North Ridgeville resident Brianne McLaughlin looks back on Olympic memories

Brianne McLaughlin flashes back in an instant. Twelve years have passed since she last played goaltender for Team USA in the Olympics, but she has no trouble picking her top highlight and placing herself at the scene. "Favorite moment of the Olympics was opening ceremonies," she said last week, referring to 2010, her first of two Winter Olympics. "We get together for six months before the Olympics and we train together. So we were in Minnesota training and we were just Team USA women's hockey. And then we get to Vancouver and we're all in our little opening ceremony thing and you turn around and there's Shaun White and Ryan Miller, and all of a sudden there's 244 Team USA athletes and you're all on the same team, and so you're rooting together. "And we started a big 'U-S-A' chant before we went out on the tunnel. And that was just like, 'this is real, this is where you are' kind of moment for me looking around and seeing us all in the same, exact uniform." McLaughlin is an Elyria Sports Hall of Famer who played for the Elyria Catholic boys hockey team. She went on to star at Robert Morris University, holding the NCAA saves record from 2008-15, and play professionally. She returned to Lorain County three years ago, lives in North Ridgeville and is committed to helping the next generation of hockey players. For a couple of weeks, she's also locked into the Olympics in Italy. The U.S. women's hockey team stayed unbeaten Friday, reaching the semifinals with a rout of Italy. "I'm just trying to have the Olympics on in the background for the kids to watch and get into it," she said of her three boys. "I think four or five of my teammates are still going. So it's fun to watch them. "I can't imagine still doing it if I'm being honest with myself. It seems like a complete lifetime ago that I was a part of that life. And to think that they're still doing it and the training and everything, it's a lot. It's a lot a lot. So more power to them for doing it. It's fun to watch 'em on TV, though." Even though elite competition is in her rearview mirror, McLaughlin misses playing. "I do, yeah," she said. "Well, we did the parent-kid game in Elyria, so I put all my USA stuff on with Olympic jersey and everything and I went out there with all my USA stuff for the kids and they all scored on me." She works at the Ohio Hockey Project, whose mission is to "level up the standard of skill development in the Cleveland area and dedicate ourselves fully to making a lasting impact on the hockey community we love." "It's been so fun," McLaughlin said. Russ Sinkewich founded the Ohio Hockey Project and hired McLaughlin and Shannon Szabados, who was goalie on the Canadian teams that beat McLaughlin's teams for the gold medal in 2010 and '14. "Her husband's from Lorain and they live here now," McLaughlin said. "So it's the two of us doing girls hockey stuff and goalie stuff here in Cleveland. "So I get to work with her all the time with her gold medals. But it's funny, you compete against each other and you're like mortal enemies for so long, and then we're buds and we're raising our kids together and trying to grow women's sports in Cleveland and goaltending and everything else. But it's been super fun." McLaughlin ran a hockey training facility in Pittsburgh for 10 years and coached goalies for the men's and women's teams at Robert Morris, making her the first female coach in men's Division I hockey history. She's watched the opportunities for girls expand exponentially from when she got started in the sport. "When I grew up here, I was one of two girls in Elyria that played," she said. "And now my kids are playing there and there's like eight girls on one team. There's a ton. There's 40, 50 girls in the organization now. So it's growing and there needs to be some more opportunities for them. "So Ohio Hockey Project with myself and Shannon are just trying to put camps and teams and just provide what I didn't have growing up. And so knowing what I should have had or wanted or could have had or whatever, and being able to work with people to provide that for the girls and hopefully produce some new Olympians here in Cleveland." Is she the reason for the explosion? "I don't know if I'll take credit for it, but it's very cool to see," she said. After more than a decade in Pittsburgh, McLaughlin came home. She's glad she did. "I am turning my Chicago husband sports fan into a Cleveland sports fan and then making our three boys Cleveland sports fans," she said. Contact Scott Petrak at (440) 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @scottpetrak on X.