2010 & 2014 Olympian - United States 

@MDuggan10 - twitter & instagram  

SILVER - SOCHI 2014

STATUS: Pyeongchang 2018 winter olympic hopeful

OLYMPIC MEDALIST.  WORLD CHAMPION.  NCAA CHAMPION.  COLLEGE GRADUATE.

6x World Champion. 

3x NCAA Champion. 

2x Olympic Medalist.

2014 Olympic Team Captain.

The life of Meghan Duggan has seen her ups and downs at the greatest of levels.  Growing up in a suburb of Boston, in Danvers, Massachusetts, she played soccer, softball and lacrosse, but hockey was her true passion that she really excelled at.  During high school at Cushing Academy she was a three-year recipient of the Bette Davis Award as the prep school’s top female athlete for play in all of these sports.

Hockey though led her to the University of Wisconsin (in 2006-07) on scholarship and over her career here, she played in 4 NCAA title games winning 3 of them and really helped to cement the school as a powerhouse in the sport.  During her time at Wisconsin, she was able to lead the nation in scoring her senior year and win the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Award given annually to the best female collegiate player (similar to the Heisman).

Just prior to her collegiate career beginning at Wisconsin, Meghan began to be noticed by USA Hockey as a player to keep tabs on in the future, by inviting her to their USA H player development camp and then graduating to their annual USA Hockey Women’s National Festival.

Her first opportunity to wear the USA sweater took place in 2007 by being named a member of the Under-22 US Women’s National Team (WNT) and since then Meghan has become a member of the senior WNT participating in 7 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championships, 2 Olympic Games and 9 Four Nations Cup tournaments.

At the same time, Meghan has had to overcome something that is common place in professional sports today and that is Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS).  In December of 2011, Meghan had PCS and was out of action for more then 6 months.  During this time, their was a lot of dark days wondering if the symptoms would ever go away.  This included days where you can’t concentrate, where you feel low, where you just want to be in dark rooms and try and relax.  When Meghan thought it was healing the symptoms started to come back.  

At the advice of fellow US WNT member Caitlin Cahow whom had similar issues, Meghan went to Atlanta (in December 2012) to seek out counsel from Chiropractic Neurologist Dr. Fred Carrick who had helped Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby to get back on the ice with his treatment.  This treatment worked for Meghan and she was able to re-teach her brain using Dr Carrick’s therapy which was a key for her to come back and re-join the US WNT.

Meghan was cleared to play hockey again in February 2013 where she joined her pro team (Boston Blades - CWHL) subsequently winning the 2013 Clarkson Cup (Women's equivalent to Stanley Cup) and then was named to the 2013 IIHF Women’s World Championship team winning the title in April.

Knowing how far she has come USA Hockey gave Meghan the chance in the summer of 2013, to skate with the Men’s 2014 World Junior Championship hopeful group in Lake Placid.  She certainly held her own with this group.  

Stefan Matteau, NJ Devils 2013 first round pick said to NHL.com about Meghan

“It was cool skating with her.  It was a good experience.  I didn’t expect anything less from her.  I knew she had a lot of talent but no one took it easy on her just because she had a long brown ponytail sticking out of the back of her helmet.  We didn’t give her any easy passes.  She’s a hockey player and didn’t look out of place.  She’s as good as any of us, if not better.”  

This strong praise is a long way away from the darkness Meghan had to overcome from PCS.  Meghan and the rest of the US Women's National Team were centralized in Boston for the run up to Sochi and she was named on January 1 during the NHL's Winter Classic on NBC to the 2014 Winter Olympic Team.  Additionally, she was named as the Team Captain of the 2014 Olympic squad.  She became a part of an exclusive club of Captains of Team USA with Cammi Granato, Krissy Wendell-Pohl and Natalie Darwitz from 1998 to 2014. 

While off the ice, Meghan donates time to Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics Massachusetts and public speaking.  In the run up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, Meghan was featured in the Panini trading card set for the 2013-14 NHL season with 6 other female hockey players from the US and Canada.  

2014 Olympics

The United States fell to Canada in a heartbreaking way in the Gold Medal match vs Canada having led the game 2-0 in the final couple of minutes in regulation.  Meghan scored the first goal of the game that looked as it might be the game winner, until a ricocheted shot beat the U.S. net minder and with Canada's net pulled and a near empty net goal for the U.S. that hit the goal post, Canada tied the game.  Canada went on to win in sudden death overtime on a power play goal.

