During the 1999 season, Mleczko had the opportunity to rejoin the U.S. national team for the World Championships but chose instead to stay at Harvard, a decision that Stone is still thankful for today.
“She made sacrifices, she stayed at Harvard,” Stone said. “She was captain of the Harvard team. That was her team then after the Olympics she was totally committed to it, and she showed how much it meant to her. And as a result she gained tremendous respect from all of her teammates.”
Mleczko’s sacrifice for her sport did not end when she left Harvard. She married Jason Griswold in September 2000, and just days after her honeymoon she was whisked away to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, where the U.S. team trained together for two seasons leading up to the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and an eventual silver medal.
Since Mleczko’s U.S. national team obligations ended in March, she has devoted much of her time to giving back to the Nantucket community, where her parents reside. There she ran a two-week hockey camp in addition to starting an annual celebrity Charity on Ice benefit in Nantucket’s new ice rink, which donated its funds to youth hockey on the island.
Many speculated that the Olympics would be Mleczko’s last international event, but Asano knew better.
“I think she’ll play until she can’t,” Asano said. “That’s my own instinct when I see her play.”
Sure enough, Mleczko confirmed that she would be playing for the U.S. in the next two major international events, the 2002 Four Nations Cup hosted by Kitchener, Ont., in November and the 2003 World Championships hosted by Beijing next April. The 2006 Olympics, however, are still too far for her to decide.
“I haven’t committed for four more years. I love hockey. I love to keep playing. I’m 27, so I’m young enough,” Mleczko said. “A lot of it is the geography of it. It’s a commitment of going to live in Lake Placid, for me being married and having to give up a lot of time from my personal life. It’s a fact of life a lot of Olympic athletes have to go through.”
With her hockey career still going strong for now, Mleczko has held off on any further inquiries into her future. The prospect of having no experience outside of sports upon entering the work force is still worrisome for some Olympic athletes, though Mleczko says her work as a spokesperson for the job search website Monster.com has helped assuaged some of those fears.
Mleczko served as volunteer assistant coach for the 1999-2000 Harvard team, but she isn’t inclined at the moment to follow in Asano’s footsteps for the hired position.
“Right now I’m so close to playing. I know myself and I’m really competitive, so jumping right behind the bench would be tough for me,” Mleczko said.
But regardless of what Mleczko does once her playing days are over, there is full confidence that she will continue to promote the growth of women’s sports.
“She will continue to be an ambassador for Harvard athletics and women’s ice hockey,” Stone said. “It’ll be interesting to see if she continues to play but if she doesn’t, I’m sure she’ll she find a way to continue to be involved.”