“I think I look back and I reflect on the times where we got to have our names called back-to-back during the lineups [for the high school state tournament at the Xcel Energy Center], because she was No. 6 and I was No. 5,” Madeline said. “I was going to say No. 4 because she’s 4 now, but she was 6 back then. That was kind of partly why she chose No. 4 because 6 was unavailable [when she joined the Gophers] so we still wanted to be next to each other in the lineup.”

Best friends on and off the ice, despite the difference in position. Even while Madeline plays defense and Audrey is at forward, the two still have managed to end up on the same line together on more than one occasion.

Back in high school at Blake, then-coach Shawn Reid elevated Madeline to a forward when they needed a spark for a comeback. Reid didn’t just make her a forward but also placed her on a line with former Gophers-commit Addie Burton and Madeline’s younger sister, Audrey. Later, with the Gophers, when Minnesota’s defense was reeling with multiple members out of the lineup, Audrey shifted back to defense in games against St. Thomas as Madeline’s defensive partner.

It really worked because of Audrey’s smart, tenacious 200-foot style of game that makes her one of the most responsible forwards for the Gophers in all situations, not to mention the team leader in blocked shots. The shift in high school worked because Madeline’s eye for the net combined with her ability to drive offensively made it a decision worth making.

Audrey moves (to) forward with Gophers 
It’s a wonder any of these unorthodox decisions had to be made at all, considering Audrey’s departure from what became something of a family tradition. Madeline and Audrey are the two oldest of four sisters, the younger two being Jackie, a freshman on the University of Minnesota’s rowing team, and Addie, a freshman at Blake. Three sisters all ended up as left-shot defenders. Audrey must not have wanted to make it a clean sweep, because somehow, she ended up as the lone right-shot forward amongst the group.

“I was actually curious, and [my mom] was like ‘You were just all over the ice, like a little gnat out there, sometimes running around with your head chopped off, so we stuck you at forward.’” Audrey said. “She knew that I liked the forecheck, which is something I take pride in now. I think that’s pretty much it, I think she saw how close in age we were and thought it would be a great idea for us to play different positions.”

Gophers head coach Brad Frost agrees, as Audrey is one of the most responsible and trustworthy members of the team. He said on top of her technique, she has the instinctual wherewithal to be in the right shooting lanes and understands how to be there when the shot comes. While Frost said it was a no-brainer to bring Audrey to the team as well prior to the 2020-21 season, Audrey said she was preparing for the chance she might have to consider playing somewhere else.

“At the time, in high school, I knew I wanted to go here, but I wasn’t sure if this, obviously the University of Minnesota they have a top-notch team and they’re looking for top-notch girls, so with me developing later, I was like ‘I need to keep my options open,’” Audrey said. “So I went into the recruiting process with an open mind, but deep down inside I was like ‘I want to be a Gopher.’”

Additionally, with the turnover on defense that saw three experienced defensemen depart after the 2022-23 season, Frost more than welcomed having Madeline return for a fifth year. She’s been paired with fellow fifth-year player Taylor Stewart, who is in her first year with the Gophers but has known Madeline and Audrey since they were kids. Stewart said that both Madeline and Audrey have made her transition to the Gophers an extremely easy one, and have helped bring her into the family atmosphere that encompasses this team.

“[They’ve] made me feel very part of things right from the start, and I think that helps off the ice and ultimately transitions onto the ice as Maddie and I have been building chemistry as a D-pair, it’s been pretty exciting,” Stewart said. “She makes it really easy to play with, and I’ve enjoyed all of the shifts that we’ve been able to be together for.”

From L to R: Pictured in fall 2019, former Minnesota Whitecaps defenseman Chelsey Brodt Rosenthal, former Whitecaps coach Jack Brodt, University of Minnesota defenseman Madeline Wethington and former Whitecaps defenseman Winny Brodt Brown. (MHM Photo by Rick Olson)

Hockey is a family tradition
While the family affair between the Wethingtons and hockey may seem to end with the sisters, it goes back a very long way. Madeline and Audrey are part of women’s hockey royalty in the state of Minnesota. Their aunts, Winny Brodt Brown and Chelsey Brodt Rosenthal, both played for the Gophers and their mother, Kerry Wethington, was the head coach for the women’s hockey team at St. Cloud State for the first four years of that program’s existence from 1998-2002.