After the crushing loss, being the leader that Meghan is, their was no finger pointing and the level of class on display was exemplary of what anyone should do in that sort of situation.  She set the example and the team followed.

Some facts about the USA v Canada Gold Medal game that aired on NBC and CBC live and re-aired on TSN in Canada:

• The game aired at 12 pm Eastern Time LIVE on NBC and Live-Streamed on NBC on February 20, 2014
• NBC Sports Digital marked three consecutive days with record-setting live streaming performances from Feb 19-21.  Prior to the Team USA men’s hockey record noted above, the Feb. 20 U.S.-Canada women’s gold medal game was the most streamed authenticated game in the history of NBC Sports Digital and most-streamed Olympics event ever (1.2 million unique users on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app). The Feb. 19 U.S.-Czech Republic men’s quarterfinal hockey game was previously the most-streamed Olympic event ever (798,337 uniques). - NBC Sports Group
• The thrilling women’s gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada at noon ET on Feb. 20, won 3-2 by Team Canada on an overtime goal by Marie-Philip Poulin, averaged 4.9 million viewers on NBC to rank as the most-watched hockey game in the U.S., excluding Stanley Cup Finals, since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics men’s gold medal game (Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2 on an overtime goal by Sidney Crosby). - NBC Sports Group

• THURSDAY’S WOMEN’S GOLD MEDAL ICE HOCKEY IS MOST-STREAMED GAME IN NBC SPORTS DIGITAL HISTORY, EXCLUDING SUPER BOWL XLVI

  SOCHI, Russia – Feb. 21, 2014 – Thursday’s women’s hockey Olympic gold medal game between Team USA and Canada is now the most-streamed event in the history of NBC Sports Digital, excluding Super Bowl XLVI.

  The stream of the game, in which Canada defeated the U.S., 3-2, in overtime, was watched by 1.2 million unique users and generated 34.9 million minutes of consumption.

  The game, which was streamed on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app, surpasses yesterday’s men’s ice hockey quarterfinal between Team USA and the Czech Republic in uniques (798,337) and the 2012 London Olympics women’s soccer final between Team USA and Japan in minutes consumed (29.7 million). The uniques and consumption outpace every sport and event NBC Sports Digital has ever streamed, excluding Super Bowl XLVI.

• The U.S.-Canada women’s final was aired by NBC and started at noon on Thursday. It drew 4.9 million viewers, or double what the 2010 Olympic women’s final drew. Another 1.2 million watched the video stream. - Dispatch.com

• Nearly 13 million Canadians tuned in last Thursday when the Canadian women's team defeated Team USA for the gold medal, including more than 3.1 million viewers via the CBC's online stream.

  The peak minute for the CBC during the women's gold medal game came during the final minutes, with 6.37 million viewers tuning in. - The Hollywood Reporter

TODAY

After the Olympics, she has had the honor to take part in at TEDx Talk, been taking part in public speaking engagements throughout the United States and has taken part in the Pittsburgh Penguins Girls Youth hockey camp as well as other youth hockey camps in New England. 

Additionally in September 2014, Meghan along with fellow teammate, Julie Chu took part in the NHL / NHLPA Digital Goals kickoff event (with NHL players from the Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils) which is a new education initiative that will impact 8,000 K-12 grade schools over the next three years with a national impact that will reach 9 million + students and 7 million total fully certified students in that same time period.  The program has subsequently been launched into all 30 NHL markets throughout North America. 

From the Fall of 2014 until the Spring of 2016, Meghan was living a 3 job life as an Assistant Coach at Clarkson University for their Women's Ice Hockey program in Potsdam, NY, playing professionally for the CWHL Boston Blades (2014-15) [winning the Clarkson Cup for a 2nd time] and NWHL Buffalo Beauts (2015-16) [losing the Isobel Cup in the Final] and remaining a part of the US Women's National Team helping to secure her 5th and 6th IIHF Women's World Ice Hockey Championships as the Captain of Team USA.  

Her 6th IIHF Women's World Championship made her (and fellow Wisconsin grad & USWNT teammate Hilary Knight) the most decorated US female hockey players in history, surpassing her 2014 teammate Julie Chu for this honor.

With her NCAA coaching career now on hold, Meghan's focus is to capture the elusive Olympic Gold Medal that has remained out of the United States hands since the inaugural event in 1998 in Nagano.  

In the Spring of 2016, she moved back to the Boston area and will play professionally there for the 2016-17 year and then with centralize with the USWNT in August 2017.

Meghan has contractual endorsement relationships with CCM Hockey and Dunkin Donuts.