Goalie camp ‘shooter’ makes Olympic team

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet defender Anne Schelper, who was recently named to the 2014 U.S. Women’s Hockey Team that will compete in Sochi Olympics next month.

The St. Cloud, Minn., native was a member of the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team at the time when she came to Blaine to help out as a “shooter” at the Minnesota Hockey Dave Peterson Reebok High Performance Goalie Camp I was running.

Anne Schleper in Ann Arbor, Mich., after being named to 2014 U.S. Women's Olympic Hockey TEam.
Anne Schleper in Ann Arbor, Mich., after being named to 2014 U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey TEam.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that Anne was not like the typical college hockey player who helps at the camp.

She was totally into her role and had fun using the time on the ice to work on her shot while challenging the high school goalies. Anne ended up helping at several of the sessions that summer shooting hundreds of pucks.

She also did a great job of connecting and interacting with the goalies. In fact at the end of camp, she gave away her shooter’s uniform to one of the many participants who asked for it.

I’m positive that the desire and determination that Anne showed that weekend helped her along the way of achieving her goal of wearing the red, white and blue in the 2014 Olympics.

I wish Anne continued success! And won’t that be great if she scores a goal or two in the Olympic Games.