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Before the Olympic Games even start we can safely say that Duluth Olympians are going to bring home gold, silver and bronze medals. For women’s hockey alone we have 14 competitors in Sochi, who have competed or coached in Duluth.  For the first time, St. Scholastica is sending one of their student athletes to the Olympic Games – amazing accomplishment for a Division III hockey program. There will be one or more Bulldogs on seven out of eight Olympic women’s hockey teams – leaving Japan the only Bulldogless team at the Games. While the UMD Women’s Hockey program celebrates the programs 15-year anniversary back in Duluth, its Olympians are hard at work in Sochi. The five-time National Champion Bulldog Head Coach and former Canadian Head Olympic Coach Shannon Miller can be very proud of her athletes who are part of the group of 24 Olympians UMD has produced -- more than any other college hockey team in the country.  Seven of this year’s UMD Olympians were part of the Bulldogs NCAA Championship team in 2008, Julie Chu, Caroline Ouellette and Robb Stauber as coaches and Haley Irwin, Jocelyne Larocque, Iya Gavrilova and Kim Martin-Hasson as players.
These Olympics are going to be exciting for many reasons. Some teams are hoping to win their first Olympic medal, while others are determined to overcome the “Canadian spell” that has lasted over ten years. Since the women’s hockey debut as an Olympic sport in Nagano 1998, the Olympic Gold medals have only found their way to North America. USA came on top in Nagano, and after that Canada has been crowned the Olympic Champion three times. From a spectator point of view it is always fun to see underdogs win, and the odds are in USA’s favor this time. But as we know anything can happen.  Americans learned that lesson well in Turin (2006) Olympics where Sweden upset USA for the first time ever and advances to the gold medal game.
That game marked the only Olympic final featuring a non-North American country.  
The women’s hockey Olympic action starts on February 8th with a game between USA and Finland, a great example of a possible upset. Finland has never won anything brighter than bronze at the Olympics, but this past year the Finns were able to beat USA for the first time at the Four Nations Cup. The Finnish team highlights Nora Raty in net, who helped the U of M Gophers go undefeated last season. Another big match up for the Americans will be the USA vs Canada game on February 12.

-Ira Salmela, Development Director, KUMD 103.3FM

KUMD is excited to provide live reports from the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, February 7-24. The reports will air weekdays at 7am and 11am. 103.3 fm and at www.kumd.org.