Weiland watch

The Kerry Weiland watch is on.

For those of you who have spent the last several weeks buried in a snow berm and have not heard, the Mat-Su Valley has a representative in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Former Palmer High School standout Kerry Weiland is a member of the Team USA women’s hockey squad. Weiland and her fellow Americans got off to a pretty solid start during the Vancouver Games, scoring a 12-1 win over China on Sunday afternoon.

The game, which was seen locally on the USA network, marked the Olympic debut of Weiland, who began skating Valley ponds and rinks at the age of 5 years old. Her journey to the Olympics included a historic tenure with the PHS boys ice hockey team and a stellar college career at Division I Wisconsin.

At Palmer, Weiland became the first girl in Alaska to be named all-conference in boys’ hockey. Weiland was also a two-time All-American in women’s hockey at Wisconsin.

During the win over China, Weiland posted an assist and finished with a very solid +4 rating.

The blueliner also logged nearly 17 minutes of ice time, which was about average for her team.

Weiland and Team USA will be back on the ice on Tuesday to face Russia at 1:30 p.m. AST.

The Team USA men’s team starts tournament play Tuesday at 11 a.m. against Switzerland.

— Jeremiah Bartz