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

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

retired women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenseman. She 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. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

, Sostorics helped Canada to three gold and three silver medals, and at the 4 Nations Cup, she captured five gold medals and one silver medal. When not playing with Canada, she competed at the club level for the Calgary Oval X-Treme, 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 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 {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

, 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 British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

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 (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 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 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, held in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. 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 Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

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 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 for Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey 21st-century Canadian sportswomen