Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Natálie Mlýnková reflects on 'unbelievable' Worlds in Czechia, her journey to NCAA hockey

Transcript

Natálie Mlýnková reflects on 'unbelievable' Worlds in Czechia, her journey to NCAA hockey · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: U s c HO dot com.
0:07
Speaker 2: Jo, Hi, and welcome to another off season edition of
0:14
Speaker 2: the podcast. I'm top Maleski here when Nicole Hosey from
0:16
Speaker 2: us e h O dot com. Uh, Nicole, you you
0:20
Speaker 2: found a really good interview for us this time for
0:23
Speaker 2: our off season interview series. Natalie Milnkkova from most recently
0:28
Speaker 2: of Minnesota, where she played her bonus season four years
0:32
Speaker 2: before that at Vermont where she was Hockey East Player
0:35
Speaker 2: of the Year in her senior season, also of the
0:37
Speaker 2: Czech national team. Uh, a veteran of the Czech national team.
0:44
Speaker 2: Get this. This is gonna be a really great conversation
0:47
Speaker 2: that people are going to hear in a couple of minutes.
0:48
Speaker 2: But uh, what what about her her career? Uh stood
0:54
Speaker 2: out to you to make you want to set up
0:58
Speaker 2: this interview?
1:00
Speaker 3: Well, I knew that I wanted to talk to somebody
1:02
Speaker 3: from team check ya after the World Women's most recent
1:05
Speaker 3: Women's World Championships were just held there. We heard from
1:07
Speaker 3: everybody what a wonderful situation it was, how responsive the
1:11
Speaker 3: fans were, how great the tournament was, and so I
1:13
Speaker 3: really wanted to hear from one of the players, and
1:16
Speaker 3: specifically a player that had been there sort of prior
1:19
Speaker 3: to things being like this. Natalie now has played in
1:22
Speaker 3: six Senior World Championships. She shed debut with the senior
1:27
Speaker 3: national team. I believe at like seventeen, she was playing
1:30
Speaker 3: in U eighteens and the senior Worlds at the same time,
1:33
Speaker 3: and so has really seen the transition for this senior
1:36
Speaker 3: national team and has just she's done so much and
1:39
Speaker 3: she's still just twenty three. She's about to declare for
1:43
Speaker 3: the PBHL draft, and so I just really thought she
1:46
Speaker 3: would be someone that could talk about sort of the
1:48
Speaker 3: breath of both coming to North America as a European.
1:53
Speaker 3: She came over at sixteen to sort of get comfortable
1:55
Speaker 3: and learn the language to go through the process. She
1:59
Speaker 3: and so many of her team have come to North
2:01
Speaker 3: America to develop and that has played a huge role
2:04
Speaker 3: in their own federation and their teams involvement and development.
2:10
Speaker 3: And so yeah, she's just she's got an amazing career
2:13
Speaker 3: and as you guys will we'll hear in the interview,
2:16
Speaker 3: just has someone knowledge to share on what it means
2:20
Speaker 3: to grow as a person as a hockey player that
2:23
Speaker 3: just has a spectacular attitude and yeah, so I just
2:28
Speaker 3: I'm really excited. This is exactly what I hoped we
2:30
Speaker 3: would get when I asked to talk to her, and
2:32
Speaker 3: so she really delivered. And I think people really will
2:35
Speaker 3: really enjoy hearing about sort of how things have improved.
2:38
Speaker 3: I just thought it was really interesting that she, you know,
2:40
Speaker 3: when she talked about things, she talks about things that
2:43
Speaker 3: were how they were when she was younger and how
2:44
Speaker 3: they are now. And it's not begrudging. She's happy to
2:47
Speaker 3: see the things that have improved and and hope that
2:51
Speaker 3: that continues to improve for players in the future. So
2:54
Speaker 3: I just think it's a really good insight into a
2:56
Speaker 3: team that in a federation and a program that have
2:58
Speaker 3: really evolved and grown over the past few years. And
3:04
Speaker 3: I feel like, and you kind of asked this, but
3:06
Speaker 3: a little bit of a blueprint for what country other
3:08
Speaker 3: countries can be doing to show, you know, like that
3:12
Speaker 3: the gap has really closed. The year these are this
3:14
Speaker 3: is a team that can beat US and Canada. The
3:16
Speaker 3: U eighteen girls to beat Canada in the semi finals
3:20
Speaker 3: of the twenty twenty four Women's World Championships is always
3:23
Speaker 3: in early December, so or early January, So I have
3:25
Speaker 3: to make sure I get the right year and so yeah,
3:27
Speaker 3: that that gap has super closed and I think at
3:30
Speaker 3: any point this team can beat you know, sort of
3:32
Speaker 3: the North American powerhouses. So let's see, let's see this
3:36
Speaker 3: kind of growth from other other countries. And Natalie kind
3:39
Speaker 3: of talks about, you know, where they went, where they're going,
3:42
Speaker 3: and where they hope is the next step.
3:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, so much good stuff in this conversation. We hope
3:48
Speaker 2: you enjoy it. It's our second of a few conversations
3:54
Speaker 2: will be having this off season with people around women's hockey,
3:58
Speaker 2: many different really, We're hoping for a lot of different
4:01
Speaker 2: perspectives and we have a great one here today in
4:04
Speaker 2: Natalie Linkova from Chechia, Minnesota, Vermont, et cetera. We hope
4:11
Speaker 2: you enjoy it. Take a listen.
4:14
Speaker 3: Natlie, thank you so much for being with us today.
4:16
Speaker 3: We just wanted to take this time since it's the
4:18
Speaker 3: off season for I have a little bit deeper conversation.
4:21
Speaker 3: So maybe let's start with the most recent stuff. Can
4:24
Speaker 3: you tell us from your perspective, We heard from everybody
4:27
Speaker 3: who was there how amazing having worlds in Chechia was.
4:31
Speaker 3: Maybe just first, can you just tell us sort of
4:33
Speaker 3: your lasting impressions of what that tournament was.
4:35
Speaker 4: Like, yeah, well, first of all, thanks for having me.
