Granato is hot on the ice. David E. Klutho

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1971-
Alltime leading scorer in U.S. national team history

Simply put, Cammi Granato is the best hockey player the U.S. has ever produced. Not the fastest skater or hardest shooter, Granato has innate instincts on the ice and a knack for finding the back of the net. She is the only member of the USA Hockey women's program to have competed with the squad since its inception in 1990, and is the national team's alltime leading scorer with 52 points (30 goals, 22 assists) in 25 games. The U.S. has made it to the gold-medal game in each of the IIHF's World Championships, falling to Canada each time. The U.S. did get revenge, however, at the 1998 Nagano Games, beating its northern neighbors, 3-1, to win the first Olympic women's ice hockey gold medal.

Last season, when she wasn't competing or training with the national team, Granato made history in another way, serving as a radio color commentator for the Los Angeles Kings. She is just the second woman in history to broadcast NHL games.

They said it: "It's just so amazing what we went through, and there is nothing that can match that feeling again." -- Granato on her Nagano Olympic experience

-- Albert Lin

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.

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