So, she was not expecting a call with the news that she’d been selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Initially, just shocked,” Wendell-Pohl said. “You don’t ever expect that phone call.

“Once it settled in, it was just really cool. Then to hear the news that… Natalie Darwitz was also going in. It made it that much better.”

Wendell-Pohl, along with her friend and teammate Darwitz, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 11. The Hall of Fame induction weekend is Nov. 8-11.

Wendell-Pohl, 43, built a hall-of-fame career with eye-popping stats and awards as a high-scoring forward. But it’s not like she was a one-sport athlete as a kid. Whatever sport or game her older brother was playing, Wendell-Pohl wasn’t too far behind him.

“It’s funny, I don’t know what it was about hockey,” Wendell-Pohl said. “I literally grew up playing every sport possible from baseball to tennis to made-up games of hot box in the backyard.”

Her other claim to fame as a youth athlete came on the baseball diamond, becoming the fifth girl to play in the Little League World Series.  

But whatever it was about hockey, it was a sport Wendell-Pohl said she loved right away. She loved being at the rink. Loved skating on outdoor rinks. Loved any chance she could get to put on her gear and skate in a game. The competitiveness, the pace, the skating. She was drawn to it all from a young age.

That passion for the sport carried her through, especially because there initially weren’t many opportunities to look forward to for a future in women’s hockey. Playing in college or the Olympics “wasn’t even really an option.”

“So, for me, it really was just the love of the game and being able to play the sport,” Wendell-Pohl said.

Good timing
Turns out, timing was on her side. She may have been one of the most notable girls’ hockey players in Minnesota, who grew up playing with the boys, but doors started to crack open. It started with the addition of women’s hockey to the Olympics in 1998. That led to more opportunities with women’s college programs popping up.

Wendell-Pohl hadn’t even played on a girls’ hockey team – she was still playing bantams with the boys – before she went to the 1998 Olympic team tryout. But then she came back home and played another year with the boys before two years of girls’ high school hockey with Park Center, leading the team to a state championship in 2000. She also trained and played in the world championships and was part of the U.S. Women’s National Team program from 1998-2007.

She’s a two-time Olympian (2002 and 2006) and competed in six IIHF Women’s World Championships, including in 2005 when she helped the United States win its first-ever gold medal in the event. She led the tournament with nine points that year.

She forged a similar path to Darwitz – playing for the national team before playing college hockey. It’s a path that Darwitz noted is a bit in reverse.

“I feel like I got really, really fortunate with the timing,” Wendell-Pohl said. “There were so many people ahead of me that paved the way and was kind of just the beneficiary behind it just being able to enjoy playing and live in the moment.”

Wendell-Pohl moved to Lake Placid to train with the national team after she graduated from Park Center. With her training, she took nearly a two-year gap between schooling. She started college back home with the University of Minnesota Gophers at age 21.

Her journey left Wendell-Pohl with a new appreciation for coming home and being near her friends and family again.

“For me, it was interesting and unique, for sure, to go play in the Olympics and then almost come back and play college,” Wendell-Pohl said. “I certainly enjoyed and looked forward to coming home, and I absolutely loved my time playing college hockey here.”

She scored 106 goals and 237 points in 101 career games across three seasons (2002-05) with the Gophers. Skating with Darwitz, they helped lead the Gophers to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005. Wendell-Pohl was a Patty Kazmaier Award winner and two-time WCHA Player of the Year.

Similar paths for the Krissy-Natalie duo
Because Wendell-Pohl didn’t start college immediately following high school, it worked out well enough that she and Darwitz, already teammates for Team USA, played on a line together with the Gophers, along with Kelly Stephens. Darwitz is two years younger in age.

It’s fitting that this duo will be inducted in the same Hockey Hall of Fame class; they’re both already members of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Even though they didn’t play together in their youth, and only faced each other once in high school. They played together for their country and their hometown college.

“I think people obviously look at the stats and say, ‘ok, they’re teammates,’” Darwitz said. “I think it goes way beyond that. Krissy and I, we basically saw each other grow up. We left home at an early age.

