Angela Ruggiero enters Hall compared to Bobby Orr

NHL.com takes a look at each of the seven individuals who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 9.

Angela Ruggiero was 15 in the summer of 1995 when she reported to Lake Placid, N.Y., to try out for the inaugural United States junior national women's team. She caught the eye of Ben Smith, the women's coach at Northeastern University who had been asked by USA Hockey to select a group to play in a friendly series against Finland.

Ruggiero was a bit green, Smith recalled, playing with women in their 20s and early 30s. But there was something about her that reminded him of arguably the finest defenseman in NHL history.

In Ruggiero, even as a teenager, Smith saw flashes of Bobby Orr. There's little that astounds Ruggiero, given her Harvard education and her accomplishments as the greatest American defender to play the women's game. But being likened to Orr, well, that got her attention.

"The comparison to Bobby Orr is phenomenal," Ruggiero said. "I tried to emulate Bobby Orr, even though I didn't really watch him play growing up. What I heard of his physical ability and his offensive prowess … I always prided myself on trying to be more of an offensive-minded defenseman, at the right times obviously."

Smith was convinced and made every effort for Ruggiero, one of two junior players (Tara Mounsey was the other) to make the senior team, to wear No. 4, the number that symbolized the best player he watched while growing up in suburban Boston.

"When we were giving out numbers back in 1995, I said, 'Make sure that kid gets No. 4,'" Smith said. "It's not like I was a soothsayer. It was clear as the nose on your face. This kid's different. With this kid, you could see that she had it. That was a springboard for her to enter onto our national scene. She never looked back."

Rarely does Ruggiero look back and reflect on what she's done to earn induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Even when she learned of the vote to induct her, it didn't sink in until Kelly Masse, the Hall's director of corporate and media relations, reminded her during a telephone conversation that she'll get to see her name on hockey's scrolls of honor forever.

"Then it just hit me," Ruggiero said. "I'm actually part of this class, these legends. I'm part of that fraternity, so to speak, for the rest of my life."

Ruggiero's resume is certainly Hall of Fame worthy. She was the top defender on the U.S. Women's National Team, winning four Olympic medals, including gold as an 18-year-old at the 1998 Nagano Games. She competed in 10 IIHF World Championship tournaments, winning gold four times. She won an NCAA championship as a freshman at Harvard University, where she graduated cum laude and returned 10 years later to earn her MBA. She is now vice chair of the International Olympic Committee Athlete's Commission; it’s among her many endeavors to help grow women's hockey.

Ruggiero will be the fourth woman inducted into the Hall, joining Cammi Granato, Angela James and Geraldine Heaney. She will be joined by longtime NHL stars Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Sergei Fedorov and Phil Housley; former Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Bill Hay; and Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr.

To complete what Ruggiero described as a whirlwind, the 35-year-old will be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Boston on Dec. 17.

Hayley Wickenheiser of Canada, a forward considered by many as the greatest player in the history of women's hockey, saw firsthand Ruggiero's skill, strength and smarts.

"You knew if you were coming down on her ice you were going to have to fight for every ounce of space," Wickenheiser said. "She played with a lot of confidence and liked to use the trash talk to throw opponents off, but I think [she] garnered respect through her abilities on the ice.

"She was a very big, strong defenseman, probably the best defenseman the U.S. ever produced."

Ruggiero was feisty. She was stubborn. And she was a gold medalist after the United States stunned Wickenheiser and Canada at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. But Ruggiero's gold medal didn't matter at Harvard, where as a freshman she had to prove herself to coach Katey Stone. Ruggiero had to pick up pucks after practice, and had to wait to wear No. 4, which was taken by upperclassmen.

"I had to earn my spot, especially at Harvard," Ruggiero said. "You're a freshman and you come in, and everyone has high expectations for you. I wanted to prove that I belonged, make the power play and all those things you hope for as a hockey player."

Ruggiero's 51 points helped Harvard to a 33-1 record and a national championship in 1999. She graduated as captain in 2004 and won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the top player in Division I women's hockey. Her 253 points (96 goals, 157 assists) are sixth in school history and most among defensemen.

Above all, Ruggiero was feared.

"That was part of why she was so good," said Stone, the winningest coach in Division I women's hockey. "People were afraid. She was a strong presence on the ice, unpredictable in some ways.

"[Angela] was dominant, intimidating, all the adjectives you can imagine. She could also take over a game with her skill. Bobby Orr had an edge to him, for sure, and he had all the skill and the hockey sense to back it up. Angela had all those pieces of the puzzle. Physically I think she was more dominant in the women's game than I think Bobby Orr was in the men's game."

Ruggiero retired in 2011 as the United States' all-time leader in games played (256), male or female. She considered competing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but decided after the United States won gold at the 2011 World Championship that she had accomplished everything in hockey, beyond her wildest dreams.

"I kind of sat on that for a bit, that weird sort of passing-on-the-torch feeling," Ruggiero said. "I remember I was so happy when my teammates did well. I felt more like a big sister than the crazy, competitive, I-want-to-win-at-all-costs kind of mentality."

Soon after, Ruggiero was appointed to the IOC Evaluation Commission, which examined potential sites for the 2018 Olympics before deciding on PyeongChang, South Korea.

In an interesting twist, Ruggiero works with Wickenheiser, her former rival, at the IOC.

"Probably one of the funnier moments we had was sitting at an IOC dinner and she turned to me and said, 'Well, we were enemies on the ice but now we have to work together off of it,'" Wickenheiser said. "It was such a weird moment after going head-to-head all these years, and we both just laughed."

On Nov. 9 in Toronto, Ruggiero will allow herself to revel in what she's accomplished.

"No, I don't look back often enough," Ruggiero said. "And that, I think, is part of the reason these ceremonies are already helping me to pause and reflect and think through where I am and who's helped me to get here. This is an amazing opportunity to pause and say, 'Wow! Angela. Pause, breathe and look at what you've done.' I tend not to look at myself in that way, so it's been nice to have that forced recollection."

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