University of Minnesota Athletics
Junior Forward Bobbi Ross
11/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Forward Bobbi Ross is entering her junior season and enters her second season as a team captain. In her three years with the Golden Gopher women’s hockey team, Ross has established 37 goals and 44 assists for 81 points. The 2005 WCHA Rookie of the Year, Ross has also been named to the 2006 NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team. Ross, named the team’s most valuable player last year, was third on the team in scoring with 43 points and led the Gophers to a second-place finish at the national tournament. In the summer of 2006, Ross was named to the Canadian Under-22 Team and will play with Team Canada the first weekend of January. A strong player both on the ice and in the classroom, Ross is a business management major and was named a WCHA Scholar Athlete. The award is given to WCHA players who are letterwinners and maintain a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Get to know Bobbi Ross with some Q & A about school, hockey and everything in between.
Q: How did you get started in hockey?
A: When I was four I was really good friends with a cousin of mine and she had an brother, who was about six years older then us and he played hockey. So when we were really young, we’d grab all of his equipment and play in the basement. From there, we both decided that we were going to play hockey. I remember asking my mom one day if I could play hockey and she said when I was five. I think she thought that I would forget like most parents assume. I did actually forget for a while, but it was a few months later and I asked, by the way, don’t I get to play hockey this year? I liked it a lot and kept going from there.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Verwood, Sask.?
A: It’s not very large. It used to be a lot bigger a long time ago. As most of the history of my province goes, there was a lot of urbanization and lot of people moved to the bigger centers. Before this summer, there was about 15 people there and then at the end of the summer we took a pretty big blow to our population when a family of six moved away to the city life and moved to a town of 3,000. Not we are sitting at nine people. The post office is attached to my porch and there’s also a grain-cleaning business. So, the post off and the grain-cleaning business are the only businesses in the town. If you can still call it a town!
Q: Why did you choose Minnesota?
A: I took all five of my official visits that I was allowed. I would come back, sit down and write down everything. It was funny because I’d write the same thing about every school. The things that changed my mind towards Minnesota were little things like what players said or the feeling I got when I hung out with them. I had a lot of fun just meeting the team. It actually played a bigger role then I realized, but being closer to home and being in the WCHA was a major selling point for me as well. And then just the atmosphere: the campus, the coaches and the players.
Q: You are in your second year of being a captain. What have you learned from last year to bring to this year?
A: The one thing that I learned last year is that it’s not easy. I’m really glad that I had that under my belt though because it made this year a whole lot easier. The best thing about it is that I have so much support with it. With all the players, the upperclassmen and even the younger players. Just having Andrea Nichols as the other captain, it makes my job that much easier. I can follow her whenever I need someone to talk to.
Q: Do you have any individual goals this year?
A: One goal that I have every day is to try and get better. I want to do everything I possibly can to help us win and help us have another very successful season.
Q: You were named to the Canadian Under-22 Team. What does that mean to represent your country?
A: That seriously meant the world the day I made the team. The two previous years I had been invited to try out and it wasn’t the result that I wanted because I was cut both times. To be in that room at the end of the try-out camp and to hear “Congratulations you made it” was a shock. I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I worked hard, but because I couldn’t believe that it finally paid off.
Q: Your major is business management. Where do you see yourself in five years?
A:I’m not really sure. The biggest decision I have to make is if I want to try and stay in this area after I graduate or go back home. So I’m not 100 percent sure. I do know that I’d like to work with a non-profit organization. Whatever I do, I just want to help people.
Q: Do you have a signature move?
A: I don’t want to give away my secrets! I used to in high school when I had a lot more scoring opportunities. I used to have one move that I would use on breakaways every time. Our breakout on one team was to have our center just fly the whole time even when we didn’t have possession in the D zone so I would have four breakaways in the same game and I used the same thing every time. It was still work just because they probably assume I wouldn’t be that ridiculous to use the same move even after I just used it twice!
Q: What is the most embarrassing moment you’ve ever seen on the ice?
A: That’s easy even though I have done a lot of stupid things on the ice. Freshman year, the first time I was named as one of the three stars in Mankato, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I of course asked my captain and trust worthy leader, Krissy Wendell. She told me that I was supposed to book it out to the red line (center ice) and do a little spin and come back in, which of course was not true! So when I got back in and found out that they (Wendell and Natalie Darwitz) did just a tiny little circle by the door, I was really embarrassed!
