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WHAT OUR SENIORS ARE DOING!
The Wisconsin Wild U19AAA Girls’ Hockey Team will graduate 14 players this year, and, incredibly, EVERY single one will go on to play NCAA women’s hockey. Each of the high school seniors has been offered spots on at least two college women's hockey teams.These 14 student-athletes have made their college decisions and we are pleased to announce that they will be attending college and playing NCAA women’s hockey at the following schools:
¨Amanda Bockmann (WindLake,MuskegoHigh School) will attend Augsburg College (MN)
¨Katie Coyne (Cottage Grove, Deerfield Academy,MA) will attend Bowdoin College (ME)
¨Toni Donaldson (Brown Deer, BrownDeerHigh School) will attend Lake Forest College (IL)
¨Amanda Dowdy(Brookfield, BrookfieldCentralHigh School) will attend Augsburg College (MN)
¨Kelsey Hunt(Milwaukee, DivineSaviorHolyAngelsHigh School) will attend St. Anselm College (NH)
¨Katharine Kelly(Shorewood, ShorewoodHigh School) will attend Amherst College (MA)
¨Kristina Leng(Lindenhurst, IL, AntiochHigh School) will attend Wayne State University (MI)
¨Jessica MacKenzie(Brookfield,BrookfieldCentralHigh School) will attend Harvard University (MA)
¨Emilie Midtling(Hartland, ArrowheadHigh School) will attend Brown University (RI)
¨Kendall Newell(Phoenix, AZ, XavierPreparatoryHigh School) will attend St. Cloud State University (MN)
¨Sarah Nowakowski(Mequon, University School of Milwaukee) will attend Williams College (MA)
¨Rylee Olewinski(Burr Ridge, IL, BenetAcademy) will attend Brown University (RI)
¨Britney Schaeffer(Brookfield,WisconsinLutheranHigh School) will attend Bemidji State University (MN)
¨Erin Shepet(Pewaukee, BrookfieldCentralHigh School) will attend the University of St. Thomas (MN)
In a time when opportunities to play college athletics are limited and extremely competitive, it is unusual that any high school aged team in any sport is able to place more than a single player on a college team. Placing every single graduating player from a team is an even more incredible feat and nothing less than amazing when there are 14 graduates. We are not aware of any team in any sport that can boast this level of success. These are most impressive, talented, and extremely hardworking youngwomen.
The team’s coaches, Head Coach Chris Leng, Assistant Coach Cameron Cook, and Assistant Coach Manon Rheaume, have been key in placing each girl in their new hockey homes. They have also provided an atmosphere of caringand confidence in the team and its players and have been the teams’ biggest cheerleaders.
Congratulations, girls, and good luck in the future!
Inside this Newsletter….
U14AAA’s report from Nationals!
How they got there!
Important Dates
Wild Upcoming Events
Calendar of Events:
April
4/28 Annual Board Meeting 7pm
May
5/15-16 WI Wild Spring Clinic
5/22-23 WI Wild AAA Tryouts
June
6/17 Thursday Summer Ice begins
6/25 Wild Golf Outing
REMEMBER TO CHECK THE WI WILD WEBSITE FREQUENTLY THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER AT
FOR UPCOMING EVENTS & SPECIAL DATES.
U14 AAA HONORED TO BE AT NATIONALS!
Respectfully submitted by: Donna Rogers
Taking PRIDE in their accomplishments and just being a part of the USA HOCKEY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS left our Wild girls with positive feelings and experiences that will linger for a long time in their hearts. To be playing among the best female hockey players in the country was an opportunity that was a mere dream goal, just 6 months ago. What this team achieved is the story here…
Earning a trip to Nationals “ain’t bad” for a group of girls selected from a handful. All season long, they built and perfected their game and rose to the occasion when it counted, to march their way to Rochester, NY. The team enjoyed a visit from WISN 12 reporter Stephanie Sutton who interviewed some of the players and then let her cameraman loose on the ice to create a nice promotional piece that aired Tuesday night, prior to our first game Wednesday. What a boost to the team’s excitement. It meant a lot to know that people back home were pulling for them!
We found out quickly, that Rochester, NY is a “Loooooooooong Way” from Wisconsin! We all eventually made it there, and had an early 9:00am draw against Cal Selects. The Wild needed to get into their groove at the onset, but even with shaky timing, they held up well against Cal’s speed and agility. What we were soon to find out, was that we were facing the future 3rd place team in the country. We just had a quick wake-up call to National competition With a first game 4 – 0 loss, the Wild took their lumps and mentally prepared for the next challenge…Syracuse.
Thursday’s performance was more like the Wild we all know.Syracuse jump-started the scoring at the 14:01 mark in the 1st period from the slot. As the clock reached 4:00, Meagan Sudik took the puck off the face-off in the zone, cut across the slot and shot a beauty sliding on her knee! What finesse! We’re tied 1 –1 until midway through the 2nd period. Today, the Wild managed to send the puck to the goal keeping us in the fight.Leah Coe hit her target with an awesome rocket from left point putting the Wild on top, 2-1 with 8:34 left in the 2nd. Then at 6:37, Syracuse found a hole and tied it back up at 2 – 2. A long time went by but patience paid off for Syracuse as they got #3 to find an opening with 6:27 remaining in the game. With Syracuse up 3 – 2, the Wild tightened their grips, gritted their teeth, and GRRRRRRR’d. They wanted this game! LaCombe was ground down hard into the ice and her self-sacrifice earned the Wild a Power play. Soon after, a second call for roughing and the Wild has a 5 on 3 advantage.Syracuse still swarmed us from all angles. As they gained one player back, the Wild made a drive into enemy territory. Brookley Rogers snarfed up the puck down in the corner and came up from behind the goal. She slid it through the crease to Tara Nowaczyk who poked the puck in to tie it up 3 –3 with 2:38 remaining in the game!!! The final two minutes elevated with excitement mainly down in Syracuse’s zone with the Wild attacking. The Wild made several shots on goal and came within inches of defeating Syracuse. It just wasn’t meant to be, today. The Wild settled for a 3 – 3 tie. Syracuse finally placed 4th in the final standings of the National tournament.
Our third game and a MUST WIN situation found us staring in the eyes of the East Coast powerhouse, Assabet Valley from Massachusetts. Our Wild girls knew that miracles DO happen. Well, the Wild gave it their best shot and fell short of any miracles, but had new-found appreciation for the teams here at Nationals. The U14’s stayed with Assabet until midway in the 1st period when AV fired a ripping shot, top shelf at 7:03. There was a beehive of action around our goal as Kim Kamer was hanging tough against a fast and furious attack. The Wild girls were moving well, skating confidently, but we just couldn’t escape our zone to begin an offensive drive. AV stuck to us like wet tongues on icicles! We couldn’t shake them off. The 2nd period started with a Wild Powerplay, but Assabet’s team was like poetry on ice. They racked up 4 goals this period, and the Wild just continued to fight the losing battle with pride. The 3rd period got underway, and by now, the idea was to just play hard and know that they were privileged to be on the ice with this group of girls. Even Coach LaCombe took one for the team, as a puck glanced off a players’ glove and into his right eye! He gallantly continued to coach while a First Aid medic treated him in the box. The U14’s bowed out of the competition losing to AssabetValley, 6 – 0, but didn’t bow their heads. They just played this year’s National Champions and as a friend told us later…”It took the BEST to beat us!”
That evening, the tournament held a dance on the ice with a live band and skating. From the looks of the team that evening, it all came into perspective. All those months of practices, games, hard work and traveling had paid off. The U14 Wisconsin Wild held their heads up high and made the most of what was left for them at the tourney. With a few Moms on the ice playing crack the whip (or was it crack the back?) they skated to their theme song, “WILD THING” and showed everyone that the Wisconsin Wild has a lot of FUN and most of all, the message was clear…Once you’ve tasted Nationals, you don’t want to settle for anything less!
THIS WISCONSIN WILD TEAM HAS ACHIEVED GREAT THINGS THIS YEAR. THEY SET A STANDARD FOR THEMSELVES NOW…and as we all made our way back home, we left with one thought -- WILL BE BACK AT NATIONALS!
CONGRATULATIONS U14 PLAYERS AND COACHES FOR A FANTASTIC SEASON!
Wisconsin Wild Board of Directors:
President: Joe McGann 262-814-0150
VP – On Ice Bill Pearce 262-548-8885
Sec/Treas Susan Welz 262-569-5632
Col Relations Scott Roeper 262-512-9748
Dir at Large Jeff Hawthorne 262-827-0036
Dir of Jr Wild Kelly Lorms 262-785-9287
2004 Spring Clinic & Tryouts
The following events at are The Ponds of Brookfield:
SPRING CLINIC
All players are invited to attend the Spring Clinic.
Guest Instructors Manon Rheaume and Mike McNeil will run the sessions at each level.
May 15th:May 16th:
U109:00amU109:00am
U1410:10amU1410:10am
U1911:50amU1611:50am
U161:30pmU191:30pm
U123:10pmU123:10pm
***Players being considered for a position on one of the “AAA” teams will be invited back for the May 22nd and 23rd weekend.
AAA TRYOUTS: May 22nd and 23rd
The majority of the Roster positions for our AAA level teams will be filled during the Clinic & thisTryout weekend.
The Wisconsin Wild plan to have
Tier 1/AAA teams at the following levels:
U19, U16, U14, U12
Depending on numbers we plan to have Tier II/WAHA teams at the following levels:
U19, U16, U14, U12,U10
Details and registration are on the Website at:
SUMMER ICE
Tom Lacombe, along with a number of other coaches, will conduct summer sessions for
10 consecutive Thursday’s
for all age levels from U10 thru’U19
commencing June 17
at the EBLEPARK ICE RINK
Session #1:5:00-6:00pm$100
*reserved for younger skaters
Session#2:6:15-7:45pm$150
Session# 3:8:00-9:30pm$150
Information for Registration and all other details are posted on the Website:
Summer Birthdays…
Kelsey Kazmierczak
Allie Mueller
Anna Jurken
Alysa Stemberger
Ellen Wanecke
Michelle LaCombe
Cassie Johnson
Marie-Michelle Poirier
Jennifer Roeper
Amanda Taavola
Maura Aghjian
Britney Schaeffer
Heather Rossi
Whitney Fisher
Maria Crawford
Ripley Peller
Julia Heinz
Rachel Welz
Tara Nowaczyk
Shannon Herrick
Michelle McGann
Annie Pearce
Brittani Drezdzon
Amanda Bockmann
Jennifer Wilson
Madeline Carver
Jaqueline Santulli
Karli Reifschneider
Brittany Strassman
Sue Schmitz
Heather Noble
Katrina Haka
Rilee Olewinski
Megan Mumm
Colette Nelson
Megan Welz
Kristen Saragnese
Aislinn Leonard
Emma Pesci
Angela Zevnik
Megan Gloor
McKenzie Bolton
Shelby Blake
Amy Hatch
Kelsey Hunt
Emily Collins
U10 Team News
Julie Atkielski
After the U10 State Tournament at the beginning of March things began to wind down as only two games were played. The first was against the so called Washington County U12 Team on March 13 in West Bend. This team consisted of a few girls well over the age of 12 and rather big. Never the less, our girls came out fearlessly and played a tough close game. We held their team to just 4 shots on goal and the only goal of the game was scored by the Wild’s Allie Mueller in the third period. Colette Nelson came away with the shutout in her first start as goalie.
The second game was against the Waukesha Mite C Gold at the Ponds on March 20.The visitors came out strong, scoring at just 36 seconds into the game.However, they would only be allowed 10 shots and one more goal the rest of the game.Mean while, our girls went on scoring frenzy with 3 goals in the first period, 2 in the second and 4 in the third with two of those being shorthanded for the easy 9-2 win. This was Allie Mueller’s first time as goalie and Alysa Stemberger scored another hat trick, her third of the season.
On March 28, the end of the year Parent/Child Game was held. The parents were victorious this year.Yeah! But as the girls willlearn how to skate better and pass more, future games will prove to be much harder for us parents.
The End of the Year Pizza Party was held at Pistol Pete’s in Brookfield on Tuesday, March 30. Before dinner, each girl received a hockey puck from the Ertl’s to have their fellow players and coaches sign. After pizza, Coach Mary Jurken presented each girl with a trophy as a remembrance for being on this year’s U10 Team. In addition, WAHA Awards were given out.Jamie Ertl, Alysa Stemberger and Kristina Kamer received Hat Trick Awards and Michelle Smith, Sarah Atkielski and Colette Nelson received Zero Awards. Allie Mueller and Kelsey Kazmierczak received their Hat Trick and Zero Awards respectively at the U10 State Tournament.The evening concluded with the Manager and Coaches receiving very nice appreciation gifts. Thanks to all of the players, coaches, parents and families and the Wild Organization for making this a great year of hockey.
The Wisconsin Wild Girls Hockey Association will be conducting their 4th Annual Golf Outing at WesternLakes in Pewaukee on June 25th.The U10 Team is responsible for the silent auction this year. The Silent Auction will be conducted during the dinner that night.To donate items, please contact any of the following persons on the Silent Auction Committee:
Julie Atkielski – 414-581-1222
Mary Jo Avery – 414-774-2759
Nanci Kamer – 262-679-2482
Mary Jurken – 262-821-9281
Please help support our teams! For more details and volunteer information check the website at
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Wisconsin Wild Golf Outing - 2004June 25th, 2004
WesternLakes Golf Club
Duties / Lead Volunteer / Team / Phone / E-Mail
Registration / Randy Walensa / U16B / 262.550.9309 /
Checking in Golfers at Arrival
Selling Mulligans (at Check-in Table)
Selling "Hole in One" promotion tickets at 3 par three holes
Monitoring Putting Contest
Silent Auction / Julie Atkielski / U10 / 262.542.5708 /
Hole Sponsorships / Wendy Heintz-Joehnk / U19B / 414.423.0159 /
Chairman / Al McKenzie / U16AAA
Chairman / Jeff Hawthorne / U12AAA / 262.827.0036 /
414.315.7735
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