THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Four Canadian women’s hockey veterans announced their retirement Tuesday, signifying a post-Olympic changing of the guard.
Defenders Becky Kellar of Hagersville, Ont., Carla Macleod of Calgary, Colleen Sostorics of Kennedy, Sask., and forward Gina Kingsbury of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., each capped their careers with a gold medal in at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February.
Hockey Canada is holding a women’s team camp next week in Calgary, so players who intended to retire needed to make their intentions clear now.
Kellar, 35, is one of only four Canadians to play in all four Olympics that have included women’s hockey. Jennifer Botterill, Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser are the others. Kellar won silver in 1998 followed by three Olympic gold.
She’s been a member of the national team for 13 years and won four world titles. She concludes her careers with 13 goals and 39 assists in 173 games.
Kellar, a mother of two boys, was pregnant with her first son Owen during the 2003 world championship in Halifax. Although she’s finished at the international level, Kellar will play for the Canadian Women’s Hockey League team in Burlington this season.
Sostorics, 31, won three Olympic gold medals (2002, 2006, 2010). The 31-year-old finishes her international career as Canada’s third-highest scoring defenceman behind Geraldine Heaney and Therese Brisson with 14 goals and 43 assists. Sostorics also won three world championships during her career.
MacLeod and Kingsbury, both 28, won Olympic gold in 2006 and 2010. Kingsbury had 30 goals and 45 assists in 116 international games and won three world titles. She’s now an assistant coach at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C.
MacLeod had 14 goals and 30 assists in 81 games. She was named to the all-star team at the 2006 Olympics and also the most valuable player of the 2009 world championships.
The women’s team is also undergoing a management change. Two-time Olympic coach Melody Davidson has taken on the role of head scout of the women’s program. A new head coach has yet to be named.
Julie Healy, who was Hockey Canada’s director of female hockey, recently took a job as a manager of team services with the Canadian Olympic Committee.
