Nicole Schammel Signs With Minnesota Whitecaps

At least one recent Minnesota alum will be playing in North America next season.

Gophers leading scorer Nicole Schammel signed with the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) Minnesota Whitecaps, the league announced Friday.

“Being a part of the Whitecaps organization is a huge honor and I could not be more excited to join the team and the NWHL,” said Schammel in a statement. “The visibility for women’s hockey has increased over the last few years. The opportunities available for women’s hockey players have improved and I hope to see these continue to grow.”

Schammel led Minnesota last season with a career-high 47 points (16G-31A) and scored the game-winning goal against Cornell in the 2019 Frozen Four semifinals. The Red Wing, MN native spent much of 2018-19 prospering on a line with Grace Zumwinkle and Taylor Wente. Their success gave the Gophers two top lines and forced other teams to choose between stopping the Sarah Potomak-Kelly Pannek-Amy Potomak line or them.

In three seasons at Minnesota, Schammel finished with 39 goals and 91 career points. (She led Minnesota State with 22 points in 2014-15 before transferring.) This season saw the 5'5" left winger named one of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

“Nicole is coming off a great year with the Gophers, and we are excited to have her be a part of our offense this coming season,” said Whitecaps co-head coach Ronda Engelhardt. “Nicole has a way to make plays happen and be in the right place at the right time.”

Schammel was drafted in December by Buffalo but ended up signing with Minnesota instead. Doing so allows her to do something she's wanted following graduation.

"Obviously going into college, the NWHL wasn't a league yet. Just knowing that there's the opportunity to play after college is really exciting," she told the author after being drafted.

By signing with Minnesota, Schammel changes one thing from last year's team amid a number of international players boycotting.

Despite winning the Isobel Cup in its first NWHL season, the Whitecaps did not feature anyone who had just graduated college. Several, such as Minnesota alums Sydney Baldwin and Caitlin Reilly, already decided to continue their careers overseas in Europe. Being an independent team also created a backlog of players who previously played for the team.

Of Minnesota's graduating seniors, several already made their post-graduate intentions clear. Taylor Williamson and Jackie Pieper are both coaching Minnesota HS Girls teams.

Olympian Kelly Pannek, meanwhile, is one of the 200-plus players who announced plans to boycott North American league hockey next season along with 2018-19 Whitecaps Hannah Brandt, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Lee Stecklein. (Schammel, for the record, did not.) With Schammel choosing to play for the Whitecaps, only Illinois native Sophie Skarzynski remains unclear among the graduated Gopher regulars.

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Game Story: Minnesota ends first half by blowing out UMD (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- After failing to hold onto a two-goal third-period lead Friday, Minnesota wanted to be more mentally tough Saturday to close out the first half at Ridder Arena.

Mission accomplished, as the Gophers blew out Minnesota-Duluth 5-0 on Saturday.

“It definitely pissed us off a little bit. We wanted to come out with energy and finish 2017 with a win,” said freshman Taylor Wente. “We definitely wanted to win this game a lot.”

Minnesota scored five times in the first 40 minutes and closed out the game with redshirt senior goaltender Sidney Peters rebounding from Friday, stopping all 18 shots faced for her second shutout of the year.

“I thought (Peters) was solid, she was very square to the puck, making the saves she’s supposed to make,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said.

Click here to read the rest!

Gophers dress up for Halloween and balance serious prep with fun

On Tuesday, Nicole Schammel dressed up as a millennial for practice.

“It was kind of a funny costume, making fun of myself,” said Schammel, whose costume entailed being taped up with fragile stickers and a handwritten sign across her chest saying, “Millennial. I’m offended.” It got some laughs among her unoffended, millennial teammates.

They were dressed up as well. #6 Minnesota, coming off two losses to Wisconsin and being swept at home by anyone for the first time in seven years, chose to celebrate Halloween and practice all at once. The afternoon saw an entire lineup of costumed characters.

BLOG: 10 thoughts from Minnesota's weekend split against Merrimack

Sunday's faceoff between Minnesota and Merrimack (Photo: Nathan Wells)

I spent some time at Ridder Arena last weekend, covering both of Minnesota's season-opening games against Merrimack. Being there first-hand and talking with players and coaches after the games, I thought it would be appropriate to give my thoughts as a whole.

The Gophers lost Friday 4-3 before winning 4-1. If you missed Friday's game recap, click here.

Blog: Eric Schierhorn, Lee Stecklein earn player of the week awards

Minnesota players Eric Schierhorn and Lee Stecklein each were honored for their play last weekend.

Schierhorn was named the Big Ten Third Star of the Week after making 25 saves in a 4-0 shutout win Saturday against Bemidji State. The game began with the sophomore goaltender, who has four shutouts this season and seven overall, stopping three different breakaway attempts in the opening minute.

Wisconsin's Cameron Hughes and Matthew Freytag were the first and second star, respectively.

Stecklein was the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honoree for her play in Minnesota's sweep of St. Cloud State. The redshirt senior captain tied a NCAA high for points by a defender this weekend with 4 (1G-3A) in 2 games, with 3 (1G-2A) coming in Minnesota's 5-0 win Saturday. The Gophers allowed only a single goal in the pair of victories.

Two other Gophers, Nicole Schammel and Kippin Keller, were among the honorable mentions for WCHA Offensive Player of the Week and WCHA Rookie of the Week.

Minnesota Duluth's Lara Stalder was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week for the third consecutive week. Wisconsin's Alexis Mauermann earned the WCHA Rookie of the Week honor.