4:40
Speaker 4: Happy to be here. I mean, yeah, the you know,
4:43
Speaker 4: having divorce in front of home crowd, in front of
4:46
Speaker 4: families and friends, and it was unbelievable. Really, we didn't
4:51
Speaker 4: really know what to expect coming into the tournament, but
4:55
Speaker 4: we were super excited. I think we're more excited than
4:58
Speaker 4: nervous at the end of the day, and that's obviously
5:01
Speaker 4: a good thing. And I mean really the goal was
5:05
Speaker 4: just to just to show like the women's hockey on
5:08
Speaker 4: our side and in our country and get you know
5:11
Speaker 4: a little bit more familiar with that. And I think
5:15
Speaker 4: it was great. The defence bent a reel and the
5:19
Speaker 4: whole tournament, the organization, so many people stepped up for us,
5:23
Speaker 4: and yeah, it was amazing.
5:26
Speaker 2: Back here in the US, we saw the visuals, the crowds,
5:30
Speaker 2: and it can kind of get a sense of the noise,
5:33
Speaker 2: but I wonder if you can maybe describe those a
5:36
Speaker 2: little bit more for us, just what it was like
5:38
Speaker 2: seeing full houses, big crowds, and then hearing the noise
5:43
Speaker 2: that they make while the games going on. How did
5:46
Speaker 2: you have a chance to just kind of appreciate that
5:47
Speaker 2: a little bit.
5:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think our country is kind
5:52
Speaker 4: of known for that. So we were just wondering how
5:56
Speaker 4: it was going to look like, you know, for women's hockey,
5:58
Speaker 4: kind of first time in, you know, on the big stage,
6:01
Speaker 4: and and how the fans were gonna take in. And again,
6:04
Speaker 4: they were amazing.
6:06
Speaker 1: It was so loud in there. They were, you know,
6:08
Speaker 1: cheering all the way. They were just crazy.
6:12
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, I mean we couldn't uh, we couldn't hear
6:16
Speaker 4: each other on the bench, that's how loud it was.
6:18
Speaker 4: You know, sitting next to someone you just couldn't hear
6:21
Speaker 4: what they were saying. So from that standpoint, it was loud.
6:25
Speaker 4: It was loud, and you know, too bad we we
6:28
Speaker 4: didn't get to win a medal because I think that
6:30
Speaker 4: that hole ring would go down, honestly.
6:34
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, just just for the perspective. One
6:38
Speaker 1: little moment when we playing when we were playing.
6:40
Speaker 4: Against USA, I was lined up against Tessa Jena Kid,
6:44
Speaker 4: I know, and uh, and she was like, the fans
6:47
Speaker 4: are crazy, and I was telling her that's what we
6:49
Speaker 4: do here, this is our normal, this is the standard
6:52
Speaker 4: that we have. And you know, they showed up. They
6:56
Speaker 4: were amazing, Uh, every game all game long. And no
7:01
Speaker 4: matter what the score was. And I think the the
7:04
Speaker 4: other teams, the other country is very feeling that too.
7:08
Speaker 3: You say, you know that that that's what you all do,
7:10
Speaker 3: is checks, But I mean when you joined the program
7:13
Speaker 3: right as e eighteen, like in your in your sort
7:16
Speaker 3: of short but long career with with the check national
7:19
Speaker 3: team that you eight teed in the senior national team,
7:21
Speaker 3: like the growth of what you guys have been able
7:23
Speaker 3: to do, Like if we'd have said to you five
7:25
Speaker 3: years ago that you guys were going to get the
7:26
Speaker 3: host and that you would sell out and set a
7:28
Speaker 3: new record and all those things, like, do you think
7:31
Speaker 3: that you would have believed it?
7:33
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
7:34
Speaker 4: I honestly don't think we would have believed it even
7:37
Speaker 4: before we actually qualified for the Olympics. I think that's
7:40
Speaker 4: where the biggest turnaround came around. And I think the
7:44
Speaker 4: timing was right, honestly. I think it wasn't you know,
7:48
Speaker 4: soon enough, it wasn't late. It was right, perfect timing
7:52
Speaker 4: to the point that we were able.
7:54
Speaker 1: To handle the pressure better.
7:56
Speaker 4: I don't think, you know, a few years ago we
7:58
Speaker 4: probably wouldn't handle it us as good as we did,
8:01
Speaker 4: and didn't really know how you know, how to kind
8:04
Speaker 4: of kry ourselves with that. It can you know, be
8:07
Speaker 4: very under pressure for sure, And I think just just
8:11
Speaker 4: the timing of it was perfect.
8:13
Speaker 2: Honestly, I guess who do you who should get credit
8:16
Speaker 2: for that? Who's who's responsible for those kind of advances
8:20
Speaker 2: in the women's game in check you.
8:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's you know, it's a tough goal. I think
8:25
Speaker 4: there's more people behind it. You can just you can
8:28
Speaker 4: just pin point one. But I think just as a team,
8:32
Speaker 4: it definitely started with us, you know, having the qualifications
8:36
Speaker 4: at home and then making it to the Olympics.
8:39
Speaker 1: That was the biggest, the biggest movement forward.
8:41
Speaker 4: And then so with that being said, I think to
8:44
Speaker 4: much but's in our old head coach kind of give
8:48
Speaker 4: us a little bit of identity, I would like to say,
8:51
Speaker 4: and like kind of you know, we were able to
8:53
Speaker 4: find ourselves and see like what type of team we are? Uh,
8:57
Speaker 4: And then when Carla mcclough took over, just finding the
9:00
Speaker 4: missing pieces and you know, getting those those bronze mellals there,
9:06
Speaker 4: and yeah, I mean it was just kind of stight
9:10
Speaker 4: clicking and you know, getting the right stuff, getting the
9:13
Speaker 4: right people around us, and you know, getting the right
9:17
Speaker 4: girls for it and and things like that, and then, yeah,
9:21
Speaker 4: I mean it's been it's been. Definitely more people are
9:25
Speaker 4: Our head coach has definitely done a great job, including
9:27
Speaker 4: our coaching staff in general. Uh, there's been big movements
9:32
Speaker 4: on the national team for us, and I think we
9:34
Speaker 4: can all feel it, and it's just exciting. Honestly, we
9:38
Speaker 4: are you know, they look at us differently and we've
9:41
Speaker 4: taken they look at us more as professional players, and
9:46
Speaker 4: you know, and that just helps you move forward. They
9:49
Speaker 4: give you more confidence and and you know, you know
9:52
Speaker 4: you're good taking care of They take really well, really
9:56
Speaker 4: good care of us. And yeah, there is definitely more people. Uh,
10:02
Speaker 4: definitely have to give credit to our GM.
10:05
Speaker 1: There's a.
10:07
Speaker 4: She put you know, she was a big part of
10:09
Speaker 4: this World championship putting it together, and I know they
10:12
Speaker 4: spent so much time on it, and yeah, I mean
10:15
Speaker 4: it was incredible. They really treated us like they did
10:18
Speaker 4: the men you know last year for their World Championship
10:21
Speaker 4: in our country, and they wanted to set the standard
10:24
Speaker 4: exactly where they left it off for them, and I think,
10:28
Speaker 4: I honestly think they did amazing. I don't think any
10:31
Speaker 4: of us expected this.
10:33
Speaker 3: Do you feel like it set the tone like moving
10:36
Speaker 3: forward as well. Like I think about when the U
10:38
Speaker 3: eight teams upset Canada to two tournaments ago and that
10:41
Speaker 3: game wasn't televised back home, you know, things like that.
10:44
Speaker 3: Do you feel like things like the tournament this year
10:47
Speaker 3: and what you all have been able to do like
10:49
Speaker 3: help set that standward for going forward and will continue
10:51
Speaker 3: to see sort of more improvement and changes.
10:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, I think not not only you know kind
10:58
Speaker 4: of showing showing very right now and changing a little
11:02
Speaker 4: bit of the of the picture that that check fans
11:05
Speaker 4: or check people, check community things of women's hockey. Uh,
11:09
Speaker 4: just kind of changing that. That's like number one, and
11:12
Speaker 4: obviously like more of it is always for the future.
11:15
Speaker 2: Uh.
11:15
Speaker 4: And you see the U eighteens and you know the
11:20
Speaker 4: older us, the older us when when we were kind
11:22
Speaker 4: of going through that through that stage, it wasn't always
11:26
Speaker 4: you know roses and and we didn't always get the
11:29
Speaker 4: same stuff that that they do now. And you know,
11:32
Speaker 4: for us it's we are you know, we are just
11:35
Speaker 4: happy and grateful that they get to have that because
11:37
Speaker 4: we we went through the rough time. And obviously for
11:40
Speaker 4: you know, the future girls like we want them to
11:42
Speaker 4: have better environment and better conditions, and yeah, I think
11:48
Speaker 4: it's showing. I mean, obviously they did. They did really well.
11:50
Speaker 4: They've been doing really well lately. And uh, you know,
11:53
Speaker 4: I think I think our country always had that.
11:55
Speaker 1: We just needed to put the right pieces together.
11:57
Speaker 4: And I'm just glad that it's moving in the direction
12:00
Speaker 4: for both the senior team, the U eighteens, even the
12:04
Speaker 4: youngest ones. So yeah, I just gotta keep going, right.
12:09
Speaker 2: I had two questions for you about Karl McLeod, one
12:12
Speaker 2: being house or check coming, and two being what does
12:16
Speaker 2: it mean to have someone who is you know, she
12:20
Speaker 2: took over the head coach position while she was still
12:23
Speaker 2: I believe a U sports head coach, became a p
12:26
Speaker 2: w h L head coach and still stayed on as
12:30
Speaker 2: the check ya head coach. To have her continue in
12:33
Speaker 2: that commitment, what does that meant for for for you guys?
12:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, first of all, her check is horrible. It's
12:42
Speaker 4: getting it's getting better every tournament. But but I can't really.
12:46
Speaker 1: Hold that over her.
12:47
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, our language is hard, and sometimes
12:50
Speaker 4: when she's up to it, she's up to learn, like
12:52
Speaker 4: one board here and there probably keeps forgetting it too
12:56
Speaker 4: to be honest, but uh, you know that, but that's
13:00
Speaker 4: not the point anyway.
13:01
Speaker 1: And you know, we are just grateful to have her.
13:03
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I think it was the right fit,
13:07
Speaker 4: just coming as someone who had this like very similar
13:10
Speaker 4: experience as a player now being a coach, and you know,
13:15
Speaker 4: she kind of talked about our checkwomen's hockey is exactly
13:18
Speaker 4: where you know, the Canadian one was twenty years ago,
13:21
Speaker 4: and it's a it's an interesting perspective to look at.
13:24
Speaker 1: And you know, she she went through it, so she's
13:27
Speaker 1: probably right.
13:28
Speaker 4: We don't know how it was there and and but
13:30
Speaker 4: obviously there were some movements and they had to get
13:32
Speaker 4: where they are now. And the fact that you know
13:35
Speaker 4: she was willing to come over and do that help
13:38
Speaker 4: our country, help our team to do the same and
13:42
Speaker 4: get close there, I think, you know, it's it's great.
13:45
Speaker 4: I mean, she is a great audition. You know, our
13:48
Speaker 4: national team was kind of lacking confidence a lot, maybe
13:52
Speaker 4: because of the history, who knows, but she's definitely giving
13:56
Speaker 4: us confidence. And you know, it's fun to play for her.
14:01
Speaker 4: She's funny, she knows what to say when when the
14:03
Speaker 4: right time is to be serious, and.
14:06
Speaker 1: You know, I think I think we all.
14:08
Speaker 4: Are on the board and and I'm going to apply
14:11
Speaker 4: for her, And yeah, definitely amazing to have her. And
14:15
Speaker 4: and the fact that she's a female too, like some
14:18
Speaker 4: some players might look at it a bit differently than others,
14:20
Speaker 4: but you know, that definitely helps and and just kind
14:25
Speaker 4: of helps with the whole picture of us, you know,
14:28
Speaker 4: showing the future in our country and that you know,
14:30
Speaker 4: female head coaches.
14:31
Speaker 1: Okay too, we are a little bit behind all that stuff.
14:34
Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean, I mean it's kind of it's
14:38
Speaker 4: kind of great picture overall.
14:41
Speaker 3: She's such a good motivator, Like when I've spoken to her,
14:44
Speaker 3: like after at World Championships, after games, like even if
14:47
Speaker 3: he's lost, she would be so positive about all the things,
14:50
Speaker 3: like the way she makes she would make me like
14:52
Speaker 3: want to run through a while. I imagine that, like
14:55
Speaker 3: in the locker room having that. And then I wanted
14:57
Speaker 3: to ask sort of about the because she has talked
14:59
Speaker 3: about that she brings the North American style like Tushan
15:02
Speaker 3: and some of your other coaches and the mixture of
15:05
Speaker 3: that and how well that seems to work for you all,
15:08
Speaker 3: and and sort of that not everybody has the U
15:11
Speaker 3: eighteen coach coaching with the senior national team, so the
15:13
Speaker 3: way and obviously Douchean being able to be in Chechia
15:17
Speaker 3: while she is maybe not there in the languages and
15:19
Speaker 3: all of that. It's a pretty unique setup. So both
15:22
Speaker 3: sort of the tactics of the North American versus CHECKI
15:25
Speaker 3: or European style, but also the sort of like holistic
15:29
Speaker 3: coaching setup that you all have. How has that helped
15:31
Speaker 3: you all become successful and be the team that you
15:34
Speaker 3: are right now?
15:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that that's a little bit of the
15:38
Speaker 4: you know, when I was talking about the missing pieces
15:40
Speaker 4: that she brought in, that's definitely one of them. And
15:42
Speaker 4: just not be afraid to play against those guys. And
15:45
Speaker 4: it probably is a bit easier since you know, most
15:48
Speaker 4: of us have ded experience already. But you know, just
15:52
Speaker 4: keep growing our game, keep getting on them, keep chasing them.
15:56
Speaker 1: Really, that's all it's about. And I think the gap
15:58
Speaker 1: is closing.
15:59
Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean the missing pieces, you know, just
16:05
Speaker 4: just kind of you know, get under their skin a
16:07
Speaker 4: little bit.
16:08
Speaker 1: That's basically the biggest thing.
16:10
Speaker 4: Just you know, you can respect them, of course, but
16:13
Speaker 4: like once you get on the ice, the respect has
16:15
Speaker 4: to go a little bit aside and you're playing for
16:17
Speaker 4: your team, and it doesn't matter if they are your
16:20
Speaker 4: teammates are not outside and you're playing for your country.
16:23
Speaker 4: You're just getting after it. And I do have to
16:26
Speaker 4: say it's been very fun to see some of the
16:28
Speaker 4: best players in the world getting frustrated just because they're
16:31
Speaker 4: playing some you know, small country like Checky I is
16:34
Speaker 4: and yeah, it's awesome. We are having fun out there
16:38
Speaker 4: when it happens. Yeah, I mean, we are getting closer
16:42
Speaker 4: and they know it too, and that's that's the best
16:44
Speaker 4: part about it. Just you know, talking to them after game,
16:47
Speaker 4: they're like, yeah, it's getting harder and harder to to
16:51
Speaker 4: play against you guys. They basically don't even want to
16:53
Speaker 4: play us anymore. And sometimes you know, the the score
16:57
Speaker 4: sheet is not is not showing the full story, I
17:00
Speaker 4: don't think. But but the gap is absolutely closing. And
17:04
Speaker 4: as it is on the senior level, it's on the
17:06
Speaker 4: U eighteen level two. Uh, we've seen it and it
17:09
Speaker 4: you know, just wait, just Wade, it's gonna happen.
17:13
Speaker 2: I want to get back to your international career in
17:15
Speaker 2: a in a minute, but I wonder if you can
17:18
Speaker 2: take us through how how you came to be playing
17:21
Speaker 2: in US college hockey because it's you know, a lot
17:26
Speaker 2: of us are understanding that the game is growing to
17:30
Speaker 2: be a worldwide game. The US college game is becoming
17:35
Speaker 2: more worldwide. What's your background and how did it develop
17:41
Speaker 2: for you.
17:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, obviously, growing up, as you know, young female
17:46
Speaker 4: playing hockey wasn't you know, super popular by any means.
17:50
Speaker 4: But I was fortunate enough to have you know, older
17:53
Speaker 4: players that already kind of you know, either when or
17:57
Speaker 4: by going through the process, and it just seemed like
18:00
Speaker 4: the best thing to do, honestly, just you know, combine
18:03
Speaker 4: as you know, studying with hockey at the same time
18:07
Speaker 4: plus Division one moment hockey, you know that in my opinion,
18:12
Speaker 4: top level from you know what seventeen to twenty four
18:15
Speaker 4: years old, and yeah, so just just kind of had
18:19
Speaker 4: that goal as I got to know, you know, the
18:21
Speaker 4: older players and seeing their girl and just wanting to
18:26
Speaker 4: go through that and have that experience to be a
18:28
Speaker 4: student athlete because it just you know, it sets you
18:32
Speaker 4: up for life, honestly, and it doesn't matter if you
18:35
Speaker 4: play hockey after or not. But just combining the you know,
18:40
Speaker 4: getting your diploma and getting your degree and then you know,
18:44
Speaker 4: playing hockey at the biggest level and kind of get
18:47
Speaker 4: the feel of how it is like to be a
18:48
Speaker 4: professional athlete. Yeah, they just you know, kind of got
18:53
Speaker 4: me there. I mean, you know, just when I was younger,
18:58
Speaker 4: I always wanted to do that. I ended up leaving
19:01
Speaker 4: for high school hockey, basically moving to Canada without school though.
19:07
Speaker 4: I just moved to a junior women's hockey team. It's
19:09
Speaker 4: called HDI Hockey Training Institute. We had lots of international
19:14
Speaker 4: players there that helped me with my English. Honestly, I
19:17
Speaker 4: didn't speak English at all. I moved when I was sixteen,
19:19
Speaker 4: and you know just kind of you know, gotta be
19:23
Speaker 4: created from there and then and then picked a school.
19:25
Speaker 1: And then you know, ended up at Vermont And at
19:29
Speaker 1: the time of my life.
19:32
Speaker 3: When you were talking about sort of the various people
19:35
Speaker 3: that have your credit for where you all are, like
19:38
Speaker 3: you all as the players to have had done a
19:40
Speaker 3: credit because so many of you came over to the
19:43
Speaker 3: US or to North America to train and really you know,
19:46
Speaker 3: sort of push your own development, like it's been so
19:49
Speaker 3: important to the growth of check you women's hockey. I think,
19:52
Speaker 3: you know, kind of starting with like Dolina Mills and
19:54
Speaker 3: on from there that so many of you sort of
19:56
Speaker 3: personally took it out on yourself to make sure that
19:59
Speaker 3: you were getting the and training that you needed. Can
20:02
Speaker 3: you maybe just talk a little bit. I mean it's
20:04
Speaker 3: difficult because so much good is happening, but also like it,
20:08
Speaker 3: there's something we said about how sixteen year old shouldn't
20:10
Speaker 3: have to make the decision to like move across the
20:12
Speaker 3: world to be able to further their game. So it's
20:15
Speaker 3: been an interesting balance for you all and moving the
20:18
Speaker 3: needle to get to where you are.
20:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's true.
20:22
Speaker 4: You know you look at our you know, national team
20:24
Speaker 4: roster and even the bigger you know, the bigger roster
20:28
Speaker 4: just kind of all around who is who has been
20:30
Speaker 4: through national team and you know, ninety nine point nine
20:33
Speaker 4: percent players just all played internationally. And yeah, I mean
20:39
Speaker 4: it's tough because the environment for you know, women's hockey
20:42
Speaker 4: in check is not it's not there yet, and you know,
20:46
Speaker 4: we are just a little bit behind. As I talked
20:48
Speaker 4: about the other stuff, it's it's the same with this,
20:50
Speaker 4: and you know other countries are getting ahead of us
20:53
Speaker 4: with that. But I also think that's where in a
20:56
Speaker 4: way it comes our you know, unique way as you
20:59
Speaker 4: can kind of mentioned because you know, we don't get
21:01
Speaker 4: to see each other often, we don't get to play
21:03
Speaker 4: with each other often, but when we do, uh yeah,
21:06
Speaker 4: those girls together, it's it's fun and you know we
21:10
Speaker 4: have this specific humor and yeah, it's it's just different.
21:15
Speaker 4: But yeah, it's you know, from when I went to
21:18
Speaker 4: college even until now, like it's improving, it's growing, and
21:22
Speaker 4: even now like so many you know, women's girls camps
21:26
Speaker 4: during summers and kind of more help to get invited,
21:30
Speaker 4: you know, and be able to join some you know
21:33
Speaker 4: tournaments and camps where you know, the Division one coaches,
21:36
Speaker 4: Division three coaches come to watch and recruit and that
21:40
Speaker 4: that stuff is definitely growing. Uh, there wasn't many opportunities
21:44
Speaker 4: for us before, so we had to move in order
21:48
Speaker 4: to be seen.
21:49
Speaker 1: No one was really looking at Europe. Uh you know,
21:52
Speaker 1: it just it just wasn't a thing.
21:54
Speaker 4: Uh So unless you do, you know, unless you made
21:57
Speaker 4: it to the UA Team World Championships, no no was
22:00
Speaker 4: really looking at you. And even if the World Championship
22:03
Speaker 4: was somewhere in Europe or Asia and no one, no,
22:06
Speaker 4: there was no chance for anyone to see you. So
22:09
Speaker 4: we definitely had to move. But now it's changing. The
22:12
Speaker 4: coaches are looking at you know, at the international players,
22:16
Speaker 4: and it's also easier you can just you know, turn
22:20
Speaker 4: on live stream from anywhere nowadays. It wasn't a thing.
22:23
Speaker 4: Even when I was going to college, it still wasn't
22:25
Speaker 4: a thing. So, you know, just just having you know,
22:29
Speaker 4: the availability of watching the girls now, plus you know,
22:35
Speaker 4: for them being able to play a junior hockey or
22:38
Speaker 4: pro hockey in Sweden, Switzerland before they go to college,
22:42
Speaker 4: that wasn't you know, necessary necessary an option for us either.
22:47
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's definitely you.
22:50
Speaker 4: Know, more option as as the game is growing and
22:55
Speaker 4: just the whole woman's keyboard is developing.
22:59
Speaker 2: I wonder what it advice you'd give someone who was
23:02
Speaker 2: like you at sixteen years old in check ya looking
23:06
Speaker 2: to you know, having a goal and trying to find
23:11
Speaker 2: the way to get there. With the experience that you
23:14
Speaker 2: now have of having gone to Canada, having gone to Vermont,
23:17
Speaker 2: getting the bonus here at Minnesota, all of these things
23:21
Speaker 2: that have happened. I guess what stands out to you
23:24
Speaker 2: is in as a you know, something that could motivate
23:28
Speaker 2: someone that was in your position.
23:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know, it's a it's an interesting question.
23:38
Speaker 4: Interesting topic for sure, because everyone is a bit different.
23:41
Speaker 4: But what I would say would be, you know, if
23:44
Speaker 4: that's what you really want, like go and try it.
23:47
Speaker 4: You know, like what you have nothing to lose at
23:49
Speaker 4: the end of the day. You might just like gain
23:51
Speaker 4: experience from it. And it can be scary, especially like you know,
23:55
Speaker 4: moving across the board, maybe not speaking English, you know,
23:59
Speaker 4: you know, still being kid really, but it's something that
24:04
Speaker 4: you know, I I think that was like the best
24:06
Speaker 4: decision I could have ever made, honestly, Ah, it just
24:10
Speaker 4: it just helped me in so many ways. You get
24:11
Speaker 4: to know people from all over the board. Of course,
24:14
Speaker 4: it's harder because you have to, you know, move away
24:17
Speaker 4: from home, maybe don't get to see your family parents
24:20
Speaker 4: as much. But you know something I was told when
24:24
Speaker 4: I was sixteen, it is like you can always come home.
24:26
Speaker 1: You know where your home is.
24:28
Speaker 4: You know you're not gonna like it, You're you know,
24:31
Speaker 4: you're not gonna be able to to get through it.
24:33
Speaker 1: Maybe it's not for you. You can always come home.
24:35
Speaker 4: No one said you cannot, and you know, so why not,
24:39
Speaker 4: like why not try it? Why not see like why
24:42
Speaker 4: it can take you just fulfill the potential if you're
24:46
Speaker 4: doing it on a serious level. Just go and be
24:49
Speaker 4: serious about it, really, and you know your family is there.
24:53
Speaker 4: They might be further away, but nowadays you have FaceTime,
24:56
Speaker 4: You have all of those things, and.
24:59
Speaker 1: You know you are still gonna see them.
25:01
Speaker 4: It's not like you're not and you're always come home
25:05
Speaker 4: and you can always come home even if you didn't
25:07
Speaker 4: like it or you know, it got to have I
25:11
Speaker 4: don't know. I just think it helps overall, if like
25:14
Speaker 4: growing as a person as a player, and yeah, I
25:18
Speaker 4: think if you got a chance, you got to take it.
25:22
Speaker 3: What was what sort of your lasting impression or like
25:26
Speaker 3: your memories of Vermont and just what you learned there
25:29
Speaker 3: and you had a pretty international team, And then if
25:31
Speaker 3: you could tell us a little bit about like why
25:33
Speaker 3: you chose Minnesota and what, like what this last year
25:36
Speaker 3: has been like, maybe how it was different, and just
25:39
Speaker 3: sort of digging a little on the details of your
25:41
Speaker 3: college career.
25:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I was fortunate enough to be able
25:46
Speaker 4: to go visit Vermont before I commit in and I
25:50
Speaker 4: fell in love with that place. Honestly, it's beautiful out there.
25:53
Speaker 4: All the people, you know, it just they had the
25:56
Speaker 4: heart in the right place and it just felt like
25:59
Speaker 4: the best fit for me, so I decided to go
26:02
Speaker 4: and and honestly, I grew as a person. I grew
26:05
Speaker 4: a lot there as a player too, but more incredibly
26:09
Speaker 4: as a person because you know, I went to college
26:12
Speaker 4: and it was a little bit harder because it was
26:15
Speaker 4: COVID year for me. So I hit the school right
26:18
Speaker 4: when it was COVID, which, on the other hand, I'm
26:21
Speaker 4: actually glad I did because we got to spend five
26:23
Speaker 4: six hours a day on the ice just having fun.
26:26
Speaker 4: You know, everything was shut down. We couldn't even go
26:28
Speaker 4: to school. You know, we were just living life. Honestly,
26:33
Speaker 4: It's like we couldn't play games, but you know, we
26:36
Speaker 4: made fun of what we had there. And yeah, I mean,
26:41
Speaker 4: you know, when I was going to college, I not
26:44
Speaker 4: that I didn't care about school, but I didn't have
26:46
Speaker 4: to be straight a student by any means.
26:48
Speaker 1: I was just okay with BC's, you know, just.
26:51
Speaker 4: As long as I wasn't failing and I was passing by,
26:54
Speaker 4: that was totally fine with me. I didn't really understand that,
26:57
Speaker 4: you know, you kind of want to be I want
27:00
Speaker 4: to be the best, you know, have a's in every
27:03
Speaker 4: class and and have GPA and all that stuff and.
27:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was me.
27:08
Speaker 4: And honestly, by end of sophomore year, I started taking
27:11
Speaker 4: school very seriously and just uh started to understand that,
27:15
Speaker 4: you know, it is okay to have B and C,
27:17
Speaker 4: but why not try to get an A if you
27:19
Speaker 4: if you can. So I changed kind of my perspective
27:23
Speaker 4: on that. I was like the biggest you know, movement
27:26
Speaker 4: as a kid that that happened in me. And I
27:30
Speaker 4: just kept getting better every single day, just doing skills
27:34
Speaker 4: and and you know, just working hard, doing extra stuff
27:38
Speaker 4: and having fun with the girls at the same time
27:41
Speaker 4: and having some you know, all the players to look
27:44
Speaker 4: up to, and having some great mentors out there. They
27:48
Speaker 4: just they just helped me to grow into who I am.
27:50
Speaker 4: And you know, I I had a blast. I had great,
27:55
Speaker 4: great four years there, and I'm grateful for my time there.
27:58
Speaker 4: I believe everyone is always going to be my second home.
28:00
Speaker 4: And I love the people. The people make the place
28:05
Speaker 4: and the people dire very amazing.
28:09
Speaker 3: And then when you had the opportunity for the fifth year,
28:11
Speaker 3: were you did you always think you were going to
28:13
Speaker 3: maybe look somewhere else or sort of how did that
28:15
Speaker 3: process go and what made you land in Minnesota?
28:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, good question. I wasn't always thinking about it.
28:21
Speaker 4: I was just kind of going year by year, and
28:24
Speaker 4: then you know, by my senior year, I kind of
28:26
Speaker 4: I kind of felt like I needed a little change,
28:29
Speaker 4: just to try to develop a little bit differently, and
28:33
Speaker 4: you know, started the recruiting process once again, and and
28:37
Speaker 4: Minnesota felt right the place for me, you know, a
28:40
Speaker 4: fifty year, one more year bonus year. Wanted to play
28:43
Speaker 4: and you know, try different league, different school, going from
28:46
Speaker 4: smaller school to bigger school, you know, bigger hockey program
28:51
Speaker 4: and bigger history and and all that. So just just
28:54
Speaker 4: trying something new, really and getting challenged in a different
28:58
Speaker 4: wace once again. And yeah, just kind of going through that,
29:03
Speaker 4: getting my master's degree and you know, just just trying
29:08
Speaker 4: to get the most out of it. And yeah, it
29:12
Speaker 4: flew by, for sure, not only this year but the
29:16
Speaker 4: whole colleage career. But at the same time, I think
29:19
Speaker 4: I'm ready for the next step. And you know, I'm
29:22
Speaker 4: more than done with school, I can tell you.
29:25
Speaker 2: So, yeah, you mentioned next steps, and there's so much
29:31
Speaker 2: exciting happening in the next really next year, but coming
29:35
Speaker 2: up in the next few months really of p w
29:38
Speaker 2: h L draft, the p w h L expansion, you know,
29:42
Speaker 2: and then we get into an Olympic season. How do
29:46
Speaker 2: you how do you look forward to all of that
29:48
Speaker 2: knowing that there's so much that's out there for you
29:52
Speaker 2: and I imagine that's got to be exciting to look
29:54
Speaker 2: forward to the next season.
29:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
29:56
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I mean not only just for me, right but
30:00
Speaker 4: for all the girls. Just just having another step forward
30:03
Speaker 4: to kind of be motivated to get to and and
30:06
Speaker 4: and play in a league like that. It's you know,
30:09
Speaker 4: it's unreal. It's definitely exciting. There's so many unknowns right now.
30:13
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going to happen, but you know
30:17
Speaker 4: that just the way how life is right now. But
30:20
Speaker 4: definitely even having the experience to to go or be
30:24
Speaker 4: able to go to the draft and possibly get drafted
30:27
Speaker 4: and possibly play there. I don't want to get too
30:29
Speaker 4: ahead of myself, but but you know, it's exciting just
30:33
Speaker 4: the fact that you know there is the opportunity for
30:36
Speaker 4: the girls now too, and you know, just just say
30:39
Speaker 4: like be able to get drafted or you know for
30:41
Speaker 4: some people that got drafted just yeah I got drafted.
30:44
Speaker 1: Like it's just.
30:45
Speaker 4: That itself is you know, uh, something that obviously we
30:50
Speaker 4: wish we could have dreamed of before and now it's
30:54
Speaker 4: finally here and I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm
30:57
Speaker 4: hitting the right time in this and you know, yeah,
31:02
Speaker 4: I mean, we'll see what happens. Hopefully it ends up
31:05
Speaker 4: it ends up going well. But as you said, the
31:08
Speaker 4: picture is bigger and definitely exciting summer coming up, and
31:13
Speaker 4: we'll just see what happens.
31:14
Speaker 1: We'll go from there.
31:17
Speaker 3: In terms of that Olympic picture, I mean, I remember
31:19
Speaker 3: talking to too many of you all. Qualifying was just
31:22
Speaker 3: such a huge step for you you all, and finishing
31:25
Speaker 3: seventh obviously you wanted to do better than that. So
31:27
Speaker 3: now sort of with all of the momentum, you have,
31:30
Speaker 3: all of the talent that you have, what sort of
31:33
Speaker 3: are the conversations and and how are you feeling heading
31:37
Speaker 3: you know that you were what we eight months or
31:39
Speaker 3: whatever away from from talking about another Olympic Games.
31:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the in general the first Olympic cycle,
31:47
Speaker 4: you know, we we were just so new to that,
31:50
Speaker 4: you know, we've never been there before. So I think
31:53
Speaker 4: that was like a lot of emotion. We didn't necessarily
31:56
Speaker 4: Nohan to handle it. And at the same time, I
31:59
Speaker 4: believe that you know, things happen the way they are
32:01
Speaker 4: supposed to, and uh, you know, I think this year
32:05
Speaker 4: we are going to go into it way more experience
32:08
Speaker 4: from from all the international players, including the first Olympic Games,
32:12
Speaker 4: and just very excited for it, honestly.
32:15
Speaker 1: And it's going to be in Europe. It's going to
32:17
Speaker 1: be in Italy.
32:18
Speaker 4: Uh you know, possible for families, friends to come over
32:22
Speaker 4: if they want to, and and just just having it
32:26
Speaker 4: kind of here in Europe is also a big thing.
32:30
Speaker 4: And I mean it's it's been something that we've been
32:34
Speaker 4: talking about for a few years now and and that's
32:36
Speaker 4: the that's the big goal there. And uh yeah, definitely
32:40
Speaker 4: wanna want to finish very higher than the last Olympics.
32:43
Speaker 4: But again, I think that experience, you know, it's going
32:47
Speaker 4: to show, it's.
32:48
Speaker 1: Going to show next year.
32:50
Speaker 2: Last question for me before I turn back over to
32:52
Speaker 2: Nicole to wrap up, but I wonder what you're expecting
32:56
Speaker 2: this next season to look like in terms of how
32:59
Speaker 2: you how you prepare for all of that, and knowing
33:02
Speaker 2: that you know you you'll you'll have a pro team,
33:05
Speaker 2: you'll be on you know, everything goes well and and
33:07
Speaker 2: you'll but you'll also have some some windows where you
33:10
Speaker 2: have to be preparing for international play and and and
33:16
Speaker 2: having those kind of mesh with each other and then
33:20
Speaker 2: kind of going back and forth in February and then
33:22
Speaker 2: in April and then it really just kind of whirlwind
33:28
Speaker 2: of a season. How how do you prepare for that mentally?
33:30
Speaker 2: I guess, and and and how do you guys as
33:32
Speaker 2: a team? You know, do you know when you're going
33:35
Speaker 2: to be doing all of that yet?
33:37
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, no idea.
33:38
Speaker 4: I mean, uh, you know, it's it's pretty close, it's
33:42
Speaker 4: coming up, but it's still a bit far away. There's
33:44
Speaker 4: so many things that are going to happen for myself
33:47
Speaker 4: before that, and so I'm trying to just just wait
33:51
Speaker 4: and see what happens with that and handle that, and uh,
33:54
Speaker 4: then it will kind of move forward. But I honestly
33:58
Speaker 4: think that, you know it, It's weird to say, but
34:01
Speaker 4: I think in this way it might somewhat be easier
34:03
Speaker 4: for me this year, just because the first the first
34:06
Speaker 4: time I was in I was a student. I was
34:08
Speaker 4: in school and I missed, you know, in two months
34:11
Speaker 4: of school and and that, you know, that's that's something
34:15
Speaker 4: so just kind of being able to, you know, just
34:18
Speaker 4: play hockey, Uh, not not have to necessary worry about
34:22
Speaker 4: other personal stuff, you know, other responsibilities and being able
34:27
Speaker 4: to just focus on that. It's gonna be tougher with
34:31
Speaker 4: with traveling, but you know, I think we can all
34:35
Speaker 4: handle it. We haven't really we haven't really regrouped with
34:38
Speaker 4: the national team even from boards yet, so I'm sure
34:43
Speaker 4: that's all coming up during summer and and just kind
34:46
Speaker 4: of you know, turning the page and preparing for next
34:48
Speaker 4: season at the same time, just kind of seeing where
34:52
Speaker 4: where it takes me and kind of go from there.
34:55
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think I think no matter what we are,
34:59
Speaker 4: we are just excited for the opportunity and just got
35:04
Speaker 4: to see where it takes us. There's just so many
35:06
Speaker 4: unknowns at the moment.
