Each week a Sun staffer gets to know a sports figure a little better in Up Close. This week Kirk Penton goes behind the bench to chat with Calgary Dinos women’s hockey head coach Danielle Goyette, who won two Olympic gold medals and eight world championships with Team Canada.
SUN: Happy belated birthday!
DANIELLE GOYETTE: Oh, thanks! Last Sunday, that’s right. (She turned 45.)
SUN: How is being back in Winnipeg, the site of your last world championship?
DG: When I think about the 2007 world championship, it was amazing. It was packed, every game we played. For me, it’s a great memory because this is the last world championship I played and it’s always going to stay special on the inside.
SUN: How is it coaching your former teammate, Hayley Wickenheiser?
DG: We have a good relationship as a player and coach. I played with her. I know what she needs as a player, and if you have respect between each other it’s going to be easier. And at the same time I think I can push her to be better as a player. I know what kind of player she is, but I know if you want to be the best in the world you have to work on little things, and she’s willing to do that.
SUN: How much do you miss playing?
DG: You know, it’s funny. I thought I would miss it more. But the fact that I’m on the ice every day with the girls, I don’t miss it. I don’t miss the fact that I have to dress before a game. (laughs) If I really, really want to play a game I’m going to schedule a scrimmage with my team and make it happen. I love coaching these girls, and to see them evolve and getting better every year, the satisfaction is bigger. As a player, you’re happy when you play a game. But when you coach 20 players, you’re 20 times more happier after a game.
SUN: Does women’s hockey have any more parity now on the international scene than when you stopped playing?
DG: I feel like in that time we might have better parity, but right now Canada and the U.S. are working harder than we did in the past, and that’s why we keep improving and we have the space between the other countries. But you know what? They have good players in Sweden and Finland, but they don’t have the money that we have in the program. It always goes back to the same thing: If you don’t have money, you don’t have training camp. And if you don’t have training camp, you’re not as ready as you could be to play against the U.S. and Canada. Hopefully we try to work with other countries and make them better because it can only help women’s hockey.
SUN: Does it need to get better soon so you don’t lose the sport from the Olympics?
DG: The game of hockey is popular, and if you look at the Olympics, how many people watched the games no matter what, it’s popular.
SUN: But is there a fear of losing it, though?
DG: If you’re not scared you’d be foolish. For me, if we were comfortable right now we would lose and we would stop improving as hockey players. But when you’re the best at what you do, like Canada and the U.S., we need to help other countries. If we look back at 1960 with the men’s game, it was the same thing. They had big scores. When Canada played against Russia, we were killing them. But after that they caught up. They learn from you. If you don’t share, the only people that are going to pay is the game in the end.
SUN: Now that women are going in the Hockey Hall of Fame, how much are you thinking about it?
DG: It’s not something I think about. People talk to me about it, but if my name ever ends up there one day it’s going to be a great honour. I didn’t play the game for the stats or the honour, but at the end of the day who would not love to be in the Hall of Fame?
SUN: How would a top CIS team today fare against, say, the 1992 Canadian women’s national team?
DG: It might be close, but if you look at the players, right now we’re in better shape. We didn’t train at that time.
SUN: Players would smoke during the intermissions?
DG: (laughs) Exactly! Some players would do that. I was young at that time. I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s what women’s hockey is all about?’ But when we learned about being at the Olympics, that’s when it became more serious. I think the talent was more pure. We had so much talent, but we couldn’t last three periods at the same level.
SUN: What’s your favourite TV show?
DG: Hockey Night in Canada. The Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
SUN: What song is getting lots of play on your iPod these days?
DG: I don’t have a lot of time to listen to my iPod right now because I’m always on my computer. I have so many e-mails. But I would say Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars.
SUN: Who would play you in the movies?
DG: I had this question a long time ago, and I said Demi Moore when she was younger.
SUN: Finally, who’s the best non-Canadian you played against in your career?
DG: One of the players that I really respected when I played against her was Cammi Granato. A great player, offensive, and we always had respect for each other, and that’s what I really admire about her.
kirk.penton@sunmedia.ca
