From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vicky Sunohara
Vicky Sunohara
Vicky Sunohara Sunohara gave birth to twin boys in 2009, following
her retirement from international hockey in 2008.[3][4]
Born May 18, 1970 (1970-05-18)
Scarborough, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Hockey career
Sunohara began to play hockey as a small child and the
Weight 169 lb (77 kg; 12 st 1 lb)
love of the game came naturally to her as her late father,
Position Forward David Sunohara, was a hockey enthusiast who played
ECAC Northeastern Huskies
with the Ryerson Rams in Toronto.[5][6] Sunohara’s late
CIAU Toronto Lady Blues father built a backyard rink in the winters and intro-
CWHL team Brampton Thunder duced his daughter to skating at the age of two and a half.
"My mother said that from the minute my father intro-
National team Canada
duced me to hockey, I wouldn’t do anything else," Suno-
Playing career 1990–present hara commented. "I just loved it." She began playing or-
ganized hockey on a boys team at age 5, but was even-
Website http://www.vickysunohara.ca/
tually banned from the boys’ leagues due to her gen-
der.[7][8] She ended up dominating every level of girls’
Medal record
competition.
Sunohara attended Stephen Leacock Collegiate Insti-
tute in Scarborough, Ontario, where she was a standout
on the women’s ice hockey, field hockey, soccer, and flag
football teams. Following high school, she received a full
scholarship to Northeastern University in Boston, which
is part of the NCAA Division 1 in ice hockey. While at
Northeastern, she guided her team to win the ECAC
Carol Huynh, Cheryl Pounder and Vicky Sunohara Hockey championship, was awarded the ECAC Rookie of
the Year, and was named to the NCAA All-American All-
Women’s ice hockey Star team.[9] Sunohara also played hockey for the Univer-
Competitor for Canada sity of Toronto, where her team won the Ontario uni-
versity championships in 1990-91 and 1991-92. She was
Olympic Games named the Ontario university women’s ice hockey Rookie
Gold 2002 Salt Lake City Team of the Year in 1990-91.[10]
Sunohara won an Olympic silver medal at the 1998
Gold 2006 Turin Team
Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She continued with
Silver 1998 Nagano Team an Olympic gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., and another gold medal at the
Vicky Sunohara (born May 18, 1970) is a three-time 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Olympian and is known as one of Canada’s all-time most Besides the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics,
popular female ice hockey players. She was once consid- Sunohara represented Canada in numerous international
ered to be the best female ice hockey player in the world ice hockey competitions. She won 7 gold medals at the In-
and was described as the "Wayne Gretzky of women’s ternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Champi-
hockey".[1] She is currently the head coach of the Univer- onships, the first one coming in 1990. In total, she won 15
sity of Toronto women’s hockey team. gold medals and 3 silver medals as a member of Canada’s
national team. Sunohara finished her career with Team
Personal life Canada with 119 points (56 goals and 62 assists) in 164
games.[11]
Sunohara was born in Scarborough, Ontario. She is of When she was not involved in international compe-
Japanese-Ukrainian ethnicity.[2] She is a graduate of the tition, Sunohara was the captain and assistant coach for
University of Toronto. the Brampton Canadettes Thunder, a team in an elite
women’s league, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vicky Sunohara
(formerly the Brampton Thunder of the National which is one of our most important strengths. Vicky
Women’s Hockey League). Sunohara has participated in is well respected in our community and has worked
several national championships. She was named the top tirelessly to help the youth of Toronto -- especially
forward in the 2005 national tournament[12] and her young girls -- develop their skills and fulfill their
team, the Brampton Thunder, won the national title in dreams.[19]
2006.[13]
Sunohara also played in the Central Ontario Women’s Sunohara makes frequent appearances as a guest speaker
Hockey League with the Scarborough Firefighters (1990 and donates a considerable amount of time to charitable
to 1994), Toronto Red Wings (1994 to 1996), and the New- organizations. She served as Spokesperson for Youth As-
tonbrook Panthers (1996 to 1997).[14] sisting Youth.[20] In 2010, Sunohara was appointed to the
Board of Directors of the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario,
a non-profit organization committed to assisting high-
Coaching/Leadership performance athletes and coaches achieve excellence in
Sunohara is credited with helping to expand the popu- international competition.[21]
larity of female ice hockey, having trained and mentored
many young girls in the sport. Along with instructing at
several hockey camps and clinics, she served as an assis-
Other Accomplishments
tant hockey coach at the Team Canada Under 18 and Un- In 2002, Sunohara was inducted into the Brampton Sports
der 19 evaluation camps. Hall of Fame.[22] In 2006, she was named an inaugural
In 2011, Sunohara was named head coach of the member of the Scarborough Walk of Fame.[23]
University of Toronto Varsity Blues womens’ hockey At the age of 36, Sunohara was named Ontario’s fe-
team. "This is a dream job for me," said Sunohara. "I male athlete of the year for 2006.[24]
played here at U of T, I went to school here and graduated Sunohara has been acknowledged by the Hockey Hall
from the Faculty of Physical Education and Health and of Fame as one of the notable women ice hockey players
