Jan. 26, 2010
ORONO, Maine -- It was recently announced that University of Maine freshman forward Darcia Leimgruber (Basel, Switzerland) has been named to the Team Switzerland Olympic Women's Ice Hockey team that will represent Switzerland at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C.
Head coach Dan Lichterman is very excited for Leimgruber. "We are very proud of Darcia's accomplishment and we know she will not only represent her country well, but also the University and our program."
Team Switzerland will leave for Winnipeg on Monday, Feb. 1. While in Winnipeg, they will prepare more for the Olympics before they leave for Olympic Village in Vancouver for the opening ceremonies which take place on Feb. 12. Team Switzerland will kick things off in the Women's Ice Hockey tournament when they play the first preliminary game of the tournament against Sweden on Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. EST in the UBC Thunderbird Arena. "This is a very important game for us," says Leimgruber. "We beat Sweden the last time in China at the World Championships."
Leimgruber is very proud to be representing her home country in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Games. "I am very, very proud that I have the chance to go to Vancouver with Team Switzerland. Our team is ready for all challenges and we have prepared very well in the last couple months," said Leimgruber. "For me personally, the Olympics were always a dream. I always thought about how it would be to really be there someday, and now that I know that I am going to be there is just an incredible feeling which I cannot describe."
Leimgruber is the third Black Bear to have ties to the Women's Ice Hockey Olympic games. Black Bear alumnus Raffi Wolf represented the Black Bears when she played on Team Germany at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City as well as the 2006 Torino games. Wolf has two career Olympic points as she recorded two assists at the Salt Lake City games. Fellow University of Maine graduate, and former club hockey student-athlete, Stacey Livingston, officiated the gold medal game at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Leimgruber has appeared in six games for the Black Bears, scoring her first collegiate goal at Union College on Dec. 11, 2009. She also has recorded an assist to go along with her goal for a total of two points on the season.
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