Q: If didn’t play hockey, what other sport would you play?
A: I really liked volleyball. I was too short, but it was fun. I played softball as long as I played hockey so I really enjoy that. I also really liked badminton in high school and was actually competitive in it, which people find funny here because they don’t do that!
Q: What goalie would you like to go one-on-one against?
A: No goalie! I’m all about the empty net!
Q: How did you get started in hockey?
A: When I was four I was really good friends with a cousin of mine and she had an brother, who was about six years older then us and he played hockey. So when we were really young, we’d grab all of his equipment and play in the basement. From there, we both decided that we were going to play hockey. I remember asking my mom one day if I could play hockey and she said when I was five. I think she thought that I would forget like most parents assume. I did actually forget for a while, but it was a few months later and I asked, by the way, don’t I get to play hockey this year? I liked it a lot and kept going from there.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Verwood, Sask.?
A: It’s not very large. It used to be a lot bigger a long time ago. As most of the history of my province goes, there was a lot of urbanization and lot of people moved to the bigger centers. Before this summer, there was about 15 people there and then at the end of the summer we took a pretty big blow to our population when a family of six moved away to the city life and moved to a town of 3,000. Not we are sitting at nine people. The post office is attached to my porch and there’s also a grain-cleaning business. So, the post off and the grain-cleaning business are the only businesses in the town. If you can still call it a town!
Q: Why did you choose Minnesota?
A: I took all five of my official visits that I was allowed. I would come back, sit down and write down everything. It was funny because I’d write the same thing about every school. The things that changed my mind towards Minnesota were little things like what players said or the feeling I got when I hung out with them. I had a lot of fun just meeting the team. It actually played a bigger role then I realized, but being closer to home and being in the WCHA was a major selling point for me as well. And then just the atmosphere: the campus, the coaches and the players.
Q: You are in your second year of being a captain. What have you learned from last year to bring to this year?
A: The one thing that I learned last year is that it’s not easy. I’m really glad that I had that under my belt though because it made this year a whole lot easier. The best thing about it is that I have so much support with it. With all the players, the upperclassmen and even the younger players. Just having Andrea Nichols as the other captain, it makes my job that much easier. I can follow her whenever I need someone to talk to.
Q: Do you have any individual goals this year?
A: One goal that I have every day is to try and get better. I want to do everything I possibly can to help us win and help us have another very successful season.
Q: You were named to the Canadian Under-22 Team. What does that mean to represent your country?
A: That seriously meant the world the day I made the team. The two previous years I had been invited to try out and it wasn’t the result that I wanted because I was cut both times. To be in that room at the end of the try-out camp and to hear “Congratulations you made it” was a shock. I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I worked hard, but because I couldn’t believe that it finally paid off.
Q: Your major is business management. Where do you see yourself in five years?
A:I’m not really sure. The biggest decision I have to make is if I want to try and stay in this area after I graduate or go back home. So I’m not 100 percent sure. I do know that I’d like to work with a non-profit organization. Whatever I do, I just want to help people.
Q: Do you have a signature move?
A: I don’t want to give away my secrets! I used to in high school when I had a lot more scoring opportunities. I used to have one move that I would use on breakaways every time. Our breakout on one team was to have our center just fly the whole time even when we didn’t have possession in the D zone so I would have four breakaways in the same game and I used the same thing every time. It was still work just because they probably assume I wouldn’t be that ridiculous to use the same move even after I just used it twice!
Q: What is the most embarrassing moment you’ve ever seen on the ice?
A: That’s easy even though I have done a lot of stupid things on the ice. Freshman year, the first time I was named as one of the three stars in Mankato, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I of course asked my captain and trust worthy leader, Krissy Wendell. She told me that I was supposed to book it out to the red line (center ice) and do a little spin and come back in, which of course was not true! So when I got back in and found out that they (Wendell and Natalie Darwitz) did just a tiny little circle by the door, I was really embarrassed!
Q: If didn’t play hockey, what other sport would you play?
A: I really liked volleyball. I was too short, but it was fun. I played softball as long as I played hockey so I really enjoy that. I also really liked badminton in high school and was actually competitive in it, which people find funny here because they don’t do that!
Q: What goalie would you like to go one-on-one against?
A: No goalie! I’m all about the empty net!
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