By HEATHER BOSCH
KIRO Radio

A Blaine woman headed to the Vancouver Games is the perfect example of the skill, power, and beauty on the ice that is hockey.

Karen Thatcher, 25, also has a fierce swing on the ice. "I'm still getting better at it and that's what I love about the sport, is that you can continue to improve. I don't remember ever being uncomfortable with it."

As a mere toddler, Thatcher watched her older brother play. "I definitely remember seeing my brother play. I thought he looked so cool in his gear. I just wanted to be like him."

Rick Thatcher and his wife put their tiny daughter out on the ice. "Her mother, who may be a little conservative, wanted her to start out as a figure skater. And she, in fact, did. I don't know how many lessons she had, but as soon as she was tooling around on the ice pretty comfortably, she came off and said 'Okay, where's my stick?'"

Karen Thatcher agreed that she was very eager to mix it up with her stick. "I wanted to be going fast, going after the puck, bumping into people. It just looked like a lot more fun than figure skating."

Now Thatcher is heading to Vancouver, where she hopes to help the U.S. repeat its 1998 win against Canada in the first U.S. women's hockey game ever. "It's going to be awesome. A lot of people are talking about this as being the hockey Olympics," said Thatcher.

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