DURHAM, N.H. - Every day that passes gets Meghan Duggan 24 hours closer to the pinnacle of women's hockey in the world today. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver stand mere months away and Duggan looks like she'll be an integral part of the Americans' quest for gold.
The Danvers native's skills were on display yesterday at the Whittemore Center on the campus of the University of New Hampshire as Team USA bested the Hockey East All-Stars, 4-0. The exhibition was part of the Qwest Tour, which brings Team USA around the country for games against various opponents designed to get them ready for Vancouver.
The 22-year-old Duggan has worn the Red, White and Blue in three IIHF world championships and the last two Four Nations Cup tournaments.
Even a seasoned international veteran can feel that Vancouver will be a different kind of stage.
"The Olympics is the ultimate. It's why we play the worlds and the Four Nations Cup," Duggan said. "At the beginning of November, they told us it was 100 days to opening ceremonies. It gave us all chills."
A 5-foot-9 right wing best classified as a highly-skilled power forward, Duggan was named to the 23-woman U.S. National Team in late August (21 go on to Vancouver). She's been training with the team in Minnesota ever since, competing in the recent Four Nations Cup (Team USA finished second to Canada) and the 10-stop Qwest tour.
"It's been amazing. It's something I've looked forward to since I was a little kid," Duggan said of being with Team USA full-time. "It's been everything I expected it would be. I'm pretty much playing hockey for a living right now."
Skating on a line with center Kelli Stack and fellow winger Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej, Duggan skated in front of family and friends for the third time this year after helping the University of Wisconsin to the NCAA title in Boston last spring. There were plenty of Danvers folks among the 1,805 on hand.
"Most of the people that knew me growing up, they can't see me play a lot because I go to school out west and the tournaments are overseas," said Duggan. "Anytime I can get here is great. I know my family was here and there's a youth team from Danvers. I've seen a lot of young girls."
An All-WCHA honoree in all three of her seasons at Wisconsin, Duggan is taking this year off from school to train for the Olympics. Badger teammate Hilary Knight is in the same boat, as is Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson, who's at the helm of Team USA.
They're joined on Team USA by recent Wisconsin grads Jessie Vetter and Duggan's longtime friend and teammate Erika Lawler. One of the keys to the full-time Olympic training camp is getting the women who aren't as close to grow into a family.
"They've never really spent time together as a team and that's something that can't come together in a couple of weeks. It takes four or five months," said Johnson.
For the players, it's a life of hockey nearly around the clock without worrying about jobs or school work. The Olympic level is the equivalent of pro hockey in the women's game.
"I don't know if we get paid as well as those NHL guys," Duggan joked. "I couldn't ask for anything more. It's so much fun to be around the girls all the time and to basically have hockey as a job is a dream in the truest sense of the word."
Jocelyn Lamoureux scored twice for Team USA yesterday with Gigi Marvin and Kerry Weiland also lighting the lamp. The national team outshot the collegiate all-stars 42-6 with Boston College grad and Natick-native Molly Schaus earning the shutout for the stars-and-stripes.
Duggan enjoyed time on the power play and penalty killing units. She was a relentless presence in front of the Hockey East stars' net, showing the unique combination of grit and skill that should make her an invaluable part of Team USA in Vancouver.
"(Fans that see the Qwest Tour) realize how competitive and how good these young ladies are," said Johnson.
In 29 games in international competition, Duggan has nine goals and 15 points. She boasts collegiate totals of 69 goals and 151 points in 118 career games. She'll enjoy a long weekend coming up and relishes the chance to spend Thanksgiving with her family and friends on the North Shore.
After that, it's back to Minnesota and focusing on getting Team USA back in the gold medal game come late February.
"It's something we're striving for everyday," she said. "We don't want to have any regrets when we get there."