“We have a similar track record of playing with the boys and then going into the Olympics, and then doing college after that. … It’s just a really cool story.”

Wendell-Pohl agreed that seeing each other grow up was a good way to describe her and Darwitz.

“I do think that people probably pair us together,” Wendell-Pohl said. “I’ll happily take that pairing. If you’re going to pair me with Natalie, I’m happy to tag along with that, because she’s certainly a leader and a driver for women’s hockey.”

Memories surrounded by family
Looking back on her playing career, Wendell-Pohl has plenty of memorable moments from the various stages of her career. She credits a lot of her later opportunities to the positive experiences she had in her youth hockey days playing with boys, where a community was willing to embrace having a girl on the team.

“I just feel so fortunate that… for me, I got to live out a lot of my dreams,” Wendell-Pohl said. “I got to play in the Olympics, I got to go play and win national championships with some of my best friends that I grew up with here in Minnesota.

“Sometimes I almost have to pinch myself. You have no idea when you’re living in the moment until you look back that you realize how lucky and fortunate you really were.”

Wendell-Pohl will celebrate the Hall of Fame weekend with her family, including her parents, brother and sister. Her husband, Johnny Pohl, and their three daughters will also attend. It’s a chance to spend time all together, taking a break from busy lives.

Krissy and Johnny are longtime hockey coaches and just started their second season behind the bench of Hill-Murray’s girls’ team, now coaching their two older daughters on the varsity squad: Emily (sophomore) and Anna (eighth grade).

“To see where the game is now and have my own daughters grow up and have those kind of experiences and memories, to be able to play on all-girls teams and play in the summer and be able to go to different camps is really cool,” Wendell-Pohl said. “It’s a sport that unifies a lot of people. It’s a small world. But it certainly brings a lot of people together.

“I just feel really fortunate that I was able to have the journey I did.”

The post Hockey Hall Of Fame: Wendell-Pohl appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

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.

Pohl’s position themselves to drive Cretin-Derham Hall girls’ program to the top.

Few hockey programs – boys or girls – in the state of Minnesota have coaches with the instant name recognition Cretin-Derham Hall’s girls’ program has. During the last five years this staff has slowly built the Raiders’ program back near the level of the state tournament teams CDH had in the 2000’s.

It’s difficult to imagine there are too many hockey fans in the state of Minnesota who don’t immediately associate hockey excellence with the names John Pohl and Krissy (Wendell) Pohl. What the husband and wife team hope you associate them with soon is the hockey excellence of their improving program.

Head coach John Pohl grew up in Red Wing. His father was the head coach of the Wingers’ boys’ hockey program, but John never played for his dad. By the time John was old enough, his father had taken increased roles in the administrative side of the high school and had stepped down as head coach but his dad was a big influence on him nonetheless.

“He would bring us to practice once in a while or we would go to summer camps with him. I just grew up around hockey,” Pohl said. “That was my biggest goal through life to play for the Wingers.”

Obviously his career didn’t end in high school. His many accomplishments include winning a state championship as a junior, Mr. Hockey as a senior, a national championship with the Minnesota Gophers and a professional career that included three years with the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs. During his playing career, Pohl spent a lot of time contemplating what he wanted to do once his playing career ended.

“There were a lot of times while I was playing professionally that I would sit around all day and think about what I wanted to do,” Pohl said. “I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be happy. I always looked at my dad and his friends and they always seemed relatively happy with their jobs as teachers. It is such a great lifestyle to have and you can really impact people’s lives.”

Pohl used experiences from the numerous coaches he has played for as the basis for his coaching style and philosophy.

“In terms of X’s and O’s and drills, one of my professional coaches was one of the best I ever had. In terms of staying calm and even keeled I would consider that my college coach and in terms of having fun, keeping everything in prospective and being there for the kids comes from my high school coach (former Red Wing coach George Nemanich).”

With no prior coaching experience – outside of working some camps – Pohl jumped into his first official coaching position as a head coach with the Raiders.

“Being a teacher really helped,” Pohl said. “A high school kid has a million different things going on in their life. They have academics, their social life, athletics; they have so much going on. One of our girls might be down because she bombed a physics test or something. Teaching has really helped with that. There have been some little technical coaching things here and there that I had to figure out: when to pull the goalie, going to two lines, things like that.”

Moving from boy’s to girls’ hockey might have been even tougher for Pohl if it wasn’t for one of his assistant coaches – his wife, former Park Center High School, University of Minnesota and Olympic star, Krissy.

“It is great having a female on staff. Being a male there are some things that girls don’t want to talk to me about. It has been great having her (Krissy Pohl) not only all the expertise she brings in hockey, but she has been in their shoes and she understands some of things they are going through.”

“We have three young daughters so it is tough for Krissy to get to all the practices, but she works with the power play and the forwards. She is a great benefit to our program just having someone the girls can relate to on top of the fact that she can answer any hockey question they might have.”

Being a husband and wife team could lead to unintended consequences, but the Pohl’s have had little or no issues with bringing hockey home.

“I think both of us have it in prospective. It is a way for us to help kids, give back and represent the school. It has been great.”

The change to girls’ hockey for Pohl also included a change in how he approached teaching the game.

“I might be wrong but, in girls’ hockey, ninety percent of the time I think the most skilled team wins,” Pohl said. “It is less about X’s and O’s and more about skills. You can’t check so the most skilled team can have the puck virtually the whole game.”

Pohl was coming into a program that had success in the past, but had fallen on hard times. Since Pohl and his staff took over the program’s win total has improved nearly every year and last year had the most wins since the 2006-2007 season. Pohl’s priority when he first took over had to do with commitment to the sport.

“To be an elite hockey player you pretty much have to play year round now. I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that and I don’t even like saying it, but we went from one or two girls that would play a lot of hockey to now we have eight to ten that play hockey year round. It is no surprise that we have gotten better.”

All coaches in all sports need to find that balance with kids according to Pohl.

“We have eighteen girls that play varsity hockey. They have eighteen different goals, they have eighteen different personalities, and they are there for eighteen different reasons. We have to do our best to accommodate the girl that wants to play hockey every day and the girl who just wants to be on the team and fit in. Within that you try to have fun and win some games. It is difficult but if you try at least to accommodate as many personalities and different goals that you can.”

When he gets the players on the ice everything they do revolves around one thing.

“We try to do everything fast – up tempo,” Pohl said. “We don’t spend a lot of time in X’s and O’s. We believe we need to play fast and aggressive.”

One of the challenges CDH and other private schools have is the lack of a feeder program.

“We have a summer camp we open up to any middle school kids who want to play. From a competitive standpoint, we just hope that good players want to come to our school and want to play for us.”

That lack of a predictable pipeline makes putting the program together each year a different type of challenge, but with the assistant coaches Pohl has in place, they have been able to adjust and excel.

“Terry Skrypek has been around hockey literally fifty years,” Pohl said. “The only losing season he has had as a coach was our first year coaching – that is our claim to fame; we gave Terry Skrypek his only losing season. He (mainly) coaches the defense and one of the power play units.”

In order to take the next step toward becoming a state tournament team again Pohl feels they are on the right path and simply need to keep building the program making it as attractive to the athletes as they can.

On the ice the Raiders should have an attractive team in 2014-15.

“We have an All-State Honorable mention player coming back named Paige Voight,” Pohl said. “She has committed to Merrimack College and so has Anna Boeckers. Our goalie – Emma May – is going to Minnesota and we have a girl who is going to be a sophomore named Jordan Hansen. She is one of the best 15-year-olds in the state.”

If the Raiders’ program can continue to improve behind the core of next seasons’ team and beyond, the Pohl name will be known not only for playing hockey, but for building a Minnesota hockey power.

The post Spousal Support Leads Raider Revival appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.