USA Hockey Magazine

On the ice, there was excellence in abun- dance, even as the pair represented slight- ly different and overlapping generations of the game. "I don't think you could ever argue with the quality of goaltending they did," says Coyne. "Erin Whitten, in my opinion, is the best goaltender in my college era. She was amazing. Kelly was like a coach on the ice. It's great to have a goaltender who's, like, 'Hey, you have time.' She saw everything." All these years later, there are lasting first impressions from 1992 when, finally, the trails of Dyer Hayes and Witten Hamlen formally crossed while competing for the same spot on a women's national team. "I remember her more as a person that as a goalie," Whitten Hamlen says. "And she was just so supportive, and we were such good goalie partners together. We were fast friends right away." Dyer Hayes hadn't been a backup for a very long time, but would for this team coached by McCurdy. "Erin and I bonded extremely well," Dyer Hayes says. "And it is a different mentality [to be a backup]. I think in '92, I wasn't resolved to it quite yet." Whitten Hamlen's first impressions of Team USA were also lasting, while on her way to becoming one of the best female goaltenders in the world. "It was a cool thing to put on the jersey for the first time, and realize you're at a world championship and playing for your country," she says. "I don't think anything ever tops the opportunity to do that for the first time." In both 1992 and 1994, Whitten Hamlen started the bulk of the games, with Team USA losing to Team Canada in Finland and Lake Placid, respectively. She was named USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year in 1994 while both she and Dyer Hayes were making some history of their own away from Team USA. The Olympics loomed, and both were aiming to keep that option open. P I O N E E R I N G P U C K S T O P P E R S JUNE 2022 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 29

• Cover