Kerry Weiland

Kerry Pauline Weiland Sorbara (; born October 18, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey and inline hockey player, a defenseman. As a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team, she won four IIHF Women's World Championship medals and a silver medal in the 2010 Olympic women's ice hockey tournament.

Playing career As a child, Weiland began skating and playing pickup games on her family’s farm. At age five, she followed her older brother when he began playing organized ice hockey with the Matanuska Amateur Hockey Association at the local rink in Wasilla, Alaska and played exclusively on boys' teams until she was thirteen. She played on boys' and girls' teams throughout her teens, including four seasons with the boys' varsity team of her high school, Palmer High School. With the Palmer High Moose boys' team, she became the first female player to earn first-team all-region honors in Alaska prep league history.

NCAA Her college ice hockey career began in the fall of 1999 with the Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA Division I. The 1999–2000 season was the inaugural season of both the WCHA women's conference and the Badgers women's ice hockey program. Over half of the team were first-year players like Weiland and her fellow freshmen included future US national team goaltender Chanda Gunn and defenseman, Sis Paulsen, the future Director of Hockey Operations for the Badgers women's program.

In her first season, Weiland ranked fifth on the team for scoring, tallying 10 goals and 35 points in 33 games, and recorded the best plus–minus of all Badger defensemen, with +7. During the Wisconsin Badgers program’s second game on October 9, 1999, in which they faced the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, she set the WCHA all-time records for most penalties and most penalty minutes issued in a single game, with eight penalties and 24 penalty minutes; the records remain untouched .

Weiland chose to go abroad after being cut from the 2006 US Olympic team and signed with the Swiss team in the Leistungsklasse A (LK A) for the . She ranked second on the team and ninth in the league for scoring, with 16 goals and 11 assists. In addition to playing in the top Swiss league, she served as an assistant coach to the Switzerland women's national under-18 ice hockey team for the 2005–06 season. She participated in the Esso Women's Nationals in 2007 with the Vaughan Flames (as Team Ontario 2) and served as an alternate captain.

International play

Weiland was first invited to participate in the USA Hockey Women's National Festival in 1999 and took part in a total of eight festivals (1999, 2002–2005, and 2007–2009). Her first national team selection was to the United States women's national select team (also known as the national development team) for the 2002 Four Nations Cup in Canada, at which she won a silver medal. She won gold with the national select team at the 2003 Four Nations Cup in Sweden and was named to the United States national team roster for the 2003 IIHF Women's World Championship in Beijing before the tournament was cancelled due to the SARS crisis. She was not named to the national team nor the national select team for any tournaments in 2005 and, though she was a prospect for the 2006 United States Olympic team, was cut early in the selection process. Of the conversation when she was cut, she recalled being told that, while she was undeniably skilled, the opportunity was being given to younger players (she was 25 at the time).

After being cut from the Olympic squad, Weiland considered retiring from ice hockey altogether but instead decided to pause her national team aspirations and signed to play in Switzerland for the 2005–06 season. While in Switzerland, she attended various competitions at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, including short track speed skating, curling, biathlon, and several matches of the women's ice hockey tournament. Later that year, she won her third Four Nations Cup silver medal at the 2007 Four Nations Cup in Sweden.

In 2008, she relocated to Blaine, Minnesota to participate in the newly established USA Hockey residency program and began renting a flat with forwards Julie Chu and Karen Thatcher.

She won a second World Championship gold medal as the team’s seventh defenseman at the 2009 IIHF Women's World Championship and notched an assist at the 2009 Four Nations Cup, where the United States took home silver.

Weiland’s Olympic dreams were finally realized in December 2009, when she was announced to the United States' team for the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. At 29, she was the third-oldest player named to the roster, after 30 year old forward Jenny Potter and 29 year old defenseman Angela Ruggiero (born January 1980). When the United States fell to in the goal medal game, she became the second Alaskan to win an Olympic ice hockey medal, after goaltender Pam Dreyer won bronze in 2006.

