University of Minnesota Athletics
Support From Home: Junior Forward Becky Wacker
11/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
There are those who will read the previous line and ask themselves, how can that be? The Golden Gopher’s women’s hockey team won their first ever back-to-back NCAA championship, what was there to be frustrated about? In fact Wacker played in all but four of the team’s games, why the frustration?
What many people do not know is that Wacker did indeed play in 36 games, but in most of those games she was playing through immense pain. She was suffering from a knee injury, which limited her abilities. She was able to contribute, but not to the level that she had in her freshman season when she scored 14 goals and had a plus/minus ratio of plus-33.
“It was tough because I like to play a style of hockey where I am aggressive and I like to mix it up a little bit,” stated Wacker. “It is hard to play a style like that when you are worried about a surgery pending on your knee, or your knee hurting, or having your foot turned wrong. When you have something like that in the back of your head it really takes you out of your game.”
She still managed to tally 12 points last season, with five goals and seven assists, and even set up Janelle Philipczyk’s goal in the national semifinal game against Dartmouth with a beautiful assist. However, she just was not the same player that had turned heads enough in her freshman year to be named the WCHA rookie of the week twice in 2003-04.
So why go through the torment, why play less than 100 percent? Certainly season- ending surgery was an option, and Wacker could have taken a medical redshirt. A big part of it plays in to the fact that the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four was held in Durham, N.H. last season, just a short 15 to 20 minute drive from her hometown of York, Maine. Wacker couldn’t fathom passing up the chance to play in such big games, so close to home.
“That was really important to me. My hometown has been really supportive of me all through growing up and through high school. The newspapers there write stories about me all the time there, so it was really important for me to go back,” said Wacker. “I had all my teachers, friends from high school, and the whole town drive 15 to 20 minutes to come see what I have done with all that support they have given me.”
Not only did she demonstrate to her hometown fans how far she’s come, but she also proved a lot to her teammates about dedication and commitment. She could have thrown in the towel, and gave up on the season at any point, but Wacker worked extra hard every week to prepare herself, and it paid off.
Coming from such a supportive area, it may be surprising that Wacker ended up a Golden Gopher, but she noticed that U of M women’s hockey is the crme of the crop, and no other school could offer the opportunities she’d have here.
“I really like how hockey is a big deal here, how it is the ‘state of hockey.’ We have our own rink and we get the best of everything. There is a lot of dedication to our program,” explained Wacker. “We have great fans; we have little kids that will wait half an hour in line just to get our names on a piece of paper. It’s a really special atmosphere here, not to take away from other schools, but I just didn’t see it anywhere else.”
In her third year here at the U of M, Wacker is finally getting used to the differences between the East Coast and the Midwest. With the departure of Lyndsay Wall for the U.S. National team she is the now the lone Golden Gopher who hails from the Northeast part of the country. Wacker admits however, that the change in scenery did not produce the cultural shock that many assume there is between the two different segments of the country. Besides having to meet new people, and her opinion that Minnesotans do not use their blinker properly, coming from Maine was no big deal.
“There are a lot of stereotypes and perceptions out there, and people seem to think that people from the East Coast are supposed to be rude, but that’s not my personality. Not all Midwesterners are the nicest people you’ve ever met,” commented Wacker. “It’s tough to fight through stereotypes, and all the freshmen coming in knew each other already, or knew people on the team. I showed up as the new kid in town, who nobody had ever met before, besides from recruiting visits, but that doesn’t count for much.”
Fitting in was not a problem for Wacker, she found her niche in hockey quite well her freshman year as she had six multiple-point games for the Golden Gophers in their first of two title runs. Her toughest struggle besides last year’s injury has been finding time, because Wacker is no slacker in the classroom. The mechanical engineering major spends a majority of her time on the ice, nose-deep in the books, or sleeping. She claims, without eight hours of sleep she becomes crabby, and with many Institute of Technology classes starting at 8 a.m., free time becomes pretty limited.
Regardless of whether she gets that full eight hours of sleep or not, Golden Gopher fans can expect big things from the junior forward in 2005-06. Wacker is a self- proclaimed “perfectionist” who is out to prove that she is back to her old self, in-shape and ready to be a main contributor to this year’s team.
“So far this season, I don’t think I’ve played my best yet, but I think it’s coming. I have really high expectations because everybody on the team has to step it up, because the people who left after last season have big shoes to fill, but if everybody’s feet grow a little bit then it is easy to fill those. But we all have to do it together,” stated Wacker.
Due to her driven attitude and will to succeed, there is no doubt that Wacker will return to the level of play she’s shown she is capable of. Her performance last season was warrior-like, overcoming great adversity, but with the same drive and work ethic everything is in place for her to do great things being 100 percent healthy this year.
Whether or not she reaches those lofty expectations of her own, she should know that along with the state of Maine, Golden Gopher fans are extremely proud of her as well.
