Wickenheiser returns for 13th world championship a player-mentor for Canada
KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Three of Hayley Wickenheiser’s Canadian teammates weren’t born when she won her first women’s world hockey championship in 1994.
Defenceman Halli Krzyzaniak was 12 years old when she first saw Wickenheiser play in the 2007 world championship final in Winnipeg. When Krzyzaniak scored her first career goal for Canada in an exhibition game Saturday against Sweden, her childhood idol provided an assist.
“That was just surreal for me to say she was in on my first goal because I never thought that would have happened,” Krzyzaniak said.
“For my generation, she was someone we really looked up to and kind of idolized and wanted to be, but I never thought I would be playing with her.”