Inline hockey Weiland participated in four FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships with the United States women's national inline hockey team. winning gold medals in 2003, 2006, and 2007, and a silver medal in 2004. Several national ice hockey team players were Weiland’s teammates on the national inline hockey team, including Chanda Gunn (2003, 2004), Jess Koizumi (2006, 2007), Julie Chu (2007), and Angela Ruggiero (2007).

Personal life Weiland was born on October 18, 1980, the second youngest child of Terry and Teri Weiland. She grew up with four older sisters (Annemarie, Amy, Sarah, and Alicia) and two brothers on the family’s hay farm outside of Palmer, Alaska.

A street in Palmer, Alaska is named after her. Called Kerry Weiland Court, the road serves as the address for MTA Events Center (also known as Palmer Ice Arena), the town’s only indoor ice rink.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1999-2000 Wisconsin Badgers NCAA 33 10 25 35 72 — — — — — 2000-01 Wisconsin Badgers NCAA 35 12 37 49 76 — — — — — 2001-02 Wisconsin Badgers NCAA 33 8 14 22 36 — — — — — 2002-03 Wisconsin Badgers NCAA 32 4 14 18 65 — — — — — 2003-04 Edmonton Chimos NWHL 1 2 2004-05 Brampton Thunder NWHL 30 6 18 24 32 — — — — — 2005-06 DHC Lyss LK A 16 11 27 2006-07 Etobicoke Dolphins NWHL 2007-08 Vaughan Flames CWHL 15 8 3 11 20 2 0 1 1 0NCAA totals 133 34 90 124 249 – – – – – Sources:

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts +/– PIM 2004 WW 5 0 0 0 +8 2 2007 United States WW 5 0 1 1 +5 2 2008 United States WW 5 0 0 0 +1 6 2009 United States WW 5 0 0 0 +3 2 2010 United States OG 5 1 1 2 +6 4Totals 25 1 2 3 +23 16

Awards and honors Sources:

Career 4th most assists by a defender (90) – tied with Courtney Burke 6th most points by a defender (124) 9th most goals by a defender (34) – tied with Emma Laaksonen and Rachel Ramsey

Season

3rd most assists by a defender (37), 2000–01 season – tied with Winny Brodt (1999–2000), Megan Bozek (2012–13), and Sophie Jaques (2021–22) 5th most points by a defender (49), 2000–01 season – tied with Meaghan Mikkelson (2006–07) 5th most points per game by a defender (1.40), 2000–01 season; 22nd most points per game by a defender (1.06), 1999–2000 season 20th most goals by a defender (12), 2000–01 season – tied with five other players: Bobbi-Jo Slusar (2005–06), Anya Miller (2007–08), Anne Schleper (2009–10), Rachel Ramsey (2013–14), and Sydney Baldwin (2017–18)

Single-game

Most penalties (8), Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Duluth on October 9, 1999 Most penalty minutes (24 PIM), Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Duluth on October 9, 1999

Wisconsin Badgers Records valid through 2020–21 Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey season.

Career

Most penalties (111) – tied with Sis Paulsen Most penalty minutes (249 PIM) 2nd most points scored by a defensive player (124) 18th most points scored (124)

Season

Most points scored by a defensive player (49), 2000–01 season – tied with Meaghan Mikkelson (2006–07); 6th most points scored by a defensive player (35), 1999–2000 – tied with Courtney Burke (2015–16) 3rd most penalties (38), 2000–01 season; 4th most penalties (32), 1999–2000 season 3rd most penalty minutes (76), 2000–01 season; 4th most penalty minutes (72), 1999–2000 season; 7th most penalty minutes (65), 2002–03 season

Single-game

Most penalties (8), Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Duluth on October 9, 1999 Most penalty minutes (24 PIM), Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Duluth on October 9, 1999