Angela Ruggiero Team Quotations

We love her, and she is a great athlete. She's probably going to be on this team in a few years.

I think all the teams have raised the bar. It's a much better game today. If I was the same player who tried out in '98 today, I wouldn't make the team.

The resilience of this team, the character we showed in coming back and beating Finland yesterday, we're all proud of ourselves in the fact that we're bringing the U.S. home a medal, It was great for us to start off strong, and I think we scored like two minutes, 30 seconds into the game, a good testament to the team that we were really refocusing and really went hard right from the beginning.

It's hard to build the game when it's being played like this. I'm here to promote our game on the biggest stage it's got, and it's not the best hockey in the world when the teams are so different.

I feel honored and privileged to have represented the USA program over the past 16 years. USA Hockey will always be a part of me and I will cherish the experiences and memories with this team.

Obviously, we'd love to be ahead the whole time, but if we're down by one or two goals against a great team like Sweden or Canada, we'll see it's OK. We were able to come back. For me, I'm happy it happened. We stayed composed on the bench. We didn't throw our hands up in the air.

That's who the book was written for. It's awesome to go on the road and be able to influence so many young girls. The team is so excited to be able to do that and I take it as an honor.

That's women's hockey. Some refs think that if somebody falls down, you've got to call it. Part of that is the talent differences, because things look different to the refs when two teams are playing at two different speeds. Hopefully they're not doing that when we play Canada.

Before, I was the baby of the team and now, even though I'm not the oldest, I have more experience than almost anyone, ... I'll never be able to fill their shoes, but I know my role has changed a little bit. Their legacy has inspired every single person on this team.

I love the physical part of the game, and I don't back down from it. I've been in fights in beer-league games back home. But the rules are there for a reason, especially when you're playing a team that's not as big and strong as you are.

It hurts right now; it stings. I'm in shock. There are a lot of emotions going through my head. But if you're talking long term, yeah, maybe the rest of the world will see there are other teams out there that can win and Sweden and Finland are those teams right now. Maybe that'll give hope to some other European teams to put more money into their programs and make this sport really global.