Gophers women’s hockey coach Brad Frost has added four 2022 Olympians to this season’s roster, including 2020-21 top forward Grace Zumwinkle. But he hasn’t messed with the top line.
“Now they are together,” he said Wednesday.
Fifth graders Abigail Bolin, Katie Sukaja and Taylor Heiss show the Gophers in incredible depth as the No. 2 Gophers start their season against WCHA rivals Bemidji State at Lidder Arena on Friday. Headline the line-up for. Pack drop is set for 6 p.m.
“Of course,” said Frost.
All three players had careers as the Gophers rebounded from a difficult season — they missed the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 — and scored a combined 121 points to finish nationally. It was the best. Heise led the nation with her 66 points and won the Patty Kazmaier Award. Then, after she was left out of her team’s tryouts at the Olympics, she made her first senior her team USA roster.
She capped an amazing 12 months as a silver medal winner with 7 goals and 11 assists and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“I think I was more prepared because I wasn’t selected for the (Olympic) team,” she said.
The question is, what does Heise have in store for 2022-23?
“She’s only 22, so I don’t think she’s lived up to her potential,” Frost said. “But it’s clear that the confidence she’s gained from her last year, and being on her national team and becoming her MVP at the World Championships. happy with the way
“But she also knows she’s just as good as she makes other people. So if she can’t make other people better around her , she’s not good enough to do it all by herself – and she knows it.
Haise and her linemates are a tight group. had knee surgery and Bolin had back surgery, she said.
“With the injuries we had, we couldn’t have surgery if we didn’t have time to rest, like a couple of months,” she said.
Asked if the line was physically damaged during the Gophers’ brief stay in the NCAA Tournament — they lost the first game and ended up runners-up at the Lidder Arena against Minnesota Duluth. — Heise said: I compromised; I think I was very stable mentally. Physically, I find it very difficult to keep up with the fact that I go to school every day. It was a forced vacation for me and much needed. “
Everyone is now healthy, playing together in exhibition wins against the University of Manitoba and the Minnesota Whitecaps, and ready to play a real game. We are one of two teams that have yet to play a regular season game.
First was the Beavers, who swept Lindenwood at Bemidji and went 0-1-1 at No. 10 Clarkson in Potsdam, New York. Olympian Zumwinkle and forward Abbie mark the return of his Murphy (USA), Minnesota making his forward debut at the Olympics. Josefin Bouveng (Sweden) and his Nelli Laitinen (Finland) in the Blue Liner.
But the most eye-catching puck drop is the athlete who just missed out on the Olympics, and no one is more excited than Heise.
“I think we’re excited to show the country what we have,” she said.
