She's never strapped on a pair of skates or taken a slap shot from the blue line, but Miss USA still knows one Sedin brother from another.

Miss USA is a hockey geek? Well, sort of.


Alyssa Campanella, who won the Miss California crown in April and captured the Miss USA title in June, became a fan of the sport on a trip to Canada last year. She watched the Vancouver Canucks play several times in the regular season and followed their run to the Stanley Cup Finals before they lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games.


The Miss Universe pageant will be held in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in September, but we got Campanella on the phone recently to talk about hockey, her own athletic prowess and proper etiquette — should a woman return an engagement ring if she decides not to accept a marriage proposal, as a former Miss Texas USA did after receiving a recorded proposal and ring from Dallas Cowboys receiver Roy Williams (she later returned the ring).


FOXSportsWest.com: How did you discover hockey?


Miss USA: It happened this season when I was in Vancouver and went to see a Canucks game. I didn't know anything about hockey prior to that, and I went to a game and fell in love with the energy and the sportsmanship of the players. It was just insane, so ever since then I've been a diehard Vancouver Canucks fan.


FOXSportsWest.com: You must have been upset when they lost the Stanley Cup.


Miss USA: It was disappointing because they were so close. It was only one more game. But, to me, I was thinking that they got the Presidents' Trophy this year and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. There's always next year.


FOXSportsWest.com: What attracts you to the sport?


Miss USA: I love the speed. I love how you're always on your toes when you're watching a hockey game because you're never sure where (the puck) is going to go. It happens so fast.


FOXSportsWest.com: Favorite player?


Miss USA: I don't have a favorite player, but I do like watching the Sedins score. I think I like Henrik, but I don't exactly have a particular favorite.


FOXSportsWest.com: Cutest player?


Miss USA: I don't really look at the players that much. I'm really into the sport itself.


FOXSportsWest.com: If you were a hockey player, would you be a forward, a defenseman or a goalie?


Miss USA: Well, when I played hockey in gym class growing up, they always made me the goalie. I was pretty good at it, I think. I can't play soccer very well, so I don't think I could shoot a puck into the goal very well. I think I'd be best with defense.


FOXSportsWest.com: Rate yourself as an athlete on a scale of 1 to 10.


Miss USA: I was about a five. I was in the middle, intermediate. I played mostly baseball; however, I really love volleyball. In high school, we played something called wallyball, which was volleyball, but you got to use the wall. Of course, it was a little more aggressive, and a lot of girls would opt to sit out, so you'd have me and 10 other guys that were playing and we'd spike the ball against the wall. It would get rough, but I loved it.


FOXSportsWest.com: We hear you're obsessed with the history of British royalty. So who would you rather meet, William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or the Great One, Wayne Gretzky?


Miss USA: That's a tough one. I think I'd probably want to get some one-on-one training with Wayne Gretzky.


FOXSportsWest.com: Did you hear the one about Cowboys receiver Roy Williams, who mailed a marriage proposal and $76,000 ring for a former Miss Texas? She kept the ring. Our question: What would you do?


Miss USA: Oh, I'd slap my boyfriend first for doing that. But because he did purchase the ring, I just think the respectful thing would be to return it.