The feature is as written in December with the exception of updating stats and records. All photos are by Nathan Wells.
Sitting on the visiting bench, Gopher defender Sophie Skarzynski couldn’t help herself from being distracted each shift she saw number seven in the white and blue sweater.
Few things faze Skarzynski, who growing up captained her boys AAA team, when it comes to hockey. The Lake Forest, Illinois native won a national championship as a freshman. She spent the offseason between her sophomore and junior year preparing to play defense before quickly being moved to center and fitting in seamlessly all season. Regardless of the opponent, Skarzynski keeps the same pregame routine, making sure her socks are inside out, her right shoe is tied before her left shoe, her hair is straightened and that she has a peanut butter energy bar.
Her younger sister Greta, a Bulldogs sophomore forward.
“It was hard,” the older Skarzynski sister said. “I wanted to cheer for her but obviously couldn’t because she was on the other team. That was a little bit weird for me.”
Used to playing with one another, Ingalls Rink was home on November 30-December 1 to the first-ever matchup between the two sisters. Nearly 25 family members were in New Haven inside the belly of The Whale to support both Sophie and Greta, the two youngest of six Skarzynski siblings. That total included their parents, Peter and Caren, and two of their three brothers. (The third is currently serving in the military.)
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Such a blessing to see one of them play college hockey on the ice,” brother Jake Skarzynski said. “To see them both play has been nothing short of a miracle. To see them play each other? Once in a lifetime and something we’ll never forget.”
That the unique weekend series came together can be chalked up to more of a coincidence. Minnesota (25-4-1, 15-4-1-0 WCHA) head coach Brad Frost and Yale head coach Joakim Flygh are friends and try to schedule one another in non-conference play as much as possible. The two teams played one another during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons.
That it came during a time when both Skarzynski sisters would be overlapping their college careers, however, was a coincidence the entire family was happy to happen. Sophie said once she heard Yale (7-16-2, 6-10-2 ECAC) was on the 2018-19 schedule that both were excited.
“Growing up we didn’t know much about women’s college hockey. We thought we were going to go to the NHL,” said Sophie, who has three goals and nine assists this season. “Through my recruiting process, committing to Minnesota, and then watching her go through the recruiting process after she committed to Yale we never thought we were going to be playing one another because we play in different conferences.”
Ingalls Rink features benches on both sides of the ice, forcing Team Skarzynski to make a choice as to which sister’s bench to be behind. On Saturday they were next to Greta, who has three goals and eight assists in 25 games this season playing on Yale’s top line.
Otherwise, the group was able to keep their cheering split down the middle. They had signs that read “Sophie,” “Greta” and “Team Skarz” in big letters. One combined both Sophie’s maroon 5 and Greta’s blue 7 into “Do it for the 7an5.”
For Peter, the challenge of balancing walking the fine line led him to walk the rink’s concourse several times throughout the game.
“Exciting, exhilarating and very stressful,” he said about watching two of his children face off against one another. “(It’s stressful because) you’re cheering for one and then you’re not cheering for the other.”
Yale having the last change made it slightly easier. While Frost started Skarzynski and defensive partner Gracie Ostertag, the Bulldogs never sent out Greta’s line to face her older sister.
Despite neither getting on the score sheet against one another, both gave their fan section reason to loudly make noise Saturday and be the life of the rink. The younger Skarzynski, who led Yale in power-play goals last season, had a pair of breakaways stopped by Minnesota goaltender Alex Gulstene.
“I thought she had a great game. She’s really fast. She gave our D a run for our money there; especially in the D zone,” Sophie said. “I’m pretty proud of her. She does a great job (at Yale). She was the MVP of Yale as a freshman … I’m biased I think she’s the best player on the team.”
Sophie, once again having spent the summer preparing to play defense, is on pace to exclusively be a Gopher defender for the first time in her college career. Minnesota’s forward depth - 11 forwards ended the first half with four or more goals on a team that averages 4.4 goals per game - has been the team’s calling card during the season’s first half. Playing defense, the senior was anything but distracted, shutting down passing lanes and helped keep the Bulldogs to two goals over two games.
Still, she was able to show some of her offensive talents from the blue line. In the first period, Skarzynski stole the puck, skated through the Yale defense and had a backhand shot nearly go in for her third goal of the season.
“We’re so proud of Sophie and Greta what with their being college athletes. They’re living the life that perhaps we only live vicariously,” joked Jake, who played rugby at the University of Chicago. ”We’re able to enjoy the successes that they enjoy themselves.”
Entering the weekend on a six-game winning streak, the second-ranked Gophers were the favored team. That didn’t mean Minnesota took the Bulldogs for granted. Of Yale’s two wins this season, one was a 5-1 victory over two-time defending national champion Clarkson.
Following a 7-1 Minnesota win on Friday, Saturday’s game showed the Bulldogs keeping it competitive with another national championship contender. The Gophers needed its defense to stop Yale’s offense from tying before a late empty-net goal gave Minnesota the series sweep.
Afterward, both sisters hugged and went over to the entire Skarzynski family. There they gave it up for their fans and took photos to remember the once-in-a-lifetime occasion. The two Skarzynski sisters will go their separate ways for the rest of the season, but when they reunite Sophie will have both bragging rights and ice cream over Greta.
Why ice cream? “We just had ice cream on the table as a bet,” she said. “We’re competitive (with one another), but we really like ice cream.”
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