Emily’s mom, and Hill-Murray co-head coach Krissy Pohl, didn’t see the puck go in.

“I was already shaking my head when she tried to pull it,” Krissy said. “Because I said, ‘oh, you can’t turn it over there, you’ve got to get it deep.’

“I wanted her to shoot.”

Emily said she wasn’t “really sure what happened” on the play, but of course, she was happy that the puck ended up going over the goal line for her 14th goal of the season, tied for the team lead with senior Chloe Boreen.

Pohl’s goal was all the offense the Pioneers needed to keep their undefeated, 12-0 record, although her teammate Sophie Olson added a goal early in the second period to give the top-ranked Pioneers a 2-0 road victory over No. 3-ranked Andover on Dec. 22.

Emily also played with the varsity team last season, scoring nine goals and 28 points in 28 games as an eighth-grader. This season, she’s scored a goal in 10 of the first 12 games, registering a point in all but one game, a 2-1 victory over Edina on Nov. 30.

Pohl is one of the talented pieces that’s turned in a few impressive wins on a tough schedule so far. The Pioneers knocked off one of the best in Class 2A in Minnetonka with a 5-3 victory on Dec. 9 at Pagel Ice Arena. Pohl tied that game 1-1, the first of her two goals on the night, only 16 seconds after the Skippers grabbed a lead.

Hill-Murray is scoring 5.25 goals per game this season while allowing only 0.75 goals per game. Senior goaltender Grace Zhan (10-0-0) leads the state with a .963 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Zhan earned the victory over Andover, coming up with plenty of key saves early, on multiple breakaways, on multiple rebound attempts and during the final couple of minutes when Andover pulled its goaltender for the extra skater.

Hill-Murray goaltender Grace Zhan watches a rolling puck to her left as Andover and Hill-Murray players chase after it. (MHM Photo / Heather Rule)

The last time Andover was shut out? Jan. 29, 2020, also at the hands of Hill-Murray on the Andover Community Center ice.

“(Grace) is awesome,” Emily said. “We’re really, really lucky.”

Zhan is even-keeled and humble, Krissy said, and a backbone of their team.

Last season, Hill-Murray fell short in its section final to eventual Class 2A champion Gentry Academy. Following head coach Shawn Reid stepping down after last season, Natalie Darwitz was tapped to be the next coach for the Pioneers. But with the new Professional Women’s Hockey League starting up this season, Darwitz took a job as Team Minnesota’s general manager.

Krissy, 2000 Ms. Hockey winner from Park Center (then Krissy Wendell) and her husband, Hill-Murray athletic director and 1998 Mr. Hockey from Red Wing, John Pohl, stepped in as the girl’s hockey coaches this season, not that being behind the bench was an unfamiliar place for them. They’ve coached their daughter Emily for years, though their plan wasn’t to coach her in high school, Krissy said. They wanted her to “hear different voices,” but this coach-player dynamic at Hill-Murray is a unique circumstance, Krissy added.

They talked to Emily before accepting the coaching position, and she took some time to think about it. Krissy said she and John are harder on Emily than they are on most of the other players, but Emily has also been receptive to that.

“It’s a push-pull,” Krissy said. “I’m giving her her space.

“We’re still figuring it out. She’s a good kid. She’s a pretty mature kid, and we’re pretty proud of her for that.”

Despite the extensive and successful hockey resumes from her parents, Emily is already paving her own way on the ice. Emily said she doesn’t feel pressure because of her parents’ accomplishments. Rather, they’re “very supportive, and they want me to have fun,” Emily said.

“I like to try to be strong and physical but also do the little things,” Emily said. “Get my pucks out of the D zone and try to be there for my teammates on the bench.”

She prides herself on being a good teammate, which also helps keep the pressure off, Emily said. She has her teammates’ backs, and she knows they have hers.

“It’s always good to have a good team around you, and I am blessed to have that,” Emily said.

Though the hockey apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Krissy said Emily is her own person who’s also a leader for her two younger sisters, seventh-grader Anna and sixth-grader Lucy.