While Frost noted that the Gophers haven’t had any mother-daughter duos for the Gophers just yet in its 26th season of existence, Audrey and Madeline following in their aunts’ track to the Gophers is the first step toward that becoming more of a reality for this storied program.

“They’re truly trailblazers in the sport, especially in this state,” Madeline said. “I even look back at when I was younger and a lot of the best teams composed of having the girls play with the boys, and nowadays that’s not as common, like more and more girls are sticking to just playing with girls which I think is great.

“That means there are more and more girls playing. I look back at like my mom and aunts and they didn’t have that opportunity to play with just girls. Like, my aunts, with Winny, her senior year is when they first started high school hockey. So, she had to grow up playing with the boys all the way until the age of 16/17 years old.”

Added Audrey: “They always like to remind me that back when they played, my mom was targeted out there, she broke her collarbone, and she would have to get dressed in the bathroom. Seeing how far it’s come, they always like to remind me like, you know, just be appreciative of all that you got.”

While their relatives are trailblazers, both Audrey and Madeline are no strangers to working incredibly hard in whatever they do, on and off the ice. They not only manage to perform to the high standards of one of the most successful college hockey programs in the country, but both also have thrived in their academic pursuits. Taking advice and seeing how rewarding many members of their family have had in medicine, both have taken a very admirable route.

Audrey is graduating this fall from the College of Biological Sciences with a degree in biology and just applied to a Master’s program in biological sciences that could begin this coming spring. Madeline currently works in the Visible Heart Lab on campus at the University of Minnesota and has become passionate about the work she is doing with the research in that lab. After this season, she will look to take a year or two away from school to play professionally and continue the process of applying to medical school, which can take more than a year.

Right now though, both sisters are taking in every moment with each other. Not thinking of the big picture or reminiscing too much on the end, but just enjoying every moment of their time together on the Gophers, something they’ve both dreamed about since coming to games as little kids.

“I think we’ve always made each other better people and players out there,” Audrey said. “Enjoying the little things, the little routines, the walk to the rink, all those things that you can’t get back.”

The post All In The Family appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But last week’s action involving Minnesota’s six Division I college hockey teams resulted in some impressive goaltending performances that made headlines in the Big Ten Conference, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the Central Collegiate Hockey Assocation, the women’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association for women, and even the NHL.

The Minnesota Gophers stayed at the top of national men’s ratings, despite splitting two games at North Dakota, with the goaltending of Justen Close. He was responsible for the Gophers’ 4-0 victory in game one, and he couldn’t be faulted when he made 32 saves when the Fighting Hawks came back to beat Minnesota 2-1 in the rematch at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.

Close’s first-game victory gave him back-to-back shutouts. But the Hawks got 21 saves from Ludvig Persson, their goaltender of the hour, in game two. Minnesota’s loss didn’t cause it to drop out of the No. 1 national ranking because both Boston University and Michigan, ranked No. 2 and No. 3, also lost over the weekend. The only movement among the top five was North Dakota, which appropriately moved up from fifth to fourth and served notice to their NCHC rivals that they are, indeed, equipped for contention.

Frost gets 2-year extension; WCHA packs top-10 rankings
The Gopher women, also ranking high at No. 4 in the WCHA, gave coach Brad Frost a two-year contract extension because he simply forms a contending team year after year. They stand No. 4 after running up a 5-0 record in the early going, including a WCHA midweek match with ever-improving St. Cloud State. The Gophers lost a lot of offensive firepower from last season, causing Frost to proclaim that it will take a more defensive posture to win this year, and beating the Huskies was a clear example.

Frost’s goaltender was Skylar Vetter, who was trying for the fourth-straight Gophers shutout. Avery Farrell spoiled the shutout big with a goal with 5.2 seconds left in the third period. Minnesota had gained the advantage when Ava Lindsay scored midway through the second period, and Taylor Stewart, a fifth-year transfer from University of Minnesota Duluth, scored a short-handed goal into an empty net with 47 seconds left. Fifth-year goaltender Jojo Chobak — another transfer from UMD — was pulled for a 6-on-3 skater edge. The Gophers won 2-1.