Written by Dominic Ladd, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant Frustration is nobody’s favorite emotion. Frustration usually occurs when something completely out of your control happens and forces you to change what you are doing immediately, and completely alter the path you are on. For Golden Gopher junior forward Becky Wacker, the 2004-05 season was just that, a season of frustration.
There are those who will read the previous line and ask themselves, how can that be? The Golden Gopher’s women’s hockey team won their first ever back-to-back NCAA championship, what was there to be frustrated about? In fact Wacker played in all but four of the team’s games, why the frustration?
What many people do not know is that Wacker did indeed play in 36 games, but in most of those games she was playing through immense pain. She was suffering from a knee injury, which limited her abilities. She was able to contribute, but not to the level that she had in her freshman season when she scored 14 goals and had a plus/minus ratio of plus-33.
“It was tough because I like to play a style of hockey where I am aggressive and I like to mix it up a little bit,” stated Wacker. “It is hard to play a style like that when you are worried about a surgery pending on your knee, or your knee hurting, or having your foot turned wrong. When you have something like that in the back of your head it really takes you out of your game.”
She still managed to tally 12 points last season, with five goals and seven assists, and even set up Janelle Philipczyk’s goal in the national semifinal game against Dartmouth with a beautiful assist. However, she just was not the same player that had turned heads enough in her freshman year to be named the WCHA rookie of the week twice in 2003-04.
So why go through the torment, why play less than 100 percent? Certainly season- ending surgery was an option, and Wacker could have taken a medical redshirt. A big part of it plays in to the fact that the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four was held in Durham, N.H. last season, just a short 15 to 20 minute drive from her hometown of York, Maine. Wacker couldn’t fathom passing up the chance to play in such big games, so close to home.
“That was really important to me. My hometown has been really supportive of me all through growing up and through high school. The newspapers there write stories about me all the time there, so it was really important for me to go back,” said Wacker. “I had all my teachers, friends from high school, and the whole town drive 15 to 20 minutes to come see what I have done with all that support they have given me.”
Not only did she demonstrate to her hometown fans how far she’s come, but she also proved a lot to her teammates about dedication and commitment. She could have thrown in the towel, and gave up on the season at any point, but Wacker worked extra hard every week to prepare herself, and it paid off.
Coming from such a supportive area, it may be surprising that Wacker ended up a Golden Gopher, but she noticed that U of M women’s hockey is the crme of the crop, and no other school could offer the opportunities she’d have here.
“I really like how hockey is a big deal here, how it is the ‘state of hockey.’ We have our own rink and we get the best of everything. There is a lot of dedication to our program,” explained Wacker. “We have great fans; we have little kids that will wait half an hour in line just to get our names on a piece of paper. It’s a really special atmosphere here, not to take away from other schools, but I just didn’t see it anywhere else.”
In her third year here at the U of M, Wacker is finally getting used to the differences between the East Coast and the Midwest. With the departure of Lyndsay Wall for the U.S. National team she is the now the lone Golden Gopher who hails from the Northeast part of the country. Wacker admits however, that the change in scenery did not produce the cultural shock that many assume there is between the two different segments of the country. Besides having to meet new people, and her opinion that Minnesotans do not use their blinker properly, coming from Maine was no big deal.
“There are a lot of stereotypes and perceptions out there, and people seem to think that people from the East Coast are supposed to be rude, but that’s not my personality. Not all Midwesterners are the nicest people you’ve ever met,” commented Wacker. “It’s tough to fight through stereotypes, and all the freshmen coming in knew each other already, or knew people on the team. I showed up as the new kid in town, who nobody had ever met before, besides from recruiting visits, but that doesn’t count for much.”
Fitting in was not a problem for Wacker, she found her niche in hockey quite well her freshman year as she had six multiple-point games for the Golden Gophers in their first of two title runs. Her toughest struggle besides last year’s injury has been finding time, because Wacker is no slacker in the classroom. The mechanical engineering major spends a majority of her time on the ice, nose-deep in the books, or sleeping. She claims, without eight hours of sleep she becomes crabby, and with many Institute of Technology classes starting at 8 a.m., free time becomes pretty limited.
Regardless of whether she gets that full eight hours of sleep or not, Golden Gopher fans can expect big things from the junior forward in 2005-06. Wacker is a self- proclaimed “perfectionist” who is out to prove that she is back to her old self, in-shape and ready to be a main contributor to this year’s team.
“So far this season, I don’t think I’ve played my best yet, but I think it’s coming. I have really high expectations because everybody on the team has to step it up, because the people who left after last season have big shoes to fill, but if everybody’s feet grow a little bit then it is easy to fill those. But we all have to do it together,” stated Wacker.
Due to her driven attitude and will to succeed, there is no doubt that Wacker will return to the level of play she’s shown she is capable of. Her performance last season was warrior-like, overcoming great adversity, but with the same drive and work ethic everything is in place for her to do great things being 100 percent healthy this year.
Whether or not she reaches those lofty expectations of her own, she should know that along with the state of Maine, Golden Gopher fans are extremely proud of her as well.
Written by Dominic Ladd, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant
