The state of Minnesota has a lot to be proud of now that both the men’s and women’s U.S. Olympic teams have brought home gold. Between the Minnesota Wild and the Frost, they had nine gold medalists. Three of them were on the Wild, and six on the Frost, with five of those players being Minnesota natives.
Although the Frost have already won two Walter Cups, the experience those players are bringing back with them will be a great addition to the roster, and the same goes for the Wild. In this article, we’ll take a look at each Wild and Frost player who won gold, starting with the players who made a quiet impact.
Frost & Wild’s Quiet Contributors
Although these players didn’t stand out on the statsheet, they still made a difference with fewer points and more behind-the-scenes work. These players were defender Lee Stecklein and forwards Grace Zumwinkle and Kelly Pannek for the Frost, while for the Wild, it was defenseman Brock Faber. It may be hard to believe those names were on the low production list, but they helped in other ways.
They made their impact felt behind the scenes with blocked shots, poke checks, and strong defensive plays. As for their offensive contributions, Zumwinkle had one assist in seven games played, while Stecklein and Pannek had two assists in the same number of games. As for Faber, he had one goal and one assist for two points in six games played.
Again, despite their low numbers on the offensive side of things, the other aspects of their game far outweighed it. Hopefully, now that they are back with their respective professional teams, they’ll be able to get a bit of an offensive spark going and help with the push for the postseason.
Frost & Wild’s Middle of the Pack
This may be the wrong way to define these two players because their contributions were at key points in the tournament, but they were middle of the pack when it came to overall point totals. Those two players were Matt Boldy for the Wild and captain Kendall Coyne-Schofield for the Frost. They had more points than some of their teammates, but also not quite enough to make it to the top.
Coyne-Schofield had three goals for three points in seven games played, while Boldy had two goals and two assists for four points in six games. Of course, everyone likely remembers Boldy’s two goals because one was a nice wrap-around near the beginning of the tournament, and the other was the first goal of the gold medal game, where he split two of Canada’s defense and went on to beat the goaltender.
Coyne-Schofield scored in the team’s semi-final game against Sweden, and before that, her first two goals were against Italy. Both players made significant impacts on their team and fell right in the middle in terms of points.
Frost & Wild’s Best of the Best
The final players on this list can be described as the best of the best, as all three of them were at the top of the statsheet, and two of the three produced in the big gold medal game. Those two players were Taylor Heise of the Frost and Quinn Hughes of the Wild, with the third player being Britta Curl-Salemme.
Curl-Salemme led the Frost players with one goal and five assists for six points in seven games, and although she didn’t produce in the gold medal game, she did enough for the whole tournament. Her teammate Heise assisted on the game-winning goal in the gold medal game, but she also had another goal plus three assists for five points in seven games.
That leaves Hughes, who was near the top of the entire tournament in terms of points. He also had an assist in the gold medal game on his teammate Boldy’s goal. Apart from that point, he had a goal and six assists for eight points in seven games, and he led his Wild teammates in that department.
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All three of these players stepped up big for their respective teams and made it possible for them to snag the gold medal. Hopefully, they can keep up this kind of play for their professional teams and make a run for the Walter Cup and Stanley Cup as the season approaches the playoffs.