“I do think she knows her own identity, and she knows who she is,” Krissy said. “It’s fun to see her kind of evolve.”

Mom and dad are coaching all three girls on their various hockey teams. They all also play tennis and golf, but the girls are also “all very different,” Krissy said. So, there’s potential for the trio of sisters to skate in the Hill-Murray ranks in a couple of years.

“That’s a long way away,” Krissy said. “We’ll see where we’re at. … That would be really special if it happened.”

The post Pohl’s Pioneers appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

A little more than three years ago, Nelson was coming off a senior season where she capped off her high school career at Andover by finishing with a school record 219 career points and a 2020 Class 2A state title. In a recent interview, Nelson said it was the culture around the Huskies program that was the key to winning it all her final year.

Jamie Nelson (center) fist bumps teammate Elisebeth Tammi at Xcel Energy Center in the 2020 girls state hockey tournament. (MHM Photo / Tim Kolehmainen)

“I will never stop preaching about the culture that we had my senior year or all four years in high school, but that senior year team was something special,” she said. “Even now, we have a ton of those players in the WCHA and whenever we play each other or see each other, it’s like no time has passed. We pick up right where we left off and I can honestly say that some of those players are my lifetime friends.

“I just think that the culture we built there and the camaraderie that we had contributed to our success.”

That level of individual success continued during Nelson’s freshman season in Mankato where she made the WCHA All-Rookie Team and won the WCHA Rookie of the Year, the first in MSU history. When asked if he expected Nelson to play that well out of the gates, Mavericks head coach John Harrington said, “probably not.”

“We thought she’d be able to contribute to our team right away, but it’s tough when coming out of high school,” he said. “High school girls coming into Division I hockey is a big jump, and sometimes it takes a while for them to not only mature their game, but just to mature generally to be effective players.

“Again, it’s one thing to have the skills and everything, but as you move up levels and move into college, everybody has those skills. But if you have the ability to think the game really well, it’s a little easier to make the adjustment and I think that’s what Jamie does well. She can think the game really well.”

Nelson credited something else to that success and that was COVID-19. While the pandemic raged around the world, she got to physically and mentally focus on enhancing her individual skills as a player in private.

“I had a ton of confidence, and I’ll actually give a lot of that credit to COVID,” Nelson said. “It kind of allowed me to take a step back, and I didn’t have any other responsibilities. So, every day I was out in my garage shooting pucks, stickhandling and just working on those skills that maybe I wouldn’t have enough time for with a busy school schedule or spring sports.

“So, I was actually very thankful for COVID; a lot of people won’t agree with me. But I was trying to use that time to get better, and once I got into college, I felt like I was super confident in my game and my abilities. I just think that I spent a ton of time on myself going into college that allowed me to step into a major role here at Mankato.”

Injury bug bites
Things started off well for Nelson at MSU, but then things went downhill during her sophomore season as she tore her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in her left knee and after returning to the roster later that year, she ended up reinjuring her knee.

“Initially, it was supposed to be two months, and I actually went to get cleared and I went straight from the doctor’s office to practice,” she said. “The first drill, I fell on it again, reinjured it, and it turned into a six-month recovery. So, that was pretty discouraging, but I feel better than ever right now. So, I’m almost thankful for another year on top of COVID.”

After only playing in two games during her second season with the Mavericks, Nelson got back on track during her junior year statistically as she led the team in assists (22) and in points (27). She also played for the U.S. Collegiate Select Team in the Collegiate Series against Canada in August 2022, notching two assists in Game two.

“I’d never put a USA jersey on before and some of the girls on the team, they’d been there since U18s,” she said. “But that was my first opportunity, and it was indescribable. I had a lot of pride representing Mankato and the U.S. With my injury, I experienced a really low, low, and then I experienced a really high, high coming back from that. So, I think it made that experience even better knowing where it came from to get to that point.”

As much of a high as that was, Nelson experienced another low as she was injured during the third game of the Collegiate Series and had to deal with another two-month recovery. All in all, she’s dealt with a torn PCL in her left knee, a medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain in her right knee and an acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation in her shoulder.

With a laugh, Nelson said she’s got “one good limb left.”

Jamie Nelson, who has two years of eligibility left with Minnesota State, is thankful to be out on the ice after coming back from multiple injuries. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota State University, Mankato)

Some athletes might have a hard time recovering from all those injuries, but Nelson said she found a personal trainer that helped get her to 100% and that she feels even better than before her injuries. She also doesn’t take for granted any time that she gets on the ice.

“I think I’m just thankful to be out there every day and having to sit on the sidelines for an entire year, I was just happy to be out there,” she said. “I think when I put too much pressure on myself, I underperform. But when I’m out there just trying to have fun and being thankful for the opportunity, I play my best hockey. I felt really good having the entire summer to train and get back to full strength. So, I was able to gain that confidence back in myself.”

Nelson’s senior season (she has two more years of eligibility left) is off to a solid start as she leads the Mavericks with eight goals and 11 points. She also scored the overtime winning goal against Bemidji State on Saturday and two tallies the night before. Even though Mankato is off to a rough start at 3-10, Nelson feels positive about her team and is striving to be the go-to player on the roster this year.

“My goals are just to be a leader for the team and right now, we’re in a little bit of a slump, but I want to be that person on the team that can give us confidence and almost like a contagious belief in ourselves that we can beat anyone in our league and anyone in the country,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have a lot of confidence, but I play on our power play and our penalty kill, I get major minutes. So, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and as a senior, I just want to show the younger girls that every game we play is a fight, but we can win any game in this league.

“We just have to show up and play to the best of our abilities. I think the biggest thing that will lead to our success is trusting in each other and ourselves and just believing that we can do it. I do think that belief is contagious and if they can see it from me, then maybe they can follow in my steps.”

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“(They) really blocked the sun,” Stagman said. “You could see the puck. It was really nice.” 

She might consider wearing sunglasses all the time if they help her get the same result as the 4-0 shutout of Edina on Hockey Day Minnesota. Stagman made 24 saves on the sheet of outdoor ice at Blakeslee Stadium in Mankato for her sixth shutout and 17th victory of the season. She earned it, especially when the Hornets made a push in the third period.

The result was a dream come true for the Andover goaltender.

“My dream has been to shut out Edina,” Stagman said. “And the girls really helped me achieve that. They just threw their body in front of the pucks and helped me out as much as they could.”

The defensive corps in front of Stagman is full of young, fresh faces this season. Four of the top-six at the blue line are freshmen – Mackenzie Jones, Avery Kasick, Courtney Little and Ella Thoreson. Merill Delich and Cailin Mumm are sophomores. No matter their age or experience, the Hockey Day “lights” definitely weren’t too bright for them.

“We were just trying to get sticks in front of the net and try and clear them out and not let them get a lot of shots,” said Mumm, the only returning defenseman this year.

The top-ranked Huskies shut down the second-ranked team in the state and a program that’s won four of the past five Class 2A state titles; Andover won the other one, in 2020. The Huskies also shut down one of the top defensive players in the state in Edina senior Vivian Jungels.

So how did the Huskies do it? Simple.

“It’s a different game, an outdoor game,” said Andover coach Melissa Volk. “Pucks are bouncing and stuff, so we just really emphasized on keeping it simple. Clean breakouts to the outside.”

Mumm and Little also contributed to the team’s offense. When Andover took a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game, the goal came on a crashing-the-net situation. Sophomore Nora Sauer jammed the puck home while Little was credited with the assist.

Only 1 minute, 4 seconds later, Andover doubled its lead with a goal from its dynamic top line. Junior Madison Brown took the puck behind the net and fed it out front to junior Ella Boerger who was left all alone in the slot. She didn’t miss with her quick shot for the 2-0 lead.

As the Huskies kept the puck in the offensive zone early in the second period, Mumm saw an opportunity from the point and fired the puck toward the goal. Senior Sara Kaiser was waiting in front, snuck around Jungels and tipped the puck in. Boerger added an empty-net goal with a few minutes left in the third period to bring her team-leading totals to 21 goals and 44 points this season in 19 games. She has 31 points in her past 11 games.

