Danielle Goyette
CALGARY – Canadian hockey veteran Danielle Goyette has one foot in coaching and the other in playing her sport.
She’s been leaning towards coaching lately.
Goyette is one of Canada’s assistant coaches at the inaugural world women’s under-18 hockey championship this week and she is also head coach of the University of Calgary women’s team.
The player who is second all-time in career points on the national team behind Hayley Wickenheiser says she has to decide once the under-18 tournament ends Saturday if she is going to resume her playing career or retire.
"I’m having so much fun coaching right now that I’m not missing the playing part of it," Goyette said Friday prior to Canada’s semifinal against Sweden.
"I have to make a decision by the end of January. After this tournament ends I have to say "OK, what am I going to do with my hockey career?"’
Goyette turns 42 on Jan. 30 and she was not on the national team’s roster for an evaluation camp scheduled for the end of this month in Calgary. The world championships are April 4-12 in Harbin, China.
Canadian team general manager Melody Davidson, who is also head coach of the under-18 team, gave Goyette time this winter to get her feet wet in coaching and decide on her future.
The five-foot-seven, 148-pound forward from St-Nazaire, Que., is one of Canada’s most decorated female hockey players and a future candidate for the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame when she retires.
Goyette has 113 goals and 105 assists in 171 career games with the national team. She won Olympic gold medals in 2002 and 2006 and eight world championships.
At the age of 40, she was named Canada’s flagbearer for the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.
She started playing hockey relatively late at age 15 and didn’t begin serious development in the sport until she was almost 30, which may account for her longevity in the sport.
Goyette isn’t interested in taking a season off from playing and then deciding if she wants to continue playing until the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
"For me, I have too much respect for that program and if I can’t train 11 months a year the way I did it before, I don’t think I deserve to be on that team," Goyette explained. "I’m not going to lie to myself. I’m getting older.
"I want to make a difference on that team. I will never go on the national team and just be happy to be there. If I can’t make a difference any more, why stay?"
Goyette hasn’t played any games this winter, but has continued to train and scrimmage with her Dinos team and once with the Oval X-Treme club team.
Physically, she says she hasn’t lost a step, but she can’t combine the demands of full-time coaching with those of the national team.
Goyette is also aware that she was older than the mother of Canadian teammate Tessa Bonhomme at last year’s world championship in Winnipeg.
"To be honest, right now, the age difference between me and the younger players on the senior team is getting bigger and bigger and we don’t have a lot in common off the ice," she said.
Goyette was clearly enjoying coaching Canada’s young stars Friday as she dropped to her knee during practice and sketched out a drill on the ice with a black pen.
"Ice time is so important and a lot of coaches lose a lot of time at the white board," Goyette explained. "The girls want to get going and for me to use a black marker on the ice instead of going back to the board, I can use the ice as a board.
"I can explain it, go back to the drill and don’t lose time."
Goyette was named head coach of the Dinos at the start of this season and they are currently 7-5-1 in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
Her goal is to get that program strong enough to return to the university leagues by 2009-10.
Source: Goyette torn between playing and coaching
