Colleen Kay Sostorics (born December 17, 1979 in Kennedy,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenseman. She has played extensively for Canada at the international level, including three Olympic gold medals ( 2002 in Turin, 2006 in Salt Lake City, and 2010 in Vancouver). At the

Women's World Championships A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

, Sostorics has helped Canada to three gold and three silver medals, and at the

4 Nations Cup The 4 Nations Cup is an annual women's ice hockey tournament, held between four major national teams in the sport; currently, these are Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. Until 2000, when Sweden joined, the tournament was the 3 Nation ...

, she has captured five gold medals and one silver medal. When not playing with Canada, she competes at the club level for the

Calgary Oval X-Treme The Calgary Oval X-Treme were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL). The team played its home games at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Oval X-Treme were a member of the National Wome ...

who now play in the

Western Women's Hockey League The Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) was a women's hockey league in Canada. The league was established in 2004, and consisted of teams in Canada (some former National Women's Hockey League teams) and one from the United States. The league offi ...

(WWHL).

Playing career

Minor hockey

Colleen Sostorics began playing hockey in her hometown of Kennedy, Saskatchewan, on the local boys' teams until the age of 17. In 1996, she captained her boys' hockey team at the bantam level. She played for Team Saskatchewan at the 1995

Canada Winter Games Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

and the 1997 National Under-18 Championship.

University

After completing her minor hockey career in Saskatchewan, she accepted an offer to move to attend the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

, where she played for the women's hockey team. After the 1997–98 season, Sostorics was named to the All-Star Team after the

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

Championship Tournament. Calgary captured the bronze medal at this tournament. She earned this honour again after the 1998–99 Canada West Championship Tournament. Calgary captured the silver medal at the Canada West Tournament in 1998–99. In addition to the Canada West honours, Sostorics was named a

Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

(CIAU) All-Canadian after both the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons. After the 1999–00 Canada West season, Sostorics was named a Canada West Second Team All-Star.

Club team

She played for Alberta in the Esso National Women's Championship and won the

Abby Hoffman Cup The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it was played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lad ...

in 2001, 2003 and 2007.

International

In 1999, Sostorics made her Team Canada debut with the Under-22 National Team at the 1999 Christmas Cup, winning a gold medal. In 2000 and 2001, she continued to play with the Under-22 team, capturing gold medals at the Nations Cup tournament both years. She served as team captain during the 2000–01 season. Her performance at the Under-22 level earned her a spot on the Senior Women's National team for the 2001 World Women's Hockey Championship. At this tournament, she contributed two goals and an assist as Canada won the gold medal. In 2002, Sostorics was named to Canada's team for the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, held in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. During the tournament, she contributed two assists as Canada took the gold medal. In 2004 and 2005, she also played at the World Championships, winning gold and silver medals respectively. On September 14, 2010, Hockey Canada announced that Sostorics, along with three other players retired from international hockey.

Personal

Her parents' names are Lanny and Jean. She has one brother, Mark. After winning a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, her hometown of Kennedy named a street after her. She convocated with a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Calgary in 2004. During her youth, Sostorics competed in soccer and

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

in addition to playing hockey. In 1997, she won provincial championships in all three sports. She was named Most Valuable Player at provincial fastball tournaments in 1994 and 1995. Now, she plays

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

in addition to hockey. She won a national rugby championship with Team Alberta in 2003.

Statistics

International

Club team

''Statistics Source''

Awards and honours

* Top Defender, 2003 Esso Women's Nationals

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sostorics, Colleen 1979 births Calgary Dinos ice hockey players Calgary Oval X-Treme players Canadian women's ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic ice hockey players of Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey