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The post MHM January 2018 Mike Randolph Special appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Warroad’s Gigi Marvin is on a quest for Olympic gold

When Team USA hits the ice in February for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, a Warroad, Minnesota native is likely to be one of the team’s unheralded leaders. Defenseman Gigi Marvin is a part of a class of veterans hoping to take Team USA to its second-ever gold medal in women’s hockey.

Warroad girls hockey players Emily, Haley and Lindsey Lorenson pictured here with Gigi Marvin (Photo by Jenna Lorenson)

Marvin, one of six Minnesotans on the centralization roster, started her decorated career in Warroad, where she was the recipient of the 2005 Ms. Hockey Award. Though she lives on the east coast, she still runs a camp in her hometown. “I know almost everyone in the youth program by name,” Marvin says via phone as the U.S. prepares for the 2017 Four Nations Cup.

“I just love children,” she says. “I love being able to share what I’ve learned. I’ve been taught by some really good hockey minds, and to be able to pass on some of the experiences I’ve had to kids is huge.”

A Big Year for USWNT

What she’s done for future generations of hockey players extends beyond camps. The U.S. National Team players staged a boycott of the 2017 World Championship, striving for equal treatment from USA Hockey. Deciding to skip a major tournament like Worlds didn’t come without risk. “I think that shows the degree to which it had to change,” Marvin says. “Because you had your best athletes willing to give up five games when they only get nine games every year. That’s unheard of.

“We literally train every day for only nine games, and ultimately for the Olympic gold medal game. So, we 100 percent knew what we were sacrificing, what we were letting go of.” But Marvin and her teammates believed the cause mattered too much.

“It was a no-brainer for us,” she says. “Was it scary? Yeah. There’s always uncertainty. But we knew without a doubt that this needed to happen, and change would come.

“The unity ran deep. It’s awesome. It wasn’t just us. Even more than us, it’s going to impact my niece, my cousins, the little girls I coach. I’m not going to reap the benefit of this really. Everyone who comes after us is going to.”

The Next Goal

Having scored a new contract – and a fifth gold medal at Worlds when a resolution was found before the tournament – Marvin is focused on the Olympics.  “It’s always big,” she says. “We don’t wake up and dream of playing in the World Championship, we dream of playing in the Olympics.”

Marvin’s career is brimming with success. She captained the Gophers to the Frozen Four her senior year. She won a Clarkson Cup in the CWHL with the Boston Blades. She won an Isobel Cup in the NWHL with the Boston Pride in a year when she was named Defenseman of the Year and made the first of two NWHL All-Star Game appearances.

But Olympic gold has eluded her so far.

She’s one of just six players on the centralization roster that will be making a third Olympic appearance. That group – US captain Meghan Duggan, Kacey Bellamy, Hilary Knight, and sisters Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson – laced up in 2010 alongside Jenny Potter, Angela Ruggiero, and Natalie Darwitz, the last three players on the National Team from the 1998 gold medal-winning roster. That was the first Olympics to feature women’s hockey and the last time the U.S. took home gold.

The team is determined to bring gold back to the United States. Canada has repeatedly managed to cause heartbreak for the U.S., despite the US winning seven of the last eight World Championships, including the last four consecutively.

Yet, Marvin says her advice for the team’s younger players is to not be overwhelmed by the excitement and their determination. “Simply take it in and enjoy every single day,” she says. “That’s the heart of it. If you go to work every day and you’re consumed by results or consumed by performance, that’s not enjoyable. You lose sight of the moments and memories you make with your friends, your teammates, your co-workers along the way.”

The post Golden Opportunity appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

UMD’s Kayla Black stops 23 shots for her 7th shutout of the season

DULUTH – The St. Cloud State Huskies came into Duluth hoping on Hockey Day in Minnesota hoping to get themselves back in good standings after losing 12 of their last 13 games while the Bulldogs hoped to thwart that effort.

That being said, the Bulldogs came into the weekend as a statistical favorite, but with some concerns of their own after splitting last weekend’s series with Bemidji State, the very same team St. Cloud State defeated the week before.

“You have to be prepared to work,” said Bulldogs coach Shannon Miller. “In our first period, we just played, we didn’t compete and when you do that you get yourself into trouble.”

UMD opened the first period with a goal from left wing Katherine McGovern just under two minutes after puck drop, her first of the season. From there things stayed fairly even offensively, with each team recording only five shots in the first period despite UMD attempting 15, seven of which St. Cloud State blocked in the first frame.

“Every team in our conference is good, so you need to expect a lot of pressure,” said Bulldog center Lara Stalder. “They’re a hard working team so we knew the way they were going to be coming out. We didn’t figure it out in the first period. We need to find that killer instinct in us.”

The second period was scoreless but both teams picked up their offensive efforts, more than doubling their respective shot totals to end the period UMD-18, St. Cloud-13.

The Bulldogs’ Katerina Mrazova was awarded a penalty shot in the early third period, but waited too long to take a shot as she came in on Huskies’ Julie Friend who would make the save to keep her team within one.

However, Friend wasn’t able to stop the shot of a wide open Lara Stalder who doubled the UMD’s lead with 11:49 left to go in the match up. Stalder sent a one timer over Friend’s right shoulder from the edge of the crease after defenseman Brigette Lacquette weaved through traffic from the blue line to send the puck down.

The Huskies answered back with offensive pressure of their own as St. Cloud State coach Eric Rud pulled Friend with nearly four minutes remaining in the game. While the Huskies were able to get more pressure on the Bulldogs, they were unable to crack UMD’s Kayla Black, who made 23 saves on the outing, earning her seventh shutout this season.

“She came up big for us again,” Stalder said of her goaltender. “We need that trust in our goaltender and we have it right now so that’s great.”

The women will face off again on Sunday at 3:07 p.m. at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minnesota for the second half of their weekend series.

The post Bulldog women blank Huskies 2-0 appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

MN Extreme, MN Ladyslippers and MN Final Period win USA Hockey Adult National Championships

Ellenton, FL. April 24-27.  Adult women’s teams were in the spotlight this weekend in Florida, as teams from across the country competed in the 2014 USA Hockey Women’s Adult National Championships.

Four teams from Minnesota participated and continued to demonstrate the high level of talent and teamwork coming out of the State of Hockey.

30+.  The MN Extreme finished a perfect 4-0 in pool play, shutting out their opponents in three out of four games.  In Sunday’s championship game, they defeated the Nighthawks in a close 3-2 contest to capture their division national championship.

MN Extreme finish a perfect 5-0 and take 30+ National Championship

40+.  While the MN Blades finished 2-2 in pool play, they did not accumulate enough points to make it to the championship game on Sunday.

50+, Tier I.  The MN Ladyslippers played in a small three team pool, and while they only won a single game in the preliminary round, it was enough to get them into the final game on Sunday.  They saved the best for last, as they avenged an earlier loss to IMS to win the championship game 2-0.

MN Ladyslippers defeat IMS 2-0 in 50+ championship game

50+, Tier II.  The MN Final Period played in an 8 team division and were undefeated in pool games against Wisconsin, Chicago, California and Boston.  In the championship game against Michigan, shots on goal were even but Final Period won 5-1.

The MN Final Period go undefeated in the 50+, Tier II USA Hockey Adult National Championships

For game scores and final standing details, check out the 2014 USA Hockey Adult tournament site here.

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