Canada's female hockey star has quit the Finnish men's team Salamat and headed home to Calgary, team officials said on Wednesday.
"I wasn't happy. I missed my family a lot. I finally came to this conclusion in the end, because I didn't get to show my skills in the kind of role that I wanted," Wickenheiser, 25, said. "I decided to end my contract with Salamat and return home. I will now take my time, and think over how and where I will continue my career."
Salamat head coach Matti Hagman said he was surprised to learn of Wickenheiser's decision, despite the fact the centre had seen little action this season in the team's debut in the second tier of Finnish hockey.
Hayley Wickenheiser at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland, Wednesday. (AP/Jaakko Avikainen)
"It seems she would not have been happy with her current role in the team and the time she could spend on the ice, playing on the fourth (line)," said Hagman.
Wickenheiser, who played in two Olympic Games for the Canadian women's team, made history last year when she joined Salamat.
But the five-foot-9 pivot had only played about 10 minutes in Salamat's 16 games this season.
Last week, Wickenheiser joined the Canadian national women's team at a tournament in Sweden, and announced her decision to leave after that, Hagman added.
Salamat played in Finland's third-tier league last season but in the spring was promoted to the second-highest division, or Mestis, after which Wickenheiser signed a one-year contract.
"I don't want to be mealy-mouthed about it: the level of play in this league was very tough for Hayley," said Hagman. "It was an enormous step up from the previous season. The tempo is so much faster, there's more speed, and the physical aspects of the game become more important."
Wickenheiser often said this year that living so far away from her boyfriend Tomas Pacina, coach of the Calgary Oval Extreme of the National Women's Hockey League, and adopted son Noah, was difficult.
"Hayley has class and she was a real top-athlete until the end of her stay with Salamat," Salamat manager Markku Kulmala said. "Towards the end I sensed that she wasn't exactly happy with her role in the team.
Wickenheiser, pointless this season, had two goals and added nine assists in 23 games for Salamat a year ago.
Last year, she turned down an offer to try out for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League. A team in an Italian league - her preferred choice - turned her down after that country's winter sports federation said women weren't eligible.
Wickenheiser has played in four women's world championships and would have played in a fifth in April had the tournament in Beijing not been cancelled because of concerns about the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
She was a major contributor to Canada's Olympic gold medal victory in Salt Lake City in 2002, and is the team's all-time points leader.
with files from Associated Press
