Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold [Hardcover]

Mary Turco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 1999

As little girls, they fell in love with a sport that many of them were told girls could not play: ice hockey. Unwilling to take no for an answer, they tied back their hair, adopted boys' nicknames, borrowed their brothers' equipment, and set out to prove otherwise.

In Crashing the Net Mary Turco tells the remarkable story of the first U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and their unforgettable journey to becoming gold medal winners at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Turco followed this dream team for many months as they trained in practice arenas and tournaments across the United States and Canada in anticipation of Nagano. In a lively narrative filled with intimate details of pregame locker room tensions, the Olympic team selection process, the drama of the battles on ice, and the personal friendships that were made along the way, Turco provides an inspirational behind-the-scenes look at how this team came to glory.

We meet a wonderful cast of characters: twenty high-achieving, defiant female athletes, both seasoned players and enthusiastic rookies; their coach, a mythical figure in men's ice hockey who treated his players as world-class athletes; and the players' families and friends, who encouraged these girls to follow their dreams, challenge prejudice against contact sports for women, and risk everything in crashing the net.

Looking up in the stands at Nagano during their victory ceremony, the women of Team USA could see hundreds of fans waving congratulatory banners. One of them read, "Girls Can Do Anything." Crashing the Net and this special team bring this important message to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Arguably the most thrilling moment of the 1998 Nagano Olympics came when the U.S women's ice hockey team beat the odds and the Canadians for the sport's first-ever Olympic gold medal. The victory not only struck a blow for women's sport but also conveyed the value of discipline, especially in light of the lackluster showing of the U.S. men's team. Turco, who teaches women's studies at Dartmouth, tracked the team from a warm-up victory over Canada to the crying and flag-draping after the final buzzer in Nagano, and she sets out to show how "if you set goals and work hard, you can break barriers, smash stereotypes, rewrite traditions and succeed." She doesn't go much beyond boosterism, however. No individual portraits stand out and, in addition to bland reportage, the book is marred by a patronizing, do-no-wrong tone ("Sandra's passion was deep-seated. She was a scholar-athlete who had set aside personal plans to play for her country... to open doors for younger girls"). More glaringly, while Turco exhibits enough social conscience to note how, at the high-school level, male players tried to sabotage a female player, she exhibits little awareness of class issuesAmost of the U.S. players went to elite colleges, a fact Turco all but ignores. A heartfelt section about players about to be dropped is interesting, but it's too little, too late. Though well-constructed and easily digested, this report contains all the sizzle of a weak wrist shot.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An unapologetically feel-good human-interest look at the 1998 American winners of the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in women's ice hockey. Turco, a teacher in the Women's Studies Program at Dartmouth College, accompanied the team as they trained for and competed in the Olympic games at Nagano, Japan. Her account of events is intermingled with the coach's and players' thoughts; particularly affecting are the days leading to the final cuts of the player roster and the account of the gold-medal final against the teams arch rival, Canada. Team camaraderie and the ideal of sportsmanship are discussed more than actual hockey play. Even though there are entries from one player's journal and personal details are given about each woman, no individual voice stands out. Nearly all the players are portrayed as attractive, intelligent girls-next-door, who played nobly for the love of the sport, team, country, and with a sense of history. These women were beneficiaries of Title IX legislation, enacted in 1972, which called for sex equity in educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. They had unqualified support from family, boyfriends, and coaches. They were born believing that ``girls can do anything, ``and were far enough beyond the pioneering years of women's sports that, while training, they learned more from the experiences of Muhammad Ali than Wilma Rudolph or Billie Jean King. But in her preface, Turco stresses that although the number of girls playing high school sports has grown (from 294,000 in 1971 to 2,472,043 in 199697), the cultural and financial battles for opportunities for females on the playing fields remain, particularly in the collegiate and professional realms. The epilogue's recap of the team's recognition and honors after the Olympics gives hope that their memorable gold-winning achievement will help advance womens sports at all levels. Crashing the Net is best not for hockey diehards, but for the female reader or general sports fan looking for modern models of inspiration. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (March 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006019264X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060192648
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,548,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars She Shoots.....She Scores!, April 29, 2000

By 

Chad Spivak (North Miami Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold (Hardcover)

Mary Turco captures the excitement that surrounded the first U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team. Unfortunately, the text wasn't quite as excited. Although the stories were interesting, they were dryly written. It was hard to get behind these remarkable athletes as there just didn't seem to be enough character developement. These wonderful gold-medal winners all had to fight the prejudices against women's sports to follow their dreams and serve as inspiration, but this aspect was barely touched upon. The spirit of the 1998 U.S. Women's Hockey Team and their amazing journey was nicely remembered and portrayed, but you will not find much of anything else.

5.0 out of 5 stars a different aspect, September 10, 2003

By 

M. A. Miller (Rome, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold (Paperback)

I have a friend who is a female hockey player and this book helped me see her aspect of the game womens hockey is still growing and maybe one day we'll see a women play in an actual NHL game

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book about an amzing team., July 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold (Paperback)

This book is wonderful! It gives all young athletes, like mysefl, hope for the future. Plus, this is a team that deserved to have their story told, and Mary Turco did a wonderful job at telling it.