Ivies in Nagano Recap (1998)

1998 Nagano Winter Games
2,304 Athletes, 80 Countries, 68 Events

By the time that the International Olympic Committee made women's ice hockey an Olympic sport, in time for the 1998 Nagano Games, the Ivy League had been crowning women's ice hockey champions for 22 years - Cornell being the first in 1976. So when the women started to take the ice at the Olympics, Ivy Leaguers dominated the competition.

Seven from the Ancient Eight skated for the American team: Katie King (Brown, 1997), Tara Mounsey (Brown, 2001), Sarah Tuerig (Dartmouth, 1998), Gretchen Ulion (Dartmouth, 1994), A.J. Mleczko (Harvard, 1999), Angela Ruggiero (Harvard, 2002) and Sandra Whyte (Harvard, 1992). The American squad won the gold medal in commanding fashion. Their 6-0 record came easily, they scored 36 goals and allowed only eight.

Two Ivies, Becky Kellar (Brown, 1997) and Jen Botterill (Harvard, 2002), skated for the silver medal-winning Canadian team. Canada lost to the U.S. in the final game, 3-1. Also, Chie Chie Sakuma (Brown, 1994) was on Japan's team.

All except Sakuma and Whyte would return for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, where they would be joined by more of their Ivy teammates.

Two Dartmouth skiers made the trip to Japan: Suzanne P. King '86, and Elizabeth G. McIntyre '87. The Nagano Games were the first in Winter Olympic history that Dartmouth was not represented in any men's skiing competition. The best finish between King and McIntyre came for McIntyre in the moguls competition, where she finished in eighth place.

Two other Dartmouth grads, Cameron 'Cammy' Myler '92 and Stacey Wooley '91, competed in the Nagano Games. Myler was in her fourth, and last, Winter Olympics, on the U.S. luge team. She finished in seventh place in the 1998 women's singles race. Wooley competed in the biathlon, a competition which involves both crosscountry skiing and shooting. She would return to the Olympics in 2002.

Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell, 1988) skated for the Canadian men's ice hockey team at the 1998 Games. Nieuwendyk, already an established star in the National Hockey League (NHL), took advantage of the ruling by the IOC that allowed professionals to compete in the Olympic hockey tournament. The Canadian team allowed only eight goals in the 1998 Games, putting them in second place in that category behind gold medal winning Czechoslovakia.

Nagano was the sight of Dan Weinstein's Olympic debut at the tender age of 17. Weinstein (Harvard, 2003) was the first Ivy Leaguer (or future Ivy Leaguer) to compete in Olympic speed skating. He returned for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, where he qualified for the 5,000-meter relay team.