The Complete, Rather Disappointing, History of Women’s Hockey on Jeopardy

Yesterday’s November 11th episode, part of a Tournament of Champions no less, featured a category on women’s sports entitled “What’s Her Sport?”. And making an appearance in the $400 clue where former Minnesota/North Dakota gold medal-winning American heroes Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson. Unforunately, that day’s collection of Jeopardy champions was stumped:

Granted, Jeopardy contestants tend to be notorious for their lack of sports acumen. But.....c’mon.

With the venerable game show recently airing its’ 8000th episode last month, it got me curious just how rare it is for a women’s hockey player to come up in a Jeopardy. It turns out, it’s a pretty rare feat. The Lamoureux twins are just the sixth and seventh women’s hockey players to be specifically mentioned on the show.

With help from the J-Archive, here is the complete listing of Jeopardy questions involved women’s hockey players:

Date: February 4, 1993

Category: Sports, Jeopardy Round, $100

Question: In September 1992 Manon Rheaume became the 1st woman to play a game in 1 of the 4 major team sports, this one

Just over two months after asking their last question about ringette, Jeopardy dove into women’s ice hockey with a current events question about Manon Rheaume in the top(easiest question of the category). Middle contestant Michael rang in and answered correctly. He would go to win that day’s game, before losing the following day.

Date: May 5, 1998, Quarterfinal of College Championship tournament

Category: Nagano ‘98, Double Jeopardy Round, $200

Question: Sarah Tueting & Cammi Granato were 2 of the heroines of this triumphant U.S. team

Once again, a current events question at the top of a category. Contestant Kristen would ring in with the correct answer and go on to win the game, before losing in the semifinal round.

Date: March 15, 2000

Category: Join The Team, Jeopardy Round, $400(Daily Double)

Question: The Brooklyn Blades is a woman’s team in this sport.

The Blades are amateur team that describe themselves as “advanced beginner to intermediate” level of play, so pretty obscure, but from the context of the question, you can get what they’re going for. This Daily Double was landed on and answered correctly by Robin Carroll, who was playing in her third game of a five-day run(this was before unlimited winning streaks), and would eventually go on to win the 2000 Tournament of Champions.

Date: April 2, 2007

Cateory: Sports 2006, Double Jeopardy, $800

Question: At the Winter Olympics, the Canadian women outscored their opposition 46-2 to win gold in this team sport

This was after question values were doubled, so $800 was the second question in Double Jeopardy. It was answered correctly by Craig, who did not win the game.

Date: May 6, 2009, College Championship quarterfinal

Category: The Lady Swings, Jeopardy Round, $600

Question: Saskatchewan’s Hayley Wickenheiser swings this to score

Jeopardy finally ventured away from current events Olympics questions for women’s hockey, and the results weren’t great. None of the three contestants ventured a guess. On the one hand, “swinging” a hockey stick is a weird way to describe shooting. On the other hand, they go out of their way to mention that she’s Canadian, and what else do Canadians do?

Date March 8, 2011

Category: Hockey, Jeopardy Round, $600

Question: In 2010 the Hockey Hall of Fame welcomed its first 2 of these, James & Granato

This was a triple stumper, with no one attempting to ring in. To be fair, the question is written rather awkwardly, since they couldn’t use the first names of Angela James and Cammi Granato.

Date: March 31, 2011

Category: We Are The Champions, Double Jeopardy, $1200

Question: Of women’s Olympic ice hockey, 3 of the 4 times it’s been played (not bad, eh?)

Just in case there was any doubt, which of the two possible countries this could have been, they basically make this question: Which says “eh?”. Returning champion Ellen got the question correct, but did not win the game that day.

Date: April 14, 2016

Category: Female Athletes, Jeopardy Round, $200

Question: Cammi Granato played 205 games for the U.S. women’s team in this sport & has been a rinkside reporter for NBC

Cammi Granato makes her second appearance on Jeopardy. This was maybe a bit harder for a top-of-the-category question, though the phrase rinkside likely gives it away. Hannah answered correctly, but did not win the game.

Date: November 11, 2019, Tournament of Champions

Category: What’s Her Sport?, Jeopardy Round, $400

Question: Twins Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux

As you saw in the video above, nobody had a clue.

So that’s it. Nine questions, with about five complete gimmes and three that ended up being triple stumpers. But at least it is nice to see that women’s hockey is slowly moving from only being mentioned in the aftermath of Olympics to more of a regular part of mainstream culture.