performance at the National Festival does assure her a chance to switch roles for the next USA-Hockey East All-Star contest.
Recall that in the first of those games back in December of 2005, a fall-from-ahead 5-2 falter for the Hockey Easterners, Thatcher consituted part of the starting line and led her one-day squad with three of their 12 shots on net.
She was just short of the international border at the time, though not far off. She has stridden smoothly beyond that line in the three-plus years since then and can now vie to help the Americans' regain their regal posture.
Not to mention, help replenish the customary presence of Providence on the world's topmost stage.
Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com
This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press
