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Three-time United States Olympian Gigi Marvin announced her retirement Monday, noting that her career would not have been complete without the chance to play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s inaugural season.
For someone who witnessed first-hand the fitful starts and stops women’s hockey endured in establishing its foothold as a professional North American sport, the 37-year-old Marvin leaves the game in a better place.
“Every time, I kid you not, I stepped on the ice I was almost moved to tears,” Marvin told The Associated Press ahead of her announcement.
“And a couple of times I was moved to tears just watching the fans, watching my teammates, seeing the little girls pounding on the glass. And I’m like, `This is the coolest experience,'” she added of her season with PWHL Boston. “This is what we fought for for so long. … And there’s so many people to thank.”
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Marvin got her start in the northern Minnesota community of Warroad, where her grandfather helped establish the city’s youth hockey program that went on to produce NHL players, including Washington’s T.J. Oshie, and Olympians.
She played her college hockey at Minnesota, where Marvin was a two-time national MVP finalist, and that helped lead to a 12-year stint on the U.S. national team. Along the way came five world championships, Olympic silver medals in 2010 and ’14, and finally a gold in 2018.
In between, Marvin competed in three now-defunct women’s pro leagues, starting with the Western Women’s Hockey League, before coming out of semi-retirement to play in the PWHL.
Marvin reached the decision to retire while running her annual summer youth hockey camp following a season in which Boston lost the Walter Cup final in a decisive Game 5 to Minnesota.
Gigi Marvin helped the U.S. win an Olympic gold medal in 2018 and silver medals in 2010 and 2014. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File
The loss will always sting. But Marvin said she is at peace even while having no plans on what comes next while…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/41660722/gigi-marvin-retires-hockey-happy-pwhl-experience
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Publish date : 2024-10-07 14:20:39
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