Allison Jaime "A. J." Mleczko Griswold (born June 14, 1975) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player and analyst. She won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

and a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Playing career

Mleczko attended

New Canaan Country School New Canaan Country School (abbreviated NCCS) is an independent, private day school in New Canaan, Connecticut for students in Beginners (age 3) through Grade 9 from Fairfield and Westchester Counties. The current head of school is Aaron Cooper. ...

and is a graduate of

The Taft School The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates. About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...

Watertown, Connecticut Watertown is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 22,105 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The ZIP codes for Watertown are 06795 (for most of the ...

. Mleczko played college hockey at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where she led the Crimson to a national title in 1999. That same year she became the second winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is awarded annually to the best female college ice hockey player in the United States. On September 24, 2002, she was inducted into the New England Women's Hall of Fame. She is a hockey commentator for the

NHL on ESPN The broadcasts of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by ESPN have been shown on its various platforms in the United States, including ESPN itself, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, and Hulu. Since 2021, games have been broadcast under ...

and

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...

s. She previously worked for the

NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...

, where she became the first woman to commentate for an NHL playoff game. Additionally, she hosts the ''On the Bus With Cammi & AJ'' podcast with former teammate

Cammi Granato Catherine Michelle Granato (born March 25, 1971) is an American former ice hockey player and one of the first women to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November 2010. She currently works as an assistant general manager for the Vancou ...

. Mleczko was inducted on June 20, 2019 into the

National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum was founded in 1973. The mission of the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame is to recognize and preserve outstanding achievement by individuals of Polish heritage in the field o ...

located in

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. Its population was 87,294 at the 2020 U.S. census, making Troy the most populous city in the county and the 13th most-populous municipality in the state. Troy is a northern suburb of Me ...

. Her paternal great-grandparents were Polish immigrants.

Personal life

Mleczko currently resides in Concord, Massachusetts with her husband, Jason, and their four children. She is a cousin of diplomat

Rufus Gifford John Rufus Gifford (born August 5, 1974) is an American politician, diplomat, and reality television personality, who serves as the chief of protocol of the United States. Between 2013 and 2017, he was the United States Ambassador to Denmark. ...

Awards and honors

*1999 American Women's College Hockey Alliance All-Americans, First Team *

Patty Kazmaier Award The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is given to the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. The award is presented during the women's annual ice hockey championship, the Frozen Four. The award was first presented in 1998. The awa ...

* 1999 USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year Award (also known as the Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year award) *Women's Beanpot Hall of Fame (inducted 2011)

References

External links

* * *
1998 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team
* 1975 births American women's ice hockey forwards Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey players Ice hockey people from Massachusetts Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Patty Kazmaier Award winners People from Nantucket, Massachusetts Taft School alumni Women sports announcers Ice hockey players from Massachusetts 21st-century American women {{US-icehockey-bio-stub