Pond was starting point for Keseley

October 26, 2009

By Dave McMahon
Special to USAHockey.com

When Angie Keseley began playing hockey on her backyard pond in St. Louis Park, Minn., she found herself in the nets.

Today, she finds herself as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, trying to secure a spot on the 2010 Olympic team roster.

The hours upon hours spent playing at what became known as the Keseley Pond on a widened swath of Minnehaha Creek in the Twin Cities started with some, well, frustration.

Angie Keseley cov

Angie Keseley is in the hunt for a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
“My brother, Jon, is a hockey player, too, so I would always be out there with him and his friends,” Keseley said. “I was younger and so I played goalie because I thought that they never wanted to pass me the puck. I wanted to get in on the action a little more.”

Keseley eventually shed the bruises that come with playing in the net in pond hockey games and worked her way into skating alongside older boys. In fact, she played boys’ hockey until eighth grade.

“The teams I played on growing up were never all that great, but we had a lot of fun, a lot of fun,” she said.

The switch to girls’ hockey didn’t stop her scoring prowess, which was undeniably honed on the pond. At St. Louis Park High School, she chalked up 289 points (187 goals, 102 assists) in 101 games. As a junior and senior, she figured in on more than 70 percent of her team’s goals.

While Jon went on to play at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., Keseley spent four years lighting the lamp at the University of Wisconsin. All she did there was become a part of three national championship teams while scoring 141 points (53 goals, 88 assists) in 163 games.

Raising championship banners and playing in Canada in front of crowds in excess of 8,000 fans have all been part of her career, at Wisconsin and in her debut with Team USA. But she still found time to get back on the pond last winter on a visit home.

“I was able to get out there a few times with some friends,” she said.

She knows kids who have dreams like she had of playing for the national team will continue be out on the family rink.

“I was in third grade when we moved into our house, and my dad [Terry] started making the rink that year,” Keseley, 22, said. “Sometimes the neighbors would come over and help, but my dad usually does the flooding. For the most part, it’s his, but everyone else helps out. Now it’s a big community-type rink.”

“I think playing on the pond definitely helped my game. When you’re out there, you’re just having fun, working on things that you wouldn’t work on in practice, trying things you don’t normally try.”

Prior to the Olympic tryout camp in Blaine, Minn., this summer, Keseley opted to stay in Madison, Wis., to prepare. She turned to activities like weightlifting and tennis to keep her fitness level high.

“I also did some sprints and other things to keep me active,” said Keseley, who picked up a pair of assists in a recent 11-1 win over the University of North Dakota on the Qwest Tour. “The main thing was to work on my coordination and have fun with whatever I was doing.”

Upon conclusion of the Olympic tryout camp, Keseley found more reason to have fun — coach Mark Johnson called her name in the alphabetical listing of the National Team roster.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Keseley said the day of the announcement. “It’s kind of unexpected and it’s been so exciting. I think the success we’ve had at Wisconsin and with my two linemates — I played with Erika Lawler for four years and Hilary Knight for two — I think playing with them makes me better every day. Practicing with them, I think that helped to get me where I am right now.”

“I was really surprised that I made it. Obviously there were 41 players here, and it could have been any of them. So I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m fortunate that I’m here.”

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.