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We have a good thing here
Sue Merz, 29, was a key member of the first U.S. Olympic women's hockey team, which won a gold medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano. The Greenwich, Conn., native first joined the U.S. national team at age 18 and played hockey at the University of New Hampshire. Now the defenseman wants a second Olympic gold medal. Check out Merz's diary as she trains for Salt Lake City. September 27, 2002 I had every intention of writing this next entry a long time ago, but as everyone can imagine a lot has transpired since our team was picked on August 22. I actually had half of this written two weeks ago when our team traveled to China, but in the middle of writing it the whole thing got deleted! I blamed it on the computer ... August 22 seems so long ago, but the team that was picked that day has had to handle some major adversity since then. After only a handful of training days, our team headed to Beijing, China, to play in a "Friendship Tournament" against the Chinese and Russian National teams. It was the start of our season, so we had some excitement going into the games, and that excitement carried us through the four games that we played there. We ended with a 4-0 record. Otherwise, it was quite a challenge competing in an environment that was completely foreign to almost all of us. Let's just say that the whole bus became excited when our driver pulled into the parking lot of the Hard Rock Cafe! Ahhh, AMERICAN FOOD!!! ... and western toilets! There were some great parts to the trip, however, one that will stay with us for a lifetime ... such as walking on the Great Wall and experiencing the Forbidden City. Those were some amazing places ... But the real adversity didn't arise for us until we came home from China and headed to Portland, Ore., for two days. Those two days turned into seven painful days when we became stranded there due to the terrorist attacks on our country. Stranded in an unfamiliar city, away from the ones that we loved, scared to travel back to our own homes, we grieved together as a team for the people we knew and loved who were victims of this senseless tragedy. I feel grateful for having my team around me in that awful time. If anything, this travesty has most definitely created a closer bond among us. We've got something special here -- I feel it. I'm glad that we're back up here in Lake Placid now, doing what we do best. It gives me a few hours a day to focus on my job and to recharge my mental batteries. I know that these last couple of weeks have been a setback for this team, but I see good things for us. We have a good thing here. I think I'm just going to focus on that for a while. -- Sue
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