now I have a chance to give back to one of the most pro- of all time.[25]
lific women’s hockey programs in North America. This is In 2009, Sunohara was selected by the Vancouver
a great opportunity for me and I look forward to the task Olympic Organizing Committee to be Toronto’s final
at hand – making the Varsity Blues a national conten- torchbearer as Toronto welcomed the Vancouver-bound
der."[15] 2010 Olympic flame on its cross-country journey. She lit
Well-known for her affable manner and engaging the cauldron before thousands of spectators at Nathan
personality, Sunohara has been described as "one of the Phillips Square.[26][27][28]
nicest people in all of hockey."[16] During her tenure with
Team Canada, Sunohara was counted on for her veteran
leadership. She was the assistant captain of Canada’s na-
References
tional team from 2001 until her retirement in 2008 at the [1] http://query.nytimes.com/gst/
age of 38.[17] fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DB163BF931A35750C0A966958260
A former Team Canada teammate, Sami Jo Small, was [2] Sunohara’s Nagano reunion, Toronto Sun
quoted as saying this about Sunohara: (February 23, 1998)
[3] http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/
I have had the privilege of playing with some pretty article/157533--scarborough-s-sunohara-to-carry-
amazing people but none have struck me as born olympic-torch
leaders like Vicky Sunohara...She rallies the troops [4] http://www.financialpost.com/m/
in desperate times and tells funny jokes when the story.html?id=2529817&s=Related+Topics&is=Sports&it=Topic&p=
pressure is mounting...She’s always there for her [5] http://www.toronto.ca/mie/olympictorchrelay/
teammates and always willing to do whatever it vicky-bio.htm
takes to win. She makes those around her not only [6] http://www.canoe.ca/SlamNaganoColumns/
better hockey players but also better people...in the feb23_buffery.html
ten years I played on the team I never saw another [7] http://www.thestar.com/Special/article/171716
player touch as many people in such a positive way [8] http://womenshockeylegends.blogspot.com/2009/
as Vicky Sunohara.[18] 12/vicky-sunohara.html
[9] http://www.thehillacademy.com/
In 2009, Toronto’s former mayor, David Miller, remarked: news_item_vicky_sunohara.html
[10] http://www.vickysunohara.ca/bio.html
Not only is Vicky one of Canada’s elite female ath- [11] http://www.insidetoronto.com/sports/article/
letes, she is a Torontonian and the granddaughter 246748--scarborough-s-piper-makes-olympic-
of immigrants representing the city’s diversity squad-again
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vicky Sunohara
[12] http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/ [28] http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/
5599/la_id/1.htm toronto/archive/2009/10/27/three-time-hockey-
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brampton_Thunder medalist-t-o-s-torchbearer.aspx
[14] Who’s Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.430,
Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd.,
Markham, ON and Allston, MA, ISBN 1-55041-855-6
External links
[15] http://www.physical.utoronto.ca/News/11-08-04/ • Hockey Canada article - "Scarborough’s Vicky
Vicky_Sunohara_to_coach_U_of_T_women_s_hockey.aspxSunohara - A Firsthand Look at the Growing Game of
[16] http://womenshockeylegends.blogspot.com/2009/ Female Hockey"
12/vicky-sunohara.html • Toronto Star article - "Sunohara to get last laugh as
[17] http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/ Canadians Think Pink"
athletes/su/vicky-sunohara-1.html • Toronto Sun article - "Sunohara’s Nagano reunion"
[18] http://womenshockeylegends.blogspot.com/2009/ • New York Times article - Sunohara described as "the
12/vicky-sunohara.html Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey"
[19] http://www.sirc.ca/news_view.cfm?id=31730 • Profiles of the Greatest Hockey Legends
[20] http://www.yay.org/history.html • Sunohara’s beauty makeover
[21] http://www.bramptonguardian.com/sports/ • Sunohara’s website
sports/article/838525 • Sunohara’s biography on Brampton Thunder’s
[22] http://www.bramptonsports.ca/ website
inductee.php?pk=102 Sunohara’s biography on • Baycrest International Pro-Am Hockey Tournament
Brampton Sports Hall of Fame’s website website
[23] http://www.standupscarborough.ca/walk/ Persondata
inductees.htm Scarborough Walk of Fame Name Sunohara, Vicky
[24] http://www.cscontario.ca/web_page/
news.php?id=dft613 Alternative names
[25] http://www.hhof.com/html/wmspla05.shtml Short description
Hockey Hall of Fame profile of notable women Date of birth May 18, 1970
hockey players
Place of birth Scarborough, ON, CAN
[26] http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/news/
newsid=18203.html Vicky Sunohara Toronto’s Final Date of death
Torchbearer Place of death
[27] http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/
20091217/torch_TO_091217/
20091217?hub=Toronto
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vicky_Sunohara&oldid=461512260"
Categories:
• 1970 births
• Brampton Thunder players
• Canadian sportspeople of Japanese descent
• Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
• Canadian women's ice hockey players
• Ice hockey people from Ontario
• Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
• Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
• Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics
• Living people
• Northeastern Huskies women's ice hockey players
• Olympic gold medalists for Canada
• Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
• Olympic silver medalists for Canada
• People from Scarborough, Ontario
• Olympic medalists in ice hockey
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vicky Sunohara
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