Date of Birth:  January 30, 1966
	Place of Birth: St-Nazaire, QC
	Residence: Calgary, AB
Years on National Team:  14	Height:  5'6''
	Weight: 154 lbs

Danielle Goyette will celebrate not only her 40th birthday in 2006, but her third Olympic Games. A remarkable feat considering she was encouraged by doctors to retire following the 1998 Nagano Games.

In fact, Goyette has overcome more than 20 shoulder dislocations in her remarkable 14-year career with the Canadian women’s hockey team to become the team’s leading all-time scorer. In October of 2005, she netted her 100th international goal and in December of that same year, her 200th career point. Moreover, she was the leading goal scorer at the 1998 Olympic tournament, and finished tied as the total points leader (10) in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Goyette has played through the pain of injuries and the pain of personal loss on more than one occasion. While in Japan just prior to the Nagano Olympic games, she learned that her father had succumbed to a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She opted to stay with the team, scoring a hat trick in the inaugural women’s hockey match as a tribute to her father.

The veteran is Canada’s all-time leading scorer at the IIHF World Championships and it’s a wonder she hasn’t experienced extensive neck injuries with all the hardware she’s hung around it over the years -- eight gold medals and two silvers.

Professionally, Goyette plays with the Calgary Oval X-Treme of the Western Women’s Hockey League, along with Olympic teammates Cassie Campbell, Haley Wickenheiser and Colleen Sostorics. She became one of the first athletes involved in the Canadian Olympic Association's Career Opportunities Program, where Olympians are permitted flexible work schedules and financial support during training periods. In her case, Goyette has worked in the plumbing department at The Home Depot, where she is frequently recognized by customers.

Goyette acknowledges that she is old enough to be the mother of some of the more youthful members of the Olympic squad, but she remains a potent offensive weapon for Canada in Turin this year. If and when the veteran Quebecois sniper ever does decide to hang up her skates and retire from playing, she has ambitions to enter coaching. For the moment, she will work to lead Canada to another gold medal at what could be her final Games.


Related Headlines:
February 8: 'This is a dream come true'
February 4: One on one with Goyette
January 27: To serve, not object
January 27: She's happy to do it

2006 Hockey Coverage