University of Minnesota Athletics
Five Minutes with Jackie Pieper
11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS - Gophers redshirt junior forward Jackie Pieper caught up with the voice of Gopher Women's Hockey Dan Hamann last weekend before game two against Lindenwood. Pieper reflects on her time at Merrimack College, her major in speech pathology, and her time with the Gophers so far.
Listen to Pieper's pre-game interview with Dan Hamann.
On spending an extra academic year at Merrimack College…
Jackie Pieper: It was actually a really hard year, which is surprising because there wasn't a team so we weren't traveling. Me and a couple of other girls went out there a year early, and the reason is because it was a great learning experience and growing experience for me as a player and to get my academics under my belt. I loved the coaches right away, and the small campus really drew me in so I thought that gap year would be very helpful. When we got there, we jumped in and practiced every day, Monday through Friday, we weight trained so it was really tough. Everyone thought it would be more of an easy year, but we did drills just like you would with a normal team and so I was probably in the best shape of my life that year.
On being able to keep the competitive edge while not being able to play against other teams…
JP: I think it made me more excited for the following year, and it made me want it more having that year off. I felt like I had something to prove that even though we took that year, I could still be really beneficial to the team.
On how the first year of actually playing games was…
JP: Yeah, it was one of my favorite years because it let us start our own tradition and how we wanted the program to be. We got a lot of say in what Merrimack was going to be. Honestly, we shocked a lot of teams because everyone underestimated us. We had a great team and a great group of girls, so we came out really strong. Our mentality was that if we outworked the other team then good things will happen, and that happened with a lot of games. We actually did a lot better than what most people expected.
On the first win and big win for the program…
JP: Yeah, the first game we played was against St. Cloud State and that was really cool being from Minnesota, and we had some Minnesota girls on the team. We were down two goals and then all of a sudden we came back and it was 4-2. We did lose that game, but it was the fact that we realized we could come back and play with these girls that have been there for awhile. Then the next weekend we beat UNH, which was huge for us because our head coach coached at New Hampshire. Kacey Bellamy, who was on the Olympic team, was the assistant coach at Merrimack that year and she played at New Hampshire, so that was a huge first win for the program.
On why she came to Minnesota…
JP: I had wanted to be a child life specialist and my head coach at Merrimack asked me what I was deciding on wanting to do and then she told me I would be a good speech pathologist and that I should look into that. So, I went to the career advisor and she got me an internship volunteering out there and I fell in love with it. It was what I want to do; it was much fun. You have to get your masters to be a speech pathologist ... I knew in December that it was a good chance I would be transferring, so I kept it to myself and then I decided I really need to put my future first so that led me to transferring and it put me here and I couldn't be happier.
On playing Merrimack in her first game with the Gophers…
JP: It was very interesting. I never would have thought we would be playing Merrimack. It is not a team that you would expect. I knew going in that this was the biggest game of their year and that this was their Frozen Four for them, so they were going to give it everything they had. I knew that the head coach was going to do everything she could to win. It was nice seeing the girls, but it kind of sucked losing. I mean we had 60+ shots, so the scoreboard might not have showed it, but it was still fun seeing them but it was tough.
On how she balances hockey and school…
JP: It has been an adjustment because everyone kept telling me that this major is tough and I didn't think it could be that bad, especially because not a lot of people have really heard of it. It's not a well-known major, so I was wondering how tough it could really be. There is one class that I am in this semester that weeds people out, and it is my first major class. I learned really well from Merrimack how to manage my time, and I will study a week ahead of time for an exam. I am good at managing my time, and that has really helped me. I'm hanging in there.
On her fond memory of the Minnesota Duluth game and helping with the go-ahead goal…
JP: Yeah, that and also when I passed to Sierra Smith and she scored. Those two were like my first two shifts in the games I actually played. I just remember in Duluth when the puck was going around, I just had to park myself in front of the goalie. That was just my one job, and I can do that -- and then I did. Sophie buried the rebound, and it was a great goal by her. Then with Sierra, I looked up and saw her crossing and once I saw her split the D, I knew she was going to score. Immediately, I knew she got it. That's pretty cool to be able to contribute to Sierra's first college goal and then to get us to tie Minnesota Duluth and help us get the win… that was huge for us. I am just trying to make the most out of the ice time that I get.
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