The number four holds a lot of meaning for Angela Ruggiero.
Four is the number of Olympic Games she has competed in with the U.S. National Team — and the number of Olympic medals earned (1G, 2S, 1B). It’s also the number she wore throughout her 15-year playing career with the U.S. National Women’s Hockey Team.
Early on in her hockey-playing days, Ruggiero’s style of play drew comparisons to another famous No. 4: Bobby Orr.
“The comparison to Bobby Orr is phenomenal,” Ruggiero told NHL.com. “I tried to emulate Bobby Orr, even though I didn’t really watch him play growing up … I always prided myself on trying to be more of an offensive-minded defenceman, at the right times obviously.”
Mission accomplished.
The comparison stuck with Ruggiero as she continually developed the offensive side of her game as a defender, and it culminated in her becoming the single best blueliner to play the women’s game in the U.S. By the end of her storied playing career, she would wear the U.S. jersey in more games than any other man or woman in the country’s hockey history.
Off the ice, Ruggiero has continued to be heavily involved in the world of sport through the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federations’ Athlete’s Commission, the Women’s Sports Foundation and other organizations.
On Monday, another No. 4 jersey will be honoured by the Hockey Hall of Fame when the 35-year-old will become just the fourth female hockey player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. (Cammi Granato, Angela James and Geraldine Heaney are the others.)
Here’s a look at Ruggiero’s illustrious career — and some of the other important numbers that go with it:
3 – The number of times the Hockey Hall of Fame called Ruggiero to tell her she was to be inducted. Ruggiero was traveling that day and wasn’t sure why the 416 number was calling, but got a huge surprise when she received a text message requesting she call the Hall of Fame. (“Woah, is that what I think it is?” Ruggiero said of the text.)
7 – Ruggiero’s age when she first started playing hockey in Panorama City, California. “I grew up loving hockey and my family loves hockey,” she told NHL.com. “Fortunately, I found hockey at a very young age when I was 7 when there wasn’t a lot of it in the state of California.” Ruggiero’s family relocated to Michigan in 1996 for her brother’s hockey, a move from which she benefited greatly, too.
10 – Number of World Championships in which Ruggiero has represented Team U.S.A., winning four gold medals and eight silver.
15 – Ruggiero’s age when she attended the inaugural United States junior national women’s team. She was a standout from the beginning. In fact, that’s where the Bobby Orr comparisons first started.
“When we were giving out numbers back in 1995, I said, ‘Make sure that kid gets No. 4,'” Longtime U.S. women’s national team coach, who was scouting for the national team at the time, told NHL.com. “It was clear as the nose on your face. This kid’s different. With this kid, you could see that she had it. That was a springboard for her to enter onto our national scene. She never looked back.”
18 – Ruggiero’s age when she suited up for her first Olympic Games in Nagano 1998. Team U.S.A. won gold that year (the first-ever Olympic games in which women’s hockey was featured), and Ruggiero was the youngest player on the team.
22 – The number of her most well-known (and well-respected) on-ice adversary, Team Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser. “I loved playing against Hayley,” Ruggiero told Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and John Shannon. “We’re friends today, but on the ice we were definitely fierce rivals. I loved it. She made me better, I definitely made her better.”
256 – Number of games Ruggiero played for the U.S. Women’s National Team over the course of 15 years — the most in the team’s history. She accumulated 208 points over the course of her career.
2005 – The year Ruggiero became the first female (non-goaltender) to play professionally in the CHL when she suited up for the Tulsa Oilers. Her brother, Bill, also played on the team.
