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Photo by: Bruce Kluckhohn
Five Minutes with Emily Oden
11/6/2019 9:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Sophomore Emily Oden chatted with the Voice of Gopher Women's Hockey Dan Hamann last weekend.
MINNEAPOLIS --Â Sophomore forward Emily Oden chatted with the Voice of Gopher Women's Hockey Dan Hamann last weekend. She shared her the details of her first goal of the season and her new role on the Gophers' power play unit, the importance of confidence, and more.
Dan Hamann: Welcome back to Ridder Arena and Gopher Women's Hockey. In-between periods today I have today a sophomore out of Edina, Minn., Emily Oden. She picked up her first goal of the season against Ohio State to tie the hockey game at three. First of all, Emily, it's fun to get your name on the score sheet, talk about that goal and how you were feeling.
Â
Emily Oden: In the beginning of the week, we ran some new faceoff plays in practice. When we got to the faceoff in the offensive zone, we called out one of those new plays. Abigail Boreen won the faceoff for us and sent it over to Patti Marshall, where she was really patient with it and found me on the ice. I was able to put it in the back of the net. It bounced right in.
Â
DH: It seemed to give you guys a momentum change in the game. How disappointing was it to still come out with a loss?
Â
EO: It's always hard playing Ohio on the road; they have a really great crowd and program there. It wasn't our best performance. We lacked some defensive zone coverage, but worked at it and were able to bounce back for Saturday. We are pretty confident going into this week and weekend going up against Wisconsin.
Â
DH: This year, you've been spending a lot of time on the ice, especially on the power play. Talk about your role on that unit and what it takes to become a good power-play unit player.
Â
EO: We actually just switched up the units, but it's pretty new. I'm still getting used to it, but I get to have the puck on my stick a little more, and have more responsibility with protecting it and making plays. I think being confident in your abilities and finding the open man is important. We also work on it every day in practice, so that helps too.
Â
DH: You mention confidence. It is apparent that there's been a change from your freshman year. Can you take us back to your first game and talk about your first day jitters and what it was like to have the puck touch your stick for the first time. How has your confidence grown and evolved in the last year?
Â
EO: My first game I was put with Nicole Schammel and Kelly Pannek; we tried something new in the beginning of the year in the opening, so I was super nervous. They were both fifth-year seniors, so I didn't want to mess up or make them mad. It was important for me to remember that it wasn't my first hockey game ever. I was super nervous, but this season, knowing it's not my first time gave me a huge confidence boost knowing I had experience under my belt.
Â
DH: Kelly Pannek makes me nervous. I can't imagine what it's like playing on a line with her.
Â
EO: Yeah, I was nervous. She's very personable off the ice, so she made it evident that it was going to be okay and that everyone makes mistakes, but just to go out, work hard every shift, and play the game anyways.
Â
DH: You're a business major. I've talked to quite a few players that have changed their majors. What drew you to business?
Â
EO: I'm currently in the College of Liberal Arts and am looking to transfer to the College of Education and Human Development to become a Business and Marketing Education major next year. I found that the business major was more fitting to my interests. I'm currently in a marketing and economics class, which is going well. There are a lot of opportunity and jobs in the business field, and I'm not quite sure what exactly I want to do yet, so I'm open to any opportunity.
###
Dan Hamann: Welcome back to Ridder Arena and Gopher Women's Hockey. In-between periods today I have today a sophomore out of Edina, Minn., Emily Oden. She picked up her first goal of the season against Ohio State to tie the hockey game at three. First of all, Emily, it's fun to get your name on the score sheet, talk about that goal and how you were feeling.
Â
Emily Oden: In the beginning of the week, we ran some new faceoff plays in practice. When we got to the faceoff in the offensive zone, we called out one of those new plays. Abigail Boreen won the faceoff for us and sent it over to Patti Marshall, where she was really patient with it and found me on the ice. I was able to put it in the back of the net. It bounced right in.
Â
DH: It seemed to give you guys a momentum change in the game. How disappointing was it to still come out with a loss?
Â
EO: It's always hard playing Ohio on the road; they have a really great crowd and program there. It wasn't our best performance. We lacked some defensive zone coverage, but worked at it and were able to bounce back for Saturday. We are pretty confident going into this week and weekend going up against Wisconsin.
Â
DH: This year, you've been spending a lot of time on the ice, especially on the power play. Talk about your role on that unit and what it takes to become a good power-play unit player.
Â
EO: We actually just switched up the units, but it's pretty new. I'm still getting used to it, but I get to have the puck on my stick a little more, and have more responsibility with protecting it and making plays. I think being confident in your abilities and finding the open man is important. We also work on it every day in practice, so that helps too.
Â
DH: You mention confidence. It is apparent that there's been a change from your freshman year. Can you take us back to your first game and talk about your first day jitters and what it was like to have the puck touch your stick for the first time. How has your confidence grown and evolved in the last year?
Â
EO: My first game I was put with Nicole Schammel and Kelly Pannek; we tried something new in the beginning of the year in the opening, so I was super nervous. They were both fifth-year seniors, so I didn't want to mess up or make them mad. It was important for me to remember that it wasn't my first hockey game ever. I was super nervous, but this season, knowing it's not my first time gave me a huge confidence boost knowing I had experience under my belt.
Â
DH: Kelly Pannek makes me nervous. I can't imagine what it's like playing on a line with her.
Â
EO: Yeah, I was nervous. She's very personable off the ice, so she made it evident that it was going to be okay and that everyone makes mistakes, but just to go out, work hard every shift, and play the game anyways.
Â
DH: You're a business major. I've talked to quite a few players that have changed their majors. What drew you to business?
Â
EO: I'm currently in the College of Liberal Arts and am looking to transfer to the College of Education and Human Development to become a Business and Marketing Education major next year. I found that the business major was more fitting to my interests. I'm currently in a marketing and economics class, which is going well. There are a lot of opportunity and jobs in the business field, and I'm not quite sure what exactly I want to do yet, so I'm open to any opportunity.
###
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