University of Minnesota Athletics
Full Strength: Cameranesi Cherishes Olympic Opportunity
1/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
University of Minnesota alumna Dani Cameranesi ('16) is one of six women's hockey players with Golden Gopher ties chosen to represent Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She joins senior Kelly Pannek and fellow Gopher alumnae Hannah Brandt ('16), Amanda Kessel ('16), Gigi Marvin ('09), and Lee Stecklein ('17) in trading in Maroon and Gold for Red, White, and Blue this winter.
MINNEAPOLIS -- One year ago, Dani Cameranesi's hockey career was full of question marks. She was nursing an ankle injury that threatened to prematurely end her Gopher career.
Cameranesi's career as a Gopher would go down as one of the best, but having her vision for her senior season rocked by injury was not easy. It certainly was not how she expected to end her college career, and it presented uncertainty for her playing days beyond college.
"The injury came at a very tough time," Cameranesi said. "It was definitely one of the hardest years of my life."
One year later, Cameranesi is preparing to make her Olympic debut with Team USA.
A lot can change in a year.
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On Dec. 3, 2016, Cameranesi recorded her 200th career point with the Maroon & Gold when she assisted Kate Schipper's game-winning goal in a 2-0 upset win over top-ranked Wisconsin. However, Cameranesi did not get to celebrate the win on the ice with her teammates; she left the game early with an injury after getting tangled up with a Wisconsin player and going hard into the boards. She missed the second game of the Border Battle series the next day and was forced to watch from the stands as her team suffered one of its worst losses in program history.
Cameranesi sat out two more games, a series split on the road at Boston University, before the holiday break -- a blessing for all college players feeling fatigued or nursing injuries after a grueling first half to a long season -- and was hopeful the break would provide adequate time for her ankle to heal.
"Dani's injury was a pretty tough experience for her and for our team," Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said. "You saw our team kind-of take a step back knowing that she wasn't in the lineup."
After missing one more game, a 5-3 win over Minnesota State to open the 2017 calendar year, Cameranesi tried to come back. She saw limited shifts -- yet still recorded an assist -- in the team's series at Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 13-14, 2017, during which the Gophers were swept by the Bulldogs for the first time in over six years.
She wasn't ready. The injury wasn't healed.
She was supposed to be leading the Gophers' push for a third-straight NCAA title and climbing her way up Minnesota's all-time scoring list. Her 201st career point had already moved her into a tie for seventh among all-time Gophers. But, more importantly, she was supposed to be on the ice, playing the game she loved and having fun making memories with her Gopher teammates.
Instead, Cameranesi watched the next six weeks of games from the stands as her team finished the regular season without her.
Her college career did not end there, though. Cameranesi was able to return to the ice with her teammates wearing her No. 21 jersey for three last games in Maroon & Gold.
She returned to the line-up for the WCHA tournament semifinals and helped the Gophers battle Minnesota Duluth in a 2-1 double-overtime loss. She got to experience the thrill of seeing her team's name appear among those selected for the NCAA Tournament and went on the road for one last game at UMD's AMSOIL Arena, a rink where she had so much success during her career. She got to dance with her teammates in the locker room, play their win song, and celebrate a fourth-straight NCAA Frozen Four appearance after a 1-0 win over UMD. And, she got to battle Clarkson in the national semifinals. It wasn't a national championship senior year, but it was something.
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Despite making a comeback with the Gophers, another piece of Cameranesi's hockey career remained unfulfilled.
While injured, Cameranesi was passed over in the selection process for the U.S. Women's National Team that would compete at the IIHF Women's World Championship in April 2017. Even though she was healthy by the time the tournament came along, she was once again forced to watch a team she knew she could have played with, play without her.
After the college season ended, Cameranesi continued training. Working on her skating. Working on her strength. Regaining any edge she lost during her injury -- and then some.
"Being out and being able to watch the game helped me a lot," Cameranesi said. "I have kind-of continued that in watching video of past games to see what I can work on. I really think that my game improved because of the stuff that I have been doing off ice."
She was right.
When USA Hockey announced the 23 players selected for the U.S. Women's National Team in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games last May, Cameranesi was one of them.
"I had been out of the game and not in the USA jersey for a while," Cameranesi said. "Working hard and coming back and being able to put the Red, White, and Blue on again has been really special for me this year."
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On Dec. 3, 2017, exactly one year after her injury against the Badgers, Cameranesi skated onto the ice at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., wearing her No. 24 USA jersey. In front of a crowd of 9,098 fans, the U.S. Women's National Team took on Canada's National Women's Team in the third of six exhibition games in preparation for the Olympic Games.
"Dani worked really hard to get back to where she is now," Frost said. "To be on that national team is a credit to her -- her hard work and her ability to preserve and fight through."
As Cameranesi continues to prepare for the opportunity of a lifetime representing Team USA at the 2018 Olympic Games next month, she is not taking anything for granted.
"Just being here in general is really exciting," Cameranesi said. "Obviously it was a dream of mine, but you never know what can happen. I think honestly just being with this group of girls and wearing the USA jersey is really exciting."
Inevitably, her experience over the past year changed her.
"I think I really grew mentally in the past year. Even being here [with USA Hockey now], they focus a lot on the mental aspect of the game," Cameranesi said. "I think that part of my game has definitely improved the most."
Her teammates recognize how Cameranesi has grown as a person and a player as well.
"It's fun to play with Dani again," fellow Gopher alum Hannah Brandt said. "I feel like when she came back from her injury, she gained a lot of confidence. You can tell she is a lot stronger and nothing really phases her anymore."
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Last year, on Feb. 11, 2017, Cameranesi sat in the stands at Ridder Arena wearing street clothes. She watched her Gopher teammates face off against WCHA rival North Dakota, marking the 12th game of her senior year that she was not on the ice. Despite uncertainty, she remained patient and hopeful, holding on to her dreams of continuing her hockey career.
This year, on Feb. 11, 2018, Cameranesi will take the ice in PyeongChang, South Korea, wearing the Red, White, and Blue. She will line up with her U.S. teammates as Team USA begins preliminary round competition against Finland, and her dream of playing in the Olympic Games will come true.
A lot can change in a year, indeed.
Mandy Hansen is an assistant director of athletic communications at the University of Minnesota and a contributing writer for GopherSports.com.