The Gopher women have a big challenge this weekend, with a trip to Ohio State (5-1), which is ranked No. 2 in the WCHA-dominated top 10. Wisconsin, Ohio State, Colgate and Minnesota make up the top-four ranked teams, followed by unbeaten Quinnipiac and Yale. UMD (4-2) is ranked No. 7 with St. Cloud State (7-2) rising to No. 10. 

UMD swept Minnesota State Mankato in WCHA play by 3-1 and 4-1 margins. Mary Kate O’Brien, Reece Hunt and Hanna Baskin scored for the Bulldogs in game one. In the second game, Gabby Krause scored a pair of goals to go with goals from O’Brien and Jenna Lawry. Bulldogs freshman goaltender Eve Gascon made 21 saves in the second game, and she was named WCHA Rookie of the Week for her stinginess. 

An interesting part of this coming weekend’s UMD trip to Bemidji State is that it will be a homecoming of sorts for Hunt. She transferred from Bemidji State to UMD for her fifth year, seeking a master’s degree in business with UMD’s curriculum.

Bemidji State’s Mattias Scholl watches his blocked UMD shot trickle past him. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Cohasset natives shine in net at college, NHL levels
Minnesota-Duluth’s men may have good reason to help the good folks of Cohasset, Minn., a tiny mining town on the Western tip of the Iron Range, build a statue to goaltenders. Hunter Shepard, a Cohasset native, is a former Grand Rapids High School standout who guided the Thunderhawks to the Class 2A state tournament before playing junior hockey on his way to UMD. He was the MVP as the Bulldogs won back-to-back NCAA championships. Shepard recorded 15 shutouts in his days at UMD.

While he continued to do his hometown of Cohasset proud by winning the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup trophy for Washington’s AHL franchise, he was called up to start his first NHL game for the Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey on Oct. 25. That was the same day that current UMD goaltender Zach Stejskal was named NCHC Co-Goaltender of the Week for recording his first collegiate shutout in last Friday’s 4-0 victory over Bemidji State before also surviving a wild, power-play-filled shootout to beat the Beavers 5-4 in overtime Saturday in Bemidji.

“I know I came close a lot of times,” Stejskal said, of getting a shutout victory. “I remember one game we were tied 0-0 against St. Cloud, and they beat us 1-0 in overtime. When we’d win and I’d give up a goal late, I’d always say that shutouts didn’t matter, winning was what was important. But now that I finally got a shutout, I’ve got to admit, it’s pretty neat.”

Both nights, Stejskal had to outduel Bemidji State’s Matthias Scholl, who was victimized by a three-goal first period for the Bulldogs, all on power-play tallies from Matthew Perkins, Luke Bast and Aaron Pionk. The next night was not a pleasant one for either Stejskal or Scholl.

“I thought their goalie (Scholl) played great,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We looked really confident on our power play in the first game, but there were some unnecessary penalties that we will have to tighten up.”

After a miraculous recovery from cancer, UMD senior Zach Stejskal recorded his first career shutout against Bemidji State to keep the Bulldogs unbeaten at 3-0-2. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Stejskal’s story has a double impact, because he, too, is from Cohasset, Minn., and was a state tournament star at Grand Rapids before playing at UMD. After one impressive season, however, Stejskal was stunned by the news in the fall of his sophomore season that he had testicular cancer and would miss the entire season during treatment. He made it through treatment, got a clean bill of health, made it back last season and has become the No. 1 netminder as a senior for the Bulldogs.

Somebody asked Sandelin what he thought Shepard would be going through in his first NHL start at Washington, and the coach said: “Knowing Shep, he’s probably nervous, excited, and probably won’t show it.”

Unlike the 6-foot Shepard, Stejskal is 6-foot-5, towering over the crossbar, the crease and just about everybody on both teams. Maybe they’ll need twin statues up in Cohasset.

The post Glory to Goalies appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.