Making Team USA: Meet Kerry Weiland

There's a saying in Alaska that when locals leave the state, they're going "Outside."

In the Weiland family, no one has gone "Outside" more than Kerry.

Kerry, who plays defense on the 2010 US women's national hockey team, grew up with six siblings on a hay farm near Palmer, 40 miles northeast of Anchorage.

Every year, the family continues to produce 150-180 acres of hay between June and September, a short but intense season. Kerry, her two brothers, and four sisters used to "ted" (or fluff) the hay to help it dry, then rake it into rows. Their mother, Teri, would cut and bale it, and their father, Terry, would hoist the round bales, weighing 700-800 lbs each, into customers' trucks with a mechanical loader.

The family has tended the land since 1956, when Weiland's paternal grandparents came up from Minnesota and bought the farm from settlers who colonized the area in the '30's as part of an agricultural experiment under FDR's New Deal. Even now, the Weiland's house sits on the foundation of that colony home and incorporates some of the original logs.

For Kerry, the farm not only provided sustenance and a sense of history but also a spectacular playground. To the south, she could see the towering Pioneer Peak in the Chugach Range rising from the valley floor. Turning east, she could gaze upon thickets of trees. Due north was a hunk of bedrock called the Bodenburg Butte, a local landmark. Sometimes she would venture into the hills to pick wild berries. Other times, she would hike a nearby glacier, taking care not to fall into crevasses.

Although Weiland, 28, returns almost every summer to run free and reconnect with the land, she has been "Outside" for almost 10 years now, pulled away by the hockey talent she honed in her youth. As the second-youngest Weiland child, sandwiched between two brothers, Kerry initially followed her older brother, Andy, to the local rink in Wasilla, 20 miles away. But they also skated on the farm. When the snows thawed, the runoff would pool near their house and the constant freezing and thawing caused by the valley winds created a surface for pickup games.

One of the players her brother would call regularly was Scotty Gomez, a local kid who had just moved up from Anchorage. Gomez was a frequent house guest at the Weilands' during his two years in Palmer, and would eventually go on to become the first Latino player in the NHL and help the New Jersey Devils win the 2000 Stanley Cup. Gomez still remembers Kerry as "respectful and quiet - but on the ice, she wasn't scared of anything."

Weiland's mother also remembered hockey's power to transform Kerry, and how whenever she put on her gear - especially the helmet - her unassuming daughter would turn aggressive.

"I guess it was like my alter ego," Kerry said. "It gave me a medium to express myself. And I gained self-confidence.

Weiland played exclusively on boys' teams until she was 13, then played with both boys' and girls' teams throughout high school. On girls' teams, she found that she could let her silly side shine and quickly earned the nickname "Monkey" for her head-dives over the boards on changeovers.

Eventually, her foot speed and scrappy play led to a full scholarship at the University of Wisconsin where she was a twice named All-America and led the nation's defensemen in scoring as a sophomore. She graduated in 2003 with a double major in legal studies and sociology. In 2004, she helped the US earn a silver medal at the World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and set her sights on making the 2006 Olympic team.

But she was denied. She remembers being told that although her talent was recognized, younger players would represent the US in Torino. Weiland was 25.

"Do I believe I could have been on the team? Yes," she says now, "but it wasn't my time."

She returned to Alaska to re-group, and told her family she was going "Outside" yet again.

Way Outside.

Weiland - the once-shy kid who used to run upstairs when someone was at the door - moved to Europe without knowing a soul, and although she hadn't planned to play hockey there, a club team in Lyss, Switzerland (near Bern), was always on the lookout for high-level foreign players. It recruited Weiland and gave her a car.

She visited 14 countries that year.

"It was amazing," she said. "I, a small-town farm kid, went to Budapest alone."  

That February, since Italy was only three hours south of her Swiss base, she decided to check out the Torino Olympics - just to see for herself what they were really about.

"At first I told friends I'm not going to hockey," she said. "It's a little close to home."  Instead, she attended short track speed skating, curling, and biathlon events until finally, she couldn't resist and took a peek at a few women's games.

