by Matt Barr

By popular demand

Women's hockey!

U.S. goalie Chanda Gunn is both unbearably cute (further evidence here) and epileptic. She discusses how epilepsy has affected her hockey career and how she manages it here.

As millions ponder how unusual it is for a goalie to have something like epilepsy, here is a story about Clint Malarchuk's Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (story is supposed to but does not, in fact, include pictures of his throat-slashing incident, so is safe for all constitutions). Here is a profile of Tourette Syndrome sufferer Tim Howard, goaltender for Man United. Here is Glenn Hall saying "When I threw up, I felt like I was doing what I needed to do to prepare for the game." And here Panger tries to tell us in a 2001 ESPN piece that the reputation goalies have for being weird stems from their fear of losing their jobs in the Original Six.

Gunn won the 2005 world championship final in a shootout to end Canada's run of eight straight titles. She has alternated in the Olympics and in the pre-Torino schedule with Pam Dreyer. If the pattern holds, Gunn will be in goal for the gold medal game against Canada Monday.

Plus: Likes Patricia Cornwell. Minus: Wants to meet Oprah. Plus: If not a hockey player, would be a country music singer.

Here's a Paul Hoynes piece on Gunn.

I covered the semifinal USA vs. Sweden game in the 2002 games for the once-defunct, then resurrected, then defunct again, now apparently resurrected LCS Hockey but they didn't run my story because nobody digs chick hockey, Jim Iovino said. Defunct you, I said.

Browse books from Amazon.com:
hockey Olympics Patricia+Cornwell