Women's hockey: Andover reloading more than its high school program

Feb. 16—After the Gophers' women's hockey team's 8-2 victory over St. Thomas on Jan. 9, three players met near center ice to catch up: Minnesota's Peyton Hemp, and the Tommies' Maddy Clough and Maddie Jurgensen.

All freshmen, all from Andover High School.

It's an impressive feat, sending three players from one class into Division I hockey.

"Oh, there's like seven or eight of us," said Hemp, last year's Ms. Hockey and the fifth-leading scorer for the top-ranked Gophers headed into a home-and-home series against the Tommies that begins Thursday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena.

Andover, in fact, sent eight players from last spring's state tournament runner-up into college hockey this season, six of them at the Division I level.

"We knew we had had a really special class with a lot of skilled players," said Clough, a Tommies blue liner, "but it was more about the friendships. Playing college hockey is a common goal at Andover."

Equally impressive is the fact that Andover lost all those players yet enters a Thursday sectional final against Elk River/Zimmerman (14-12-1) with a 26-0 record and ranked No. 1 Class 2A.

"We're really lucky because there's a trickle-down effect on leadership," Huskies coach Melissa Volk said. "We have those big freshman classes come in, or even smaller freshman classes, and we have great leaders, so they know the environment and what's expected. Then all the sudden they're the leaders and they show the other kids."

That has played an important role this season for the Huskies, who lost two of the state's best players, Hemp and Minnesota Duluth's Gabby Krause, to graduation and nearly their entire blue line. Yet the Huskies are Class 2A's only unbeaten team.

Andover youth hockey, with which Volk and the Huskies are heavily involved, reloads the team each year.

The Huskies have played in six of the past eight state tournaments. Last year's senior class played in four, winning it all in 2020. Right now, there are 13 Andover graduates playing women's college hockey, including Minnesota State's Jamie Nelson, the 2020-21 WCHA freshman of the year.

Ella Boerger, a junior forward committed to St. Thomas, leads the Huskies in goals (27), assists (35) and points (62). Goaltender Courtney Stagman has a 1.04 goals-against average and .947 save percentage. Cailin Mumm, the lone defensive returner, leads the blue line.

"We knew we were going to be successful," Volk said, "but I think we were going to take a little bit more of an underdog role this year, which technically we still are because we're still inexperienced. We have seven (seniors) in our program; on our varsity roster we have five."

On the other hand, the freshman class won the state under-15 championship last season, and by the time players make it to high school, they've been teammates for years.

"We do a lot of offseason (youth hockey). We're pretty hands-on with the kids," Volk said. "We do a lot of events with the youth with our high school team, and then in the summers they all skate with me."

Meanwhile, the Andover players at Minnesota (24-7-1) and St. Thomas (5-23-1) prepare to meet for what likely will be the next four games. The second game is set for a 4 p.m. puck drop on Saturday at Ridder Arena. If the Gophers sweep — they won the last two meetings by a combined score of 16-2 — the teams will start the WCHA postseason with a three-game, first-round series at Ridder.

Hemp scored the first goal of the season for the Gophers and has 11 goals and 17 assists this season, leading a strong freshman class that includes winger Ella Huber, blue liner Emily Zumwinkle and goaltender Skylar Vetter.

"That first goal took a weight off my shoulders, for sure, because that's something that every freshman thinks about, wanting to get that first one in," Hemp said. "So, I was definitely more comfortable after that first one went in, but it for sure has been an adjustment. I think all the freshmen now have really just acclimated and feel like part of the team. I feel like everyone is one now."

While wins have been scarce at St. Thomas, which has made the jump from Division III to Division I this season, the team has clearly improved. On Feb. 11, the Tommies lost to No. 5 UMD 2-1 in Duluth. On Jan. 31, they lost to No. 2/3 Wisconsin 3-1 on home ice.

"Coming into the season, we knew we'd be playing really good competition, so we really didn't have the goal of going undefeated," Clough said. "We wanted to learn and grow and start the building blocks of a growing program. Even if we don't win a game, we celebrate the little wins."

For instance, a forecheck against Wisconsin forced the Badgers to call a timeout and reset. Assistant coach Bethany Brausen, filling in while Joel Johnson coaches Team USA this month at the Olympic Games, made sure her team understood what had just happened.

"We were sustaining some offensive zone time," Clough said, "and when we were on the bench, Bethany said, 'How cool is this? It's the first timeout called and it's not us calling it.' "

As for four more games against Minnesota, bring it on.

"We're very excited to be in the WCHA and Division I in general," Jergensen said. "We have the opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country not twice, but six times. We're excited and feeling up to the challenge."

COLLEGE COURSE

Andover graduates currently playing college hockey:

— Maddy Clough, Fr., Def., St. Thomas

— Halle Fields, Fr., Def., Wisconsin-Superior

— Madelynn Jurgensen, Fr, Fwd., St. Thomas

— Tyra Turner, Fr., Fwd., St. Anselm

— Gabby Krause, Fr., Fwd., Minnesota Duluth

— Peyton Hemp, Fr., Fwd, Minnesota

— Joslin Mumm, Fr., Def., St. Catherine

— Brianna Bisek, Fr., Fwd., Finlandia

— Kennedy Little, So., Def., Maine

— Jamie Nelson, So., Fwd., Minnesota State

— Paige Anderson, Jr., Fwd, Bemidji State

— Claire Butorac, Sr., Fwd., Minnesota State

— Grace Halvorson, Sr., Fwd., Bethel

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