Putting her past in perspective: Sandra Whyte Sweeney reflects on changing times

Sandra Whyte Sweeney doesn’t consider herself, or any of her teammates, pioneers. But there are people who follow women’s hockey who would vehemently disagree.”I actually don’t,” says Sweeney, who was on the gold medal-winning team at Nagano, Japan 10 years ago. “There were a lot of women performing ? sort of a whole generation of women ? in the 1970s. There were teams around, such as the Massport Jets. They’re the ones who started collegiate hockey. That was in place for me when I got (to Harvard).”However, Sweeney, a Saugus High graduate, acknowledges that the USA’s success at Nagano got more people enthused about the sport very quickly.”That’s definitely true,” she says. “(Winning the gold) was something that put the sport in the spotlight. I guess it made it more acceptable for girls to play ice hockey. Maybe we’re pioneers that way ? in helping the growth of the sport.”St. Mary’s coach Frank Pagliuca agrees ? and disagrees.”I will say this,” he says. “I agree with her to the extent that the sport was there. But that (Olympic) team kick-started the chain of events that’s made girls and women’s hockey what they are today.”Obviously,” he says, “girls hockey was in its infancy – at least in the high schools. I think over the decade, it’s grown in leaps and bounds. It started in youth hockey, where towns provided girls opportunities. That’s helped a lot.”These days, girls ice hockey is thriving at the high school level. Fourteen of the 16 teams in The Item’s area of coverage offer the sport – either as a collaborative or as a single entity. And St. Mary’s is among the state’s elite.The Spartans won a state title three years ago, and would appear poised to make a serious run at another this season (the Spartans finished a 21-0 season yesterday by beating Latin Academy, 8-2).”I can’t believe how much it’s grown,” says Sweeney, who, as the coach at Reading High, gave St. Mary’s about as good a run for its money as it’s had all season in a 4-1 loss Tuesday. “There are so many girls playing now. You see the level now that we have here, in the high schools at all levels ? preps, privates, and publics. And at the collegiate level, the hockey is much better than it was when I played.”There was no high school ice hockey for Sweeney at Saugus High, of course. She played field hockey, and was good enough, in her own right, to be inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.But she was fortunate. She was just young enough to take advantage of all that her predecessors left her.”I was 27 when I went to the Olympics,” she said, “I was the second-oldest person on the team.”I caught it just in time, because there were women just two or three years older than me who didn’t get the chance.”She earned the chance. While at Harvard, she was the Ivy League Player of the Year both in her junior and senior seasons. At first, she didn’t know whether she wanted to continue with hockey when she graduated, so she went out into the real world. That didn’t last long, as she quickly signed on to play on a club team in Switzerland. She parlayed that experience into becoming part of six world championship teams and, finally, the 1998 gold medal team.In the run-up to the gold medal, Sweeney scored two goals and two assists, and was a regular skater on the team that defeated Canada to win the championship.These days, Sweeney leads a double life. Her primary job is mom to a daughter (7) and a son (4). And, of course, she coaches at Reading.Sweeney is realistic about her sport’s position on the pecking order.”There’s been a lot of talk,” she says, “about having the girls championship game at the Garden, the same way the boys are, and that would be nice.”But,” she continues, “the boys, especially the Super 8, really get that place rocking. If you put a girls game in there, it’s not going to be the same atmosphere.”However, she is not complaining.”I think for where it is, what we are getting is very good,” she says. “Last year, the state finals were at Harvard, and it w