"It was difficult to watch," she said. She had friends on the German and Swiss teams so her interest wasn't limited to the US, however, she did see the semifinal shootout in which the US lost to Sweden, 3-2, as well as the bronze-medal game where the US defeated Finland, 4-0. She also saw Canada defeat Sweden for the gold, 4-1.

By fall, Weiland had returned to North America and was teaching hockey in Canada.

One day, she happened to catch the Four Nations Cup on TV. "I realized the fire in the belly wasn't gone. I decided I wanted to pursue this. I called [the US team director] Michele Amidon -  I think I took her by surprise - and she said, 'Come to Christmas camp in Lake Placid and try out for the world championship team in April. Just make sure you're in shape.'"

Weiland not only made the team, but has since helped the US take silver medal at the 2007 Worlds in Winnipeg, Canada, and win back-to-back gold medals at the 2008 and 2009 World Championships.

"I told myself it was a new era and a clean slate," she said. "I want to enjoy playing at a very high level. I'm not comparing myself to player X,Y and Z; I want to see who's the best Kerry Weiland."

In 2008, she moved to Blaine, Minnesota, to participate in the team's new residency program, and rented a townhouse with forwards Karen Thatcher and Julie Chu.

As much as they respected the hard-working player, while driving home, they noticed something quirky.

"Julie and I would sing to the radio," Thatcher said, "And Kerry would say, 'I don't know this song.'  We'd ask if she'd heard this one or that one, and she kept saying 'No.' She also thought [the country band] Rascal Flatts was one person, and that really tipped us off."

Turns out, Weiland not only didn't own an iPod, but she never really listened to music up in Alaska.

"It's not that I don't appreciate music," she said, "it's just that I'd prefer to listen to silence. And observe things."

"This fall," Thatcher said with delight, "she came back and knew 'I Gotta Feeling,' by the Black Eyed Peas."

Her roommates' pop culture indoctrination also included movies - because Weiland hadn't seen many - including, "New in Town," which involved the country-mouse, city-mouse theme and was set in a small Minnesota town.

It was all in good fun.

Then, on August 24, when the 23-woman roster for the 2010 Vancouver Games was announced, Weiland's name was called. The first thing she did was text her 68-year-old father back in Alaska.

"Made it," she wrote.

Her family responded on his behalf.  "Dad says great job."

For Weiland, the eve of the announcement had been marked not only by anticipation, but intense worry, as her father had been suddenly hospitalized overnight and doctors weren't sure what was ailing him - only that they had to revive him at least once in the ambulance en route to the emergency room.

Her teammates knew the situation, but it wasn't made public.

"At least I was able to send him good news and hopefully lift his spirits," Kerry said privately on the day of the announcement, then confided, "I'm a mess."

Now, nearly 12 weeks later, Terry Weiland is recovering well back home on the farm and the family is making plans for Vancouver.

Still, two more players will be cut in December before the 21-woman Olympic roster is final, and Weiland isn't taking her spot for granted. She learned from 2006, and said, "I've been here before. If I didn't go through that, I wouldn't be as prepared as I am [to prove myself]. Now's my time."

If she survives the final cut, she will join a relatively short list of winter Olympians from Alaska. Past winter medalists have included alpine skiers Hilary Lindh (1992 downhill silver) and Tommy Moe (1994 downhill gold and super-G silver), and snowboarder JJ Thomas (2002 snowboarding halfpipe bronze). 

Other 2010 hopefuls include Kikkan Randall (cross-country skiing) and Jay Hakkinen (biathlon) - as well as her brother's old friend Scotty Gomez, who competed in Torino in 2006 and hopes to make the US team again.

"She'll have the whole state rooting for her. That's a given," said Gomez "And when she comes home, everyone will know Kerry Weiland and that she's an Olympian."

Aimee Berg is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: Julie Chu, Karen Thatcher, Kerry Weiland, Making Team USA, Scott Gomez, USA Hockey, USA Women's Hockey, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games