Marty Returns Among World's Elite
3/4/2010 10:03:15 AM | Ice Hockey
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Among the list of achievements on her already-impressive resume, junior forward Stefanie Marty had been to five World Championships, one Olympic Games and one NCAA Frozen Four in her short ice hockey career . On top of that, the 21-year old had become Syracuse University's first Winter Olympian – and all that was before her native Swiss National Team competed in just its second Olympics in team history. Having been to the Games before, she knew what to expect. But in a game traditionally dominated by Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland, no one could have expected what was to come.
"I'll be there for scoring, but I also have to be defensively solid," Marty said prior to beginning her Olympic journey. "On the ice it's not a lot different than what I do for Syracuse. I'm more quiet on the ice with the Olympic team and more quiet off the ice here because of the culture."
One hat-trick, one four-goal game, and one shootout goal later, Marty became just the third woman to score eight or more goals in one Olympics. Despite losses to both Canada and Sweden to open the tournament, Marty began emerging as an offensive star. First, she recorded a hat-trick against the Slovaks. Then, she netted four goals in Switzerland's 6-0 shutout against China. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Marty scored the decisive shootout goal against Russia to secure Switzerland's fifth-place finish.
"I had to be prepared to keep the focus in the game," Marty said. "It was so big to take the last shootout shot. Everyone was yelling. I was just thinking in my head, 'Who would watch Russia against Switzerland?' But the stadium was full and everyone was so excited. It was unreal."
Marty, who spent her last Winter Games in Torino, Italy, knew the culture she was up against heading into an Olympics in ice hockey's birthplace. Canada has only hosted an Olympics twice prior to this year, including its most recent in 1988, but even a 21-year old knows that in the world of hockey, Canadian and the U.S. are the sport's powerhouses. However, that didn't begin to affect her goals.
"Everyone expects (Canada and the U.S.) to win, but we saw four years ago when Sweden beat the U.S. It's possible. We went into the tournament with our goal to beat Sweden. We had a good game, but they still beat us. Against Canada, we just tried to score. We achieved our goal, but we lost, 10-1, in the end, but still had a good game against them."
Although Switzerland was unable to attain a medal in its second Olympics, Marty joins just 215 others who can call themselves 2010 Winter Olympians. However, she is the only one who owns the sole title of SU's first Winter Olympian.