The Huskies controlled much of the play almost from the start, outshooting Edina 13-5 in the first period. But by the third, Edina pressured more and outshot the Huskies 12-5 as it looked to at least get one puck past Stagman. For Edina, junior Uma Corniea, who leads the state in goals-against average and save percentage, allowed three goals. The only other time she allowed that many this season was in the team’s only other loss, 3-2 in overtime to Minnetonka in the holiday tournament.

Andover preaches mental toughness, and having that aspect to its game paid off with the added element of TV timeouts, which made the game “a grind,” Volk said.

“Then the kids are getting a little fatigued, I would say, mentally, just because there’s so much hype the last couple days,” Volk said. “Just push through it. Obviously, third period we gave Edina a lot of opportunities, but we also pushed through it and did what we had to do to get the win.”

The win, and a shutout of Edina. That’s not something many teams in recent memory can say they’ve achieved.

Since Edina coach Sami Reber took over behind the bench for the 2016-17 season, the Hornets have been shut out two times – both against Andover. Edina’s only loss of the 2019-20 season was the opening game, a 1-0 loss to Andover with then-No. 1 goaltender Amanda Pelkey in net for the Huskies making 25 saves.

In the past decade, Edina was shut out only 11 times including the latest Hockey Day loss. On the flip side, Edina has 11 shutout victories this season alone.

The last time it lost by a four-goal margin in a shutout was the section final in 2013-14, a 4-0 loss to Eden Prairie. That was the same season Reber was a junior for Harvard, in the middle of a career-high 8-goal season with 28 points.

Andover grabbing an early lead and controlling play Saturday was awesome for the team, according to Mumm.

“Very happy with how we played today and glad that we could pop some in the net,” Mumm said.

The Hockey Day Minnesota game was a rematch of the 2021 Class 2A state championship game in which Edina prevailed. But this being a new season, there are plenty of new faces on each bench for the next chapter of this Edina-Andover rivalry.

“To get to play on the big stage with Edina and just showcasing how great the girls’ game is was something we were really, really looking forward to,” Volk said.

The post Stagman Stifles Hornets appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Peyton Hemp, Jamie Nelson and Gabby Krause combined for 159 points in the regular season, making them one of the best lines in the state.

So it didn’t take long for them to help Andover to a 7-1 win over the Farmington Tigers at the 2019 state tournament quarterfinal round. After Nelson netted the first goal at the 5:48 mark, Krause found twine twice before the first period ended.

“I feel like there’s telepathy,” said Hemp after the win. “It’s weird to say, but playing with Gabby, somehow I just know to cycle it to her because I just know she should be there. And same with Jamie, I just know she’s going to be there.”

“The biggest thing I like to see is they move the puck so well unselfishly,” said head coach Melissa Volk. “So it’s really cool because the other kids below see it, and say, hey keep moving the puck, keep moving the puck; then I can be individually successful.”

What’s more impressive is the line will likely be leaving their mark in high school hockey for years to come. Both Krause and Hemp are sophomores, while Nelson’s a junior.

All three ended up scoring goals and the three finished with nine total points in the victory.

Even though their top line is impressive, it’s still a team effort that’s carried Andover this season.  All in all, six different players lit the lamp for the Huskies who are now just two wins away from a state title.

Farmington’s young roster

It wasn’t the result the Farmington Tigers wanted, but the experience of being at the state tournament was a special moment. Farmington has the youngest roster in this year’s field. The majority of their roster is made up of underclassmen and playing in the tournament will make them hungrier to return.

“Being so young, we had one of our assistant coaches who said in the locker room who was a part of that Red Wing boys team that lost 10-3 to Warroad in 1996,” said head coach Jon Holmes. “And they came back next year to win the state tournament. So a lot of things you can take from it. At the same point it’s tough, but we’re young and we fully expect them to bounce back tomorrow.”

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