from SI.com

One hundred days before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, the U.S. women’s hockey team embarked on the longest day of its lives.

For forward Julie Chu, a 5:20 a.m. wake-up call on Nov. 2 was “like a shock” to her system. The team had rolled into New York City just four hours earlier after drubbing the women’s Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association team 6-2 in New Haven, Conn.

Despite the lack of sleep, the women appeared, most of them wearing a fresh layer of makeup, ready to tackle the day with television and print media appearances.

7 a.m. The first stop is NBC’s Today show. In full uniform, the team skates around the ice rink at Rockefeller Center while several ski aerialists jump on trampolines across the street. Meanwhile, Bode Miller talks with Matt Lauer in the studio.

8:45 a.m. Behind schedule, Katie Couric runs across the street from the studio down to the rink to interview the team. Leaning over the boards, she asks the team to give a demonstration of stick-handling and how to shoot a puck.

“Well, you want to transform your weight with the puck,” says defenseman Angela Ruggiero, who, at 25, is making her third Olympic appearance.

Ruggiero slaps a puck. Lined up in a row, the women of the team rapidly tap their sticks onto the ice in unison.

“Katie was supposed to be in skates, and we were supposed to go up to her and spray her [with ice],” Chu says. “She was wearing high heels, so we had to improvise.”

Already behind for its next TV gig, the team packs up its things in a spacious green room beneath the Today studios.

“We got to hustle,” Chu says. To the surprise of the team, Couric drops by to say thanks. They quickly surround the NBC anchor to take photos outside the green room. Couric smiles at Chu, who had given her a tour of the athletes’ village at the ‘02 Salt Lake City Games.

“Julie, you’re still at Harvard?” Couric asks.

“Yeah,” Chu replies as USA Hockey assistants frantically snap shots with a half-dozen digital cameras.

:30 a.m. Chu, Ruggiero and newly appointed captain Krissy Wendell rush to a black car waiting to take them to ESPN’s Cold Pizza studios, 18 blocks away.

“Hey, you just missed Justin Timberlake,” someone yells. But there’s no time to chase him down. The teammates pass through the TKTS booth in Times Square.

“This is where you get cheap tickets for Broadway shows, Krissy” Chu says as Wendell peers out the window. Ruggiero calls her mother to see if she taped the Today show and to explain how to download the women’s hockey games on the Internet.

Sitting in the back seat, the three discuss who will teach Tony Danza how to play hockey for The Tony Danza Show later in the afternoon.

“It’s all you Angela, Wendell says. “We’ll just support you. I heard he’s going to be wearing hockey pads.” Chu says she thinks The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be more fun.

9:50 a.m. The teammates arrive 20 minutes late for the Cold Pizza taping when they run into bobsledder Vonetta Flowers, the first African-American to win a Winter Olympics gold medal at the ‘02 Games.

“I saw you guys on the Today show,” says Flowers, who is also taping a Cold Pizza segment.

“Busy day for Olympic athletes,” Chu replies. The team is quickly escorted to a green room with turquoise walls, a black leather sofa, three chairs and eight TV sets.

“Hey, who was that?” Wendell asks.

“That was Vonetta Flowers — bobsledder,” Chu says. Turning up the TV, Chu smiles as Flowers gives a live interview on ESPN. Wendell and Chu collapse onto the couch to relax for a few minutes before their interview. Ruggiero yawns and says she wants good coffee.

“I don’t drink coffee,” Wendell says, showing off her pearly whites. “Stains your teeth.”

“You can drink it through a straw,” Ruggiero says. “You get coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. Oh my God, that’s the best.”

10:45 a.m. Goalie Pam Dreyer and forwards Natalie Darwitz and Kelly Stephens arrive at the Cold Pizza studio to meet up for the group interview. While the majority of the team was at the Today shoot, the three players were busy ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange downtown and were stuck in morning traffic. They are rushed to get their makeup touched up.

Darwitz, 22, who rarely puts on makeup, returns wearing mascara. “I feel like a hooker,” she says.

A producer named Pete comes to prep the six players about the five-minute taped interview. He tells them they can shoot at host Jay Crawford, but they can’t kill him.

11:02 a.m. Chu, Stephens and Dreyer stand on a box behind Wendell, Ruggiero and Darwitz, who are seated in front. The players are all wearing USA Hockey fleeces over dress pants, except for Ruggiero, who lost hers at the Today studio and had to wear her jersey.

“You guys have that killer hockey instinct,” Crawford says.

Crawford begins by asking Wendell, the star forward, about veteran Cammi Granato, who was left off the U.S. women’s team for the first time since 1998.

“She’s an amazing person,” Wendell says. “We’ve learned so much from her. She’s definitely someone to be remembered. There’s a little part of Cammi that comes out in all of us.”

Ruggiero is asked about the tight-knit group. “We do everything together,” she says. “We eat together, sleep together.”

A few of the teammates stifle a laugh. The interview ends when Stephens shoots three pucks into a net Crawford is guarding with a baseball mitt and a football helmet. “I wasn’t ready,” he says.

Afterwards, Crawford thanks the group and invites them back when they win a gold medal. The teammates are given Cold Pizza caps and hop into taxis headed for NHL headquarters in Midtown, where they’re scheduled to have lunch with league representatives.

3:54 p.m. The women’s team is taping a segment for The Tony Danza Show at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Danza was a no-show, which made the USA Hockey handlers cranky. Hungry and tired, the day was trying Wendell’s patience, too. The two-hour lunch meeting on the 42nd floor of the NHL headquarters consisted of catered cold-cut sandwiches and soft drinks.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Wendell says. “Lunch sucked.”

Adds Stephens, “Some of the others were saying what a great lunch they had while we were stuck at the NHL. We had barely eaten anything all day. I mean, come on. We’re women hockey players.”

After signing autographs and interviewing with print media for several hours at Wollman Rink and answering questions about Granato’s absence, Chu offers to buy Wendell a cup of hot cocoa.

“I get asked about Cammi a lot,” Wendell says. “I just try to repeat the same thing over and over. Sometimes [the media] will have follow-up questions, so I’ll just keep saying the same thing.”

The sun begins to go down and Wendell tries to stay warm by sipping her cocoa.

“This has been a never-ending day,” she says. “Me and Chewy are done.”

Just then, the team captain is wanted for a local TV interview. Wendell puts down her hot chocolate and with a weary smile, obliges.