35:09
Speaker 3: I have two questions to wrap up. The first, I
35:11
Speaker 3: would wanted to ask if you have had as you said,
35:15
Speaker 3: you came to North America at sixteen year you are
35:16
Speaker 3: only twenty three. With all of the things that we've
35:18
Speaker 3: talked about, like you are still still relatively pretty young.
35:22
Speaker 3: Have you had a chance at any point to sort
35:24
Speaker 3: of maybe since world just take that step back and
35:26
Speaker 3: really think about like you're on the verge of getting
35:29
Speaker 3: to go to the draft for professional hockey league that
35:31
Speaker 3: like none of us could have imagined a few years ago.
35:34
Speaker 3: Like to think about where you were when you first
35:36
Speaker 3: came to North America and where you're sitting right now,
35:40
Speaker 3: both for your country, for yourself professionally, all the things
35:43
Speaker 3: that have changed. Have you Do you get a chance
35:45
Speaker 3: to really think on that and let it sink in
35:47
Speaker 3: or are you just sort of there's so much happening
35:50
Speaker 3: that that at some point maybe that'll sink in.
35:53
Speaker 4: I think I haven't sinked in just yeah, just because
35:56
Speaker 4: I'm still finishing up school. I still have some stuff
35:59
Speaker 4: to do, but but I'm almost done. But at the
36:02
Speaker 4: same time, I believe that once I leave that's where
36:05
Speaker 4: it started, you know, going to start hitting. It doesn't
36:07
Speaker 4: necessarily feel like it's over just yet from that standpoint,
36:11
Speaker 4: because again I'm still a students to take.
36:14
Speaker 1: But but.
36:18
Speaker 4: You know, just just kind of just even the mindset
36:22
Speaker 4: just coming to a fifty year just taking it as
36:24
Speaker 4: you know, being able to develop more for for the
36:27
Speaker 4: professional life afterwards, and no matter if it's you know,
36:32
Speaker 4: in U s Or Sweden or whatever, it is, just
36:35
Speaker 4: kind of being able to play professional hockey after this.
36:39
Speaker 4: I definitely, you know, definitely took this year as as
36:43
Speaker 4: you know, trying to develop more and taking more professionally
36:46
Speaker 4: at this point already just to kind of, you know,
36:50
Speaker 4: take the bonus here basically and take the most out
36:54
Speaker 4: of it. And and so from that standpoint, and obviously
36:58
Speaker 4: like was in the bag of my had, but I
37:00
Speaker 4: was kind of going, you know, day to day, I'm
37:03
Speaker 4: still going day to day, and yeah, I think it's
37:07
Speaker 4: gonna had, you know, once I leave this place.
37:11
Speaker 3: And then I wanted to ask during you actually said
37:13
Speaker 3: it earlier here, but during Worlds you talked about like,
37:15
Speaker 3: you know, the gap is closing, we are like I
37:17
Speaker 3: really believe in us, And you said the same thing
37:20
Speaker 3: in Duluth when with Minnesota, when with the Wisconsin loss,
37:24
Speaker 3: just a very similar like full belief that like my
37:27
Speaker 3: team can do this, this program can do this. And
37:30
Speaker 3: I just wanted to ask sort of about that bit
37:32
Speaker 3: of your personality, that sort of conviction that that your
37:36
Speaker 3: team is going to be able to keep making those changes,
37:38
Speaker 3: that Chuckie will be able to keep doing that that
37:40
Speaker 3: it just was there was so much passion in what
37:42
Speaker 3: you were saying that like I want people to to
37:45
Speaker 3: know that bit about you, about like what about you
37:47
Speaker 3: that makes you so so confident and so passionate about
37:51
Speaker 3: like sort of supporting what's happening and knowing that your
37:53
Speaker 3: teams can keep going.
37:56
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a great question. I don't know. I wasn't.
37:59
Speaker 4: I wasn't always like this, that's for sure. I wasn't
38:01
Speaker 4: always confident. I was more just having fun. I didn't
38:06
Speaker 4: look at it as you know, people told that I
38:09
Speaker 4: was like so confident on the eyes, and I was
38:11
Speaker 4: just like, I'm just having fun, Like I don't. I
38:14
Speaker 4: probably didn't even know what that meant. And as I'm
38:17
Speaker 4: you know, getting a little bit more experience, getting a
38:20
Speaker 4: little bit older, just understanding how important it is to
38:22
Speaker 4: believe in yourself and and I think there it's not
38:26
Speaker 4: even about if I believe, but more so the questions
38:28
Speaker 4: like why not, like why not, like go out there,
38:31
Speaker 4: have fun and you know, give it your best and
38:33
Speaker 4: see what happens. So it just kind of like, you know,
38:37
Speaker 4: right now we are chasing, but I believe that, you know,
38:40
Speaker 4: sooner rather than later we can play an even game,
38:42
Speaker 4: and just like why not, Like you know, most of us,
38:46
Speaker 4: like with the check girls, most of us play against
38:49
Speaker 4: those girls, you know, every week, and that's the reality.
38:53
Speaker 1: So why not it's just doing it in a different color.
38:55
Speaker 4: Of jersey and you're doing it in front of your
38:57
Speaker 4: home crowd or you know, maybe at a and a
39:00
Speaker 4: pretty much bigger turn on man. But like, at the
39:03
Speaker 4: same time, that's just kind of how I see it,
39:05
Speaker 4: you know, like why why not try, you know, reach
39:08
Speaker 4: the full potential and kind of be the best at
39:10
Speaker 4: you know, what you do, if you love it, and
39:12
Speaker 4: if that's what you want to do, I think it
39:15
Speaker 4: would just be a waste if you if you didn't.
39:17
Speaker 1: Give it you at all.
39:17
Speaker 4: And so yeah, I think to me, it's not it's
39:21
Speaker 4: not necessary about that. It's more like, you know, why
39:24
Speaker 4: not try it if you have the opportunity, especially.
39:28
Speaker 2: This has been great, Natalie, Thanks so much for doing
39:30
Speaker 2: this and and best of luck with everything that's coming
39:33
Speaker 2: in your career.
39:34
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me too.