Meet the Newcomers: Olivia King

MINNEAPOLIS – Freshman Olivia King joins the Gophers as a goaltender from Garrison, Minn., and Brainerd High School. A stellar performance at the 2019 Minnesota Class AA State Tournament opened doors for King, and she knew she could not pass up the opportunity to play for the Maroon & Gold.

Gopher Sports: How did you first get into hockey and choose to play goalie?

Olivia King: My dad played high school hockey. He also played football in college, but hockey was always something he loved to do and he wanted to coach. He coached my brothers and I when we were young, and we had a rink at home that my dad would do every year. We were out there every day, so it was a huge part of my life. Once I was about 12 years old, I decided I wanted to play goalie and do my own thing. It was so different, and it gave me my own thing. I loved that I could be my own person and put my own personality into it by being super aggressive. I would watch college and NHL goalies, and I thought they were so cool.

GS: What's your earliest hockey memory?

OK: I think my earliest memory is probably when I was in 10-U, when I scored my first goal ever. I was not a very good shooter, and I had a breakaway. I totally biffed it and fell, and then I scored from my knees. I smashed into the back of the boards, and I remember lying there and having all my teammates jump on me, even though it was just a 10-U game that didn't matter.

GS: Is there a hockey player you admired or looked up?

OK: When I was younger, I loved Noora Raty. She was just amazing and awesome to watch.

GS: What was your high school hockey experience like?

OK: I started playing high school hockey when I was an eighth grader. I had been playing with the older girls, and we all moved up at the same time so that part wasn't intimidating because I knew them. For my first high school game though, I remember I was still so nervous. It was an away game, and I was shaking in net. As I got older, I grew more confident. Overall, it was an amazing experience. My coaches were so awesome. They helped me through a lot both in hockey and in life. They definitely helped me grow up. The person I was in eighth grade is definitely not the person I am now, and they helped with that.

GS: What was it like ending your career by playing in the state championship game?

OK: Obviously, it was very nice to end up there, but it was weird because Brainerd is such a small town. We weren't expecting anything like that. It was nice for the older players to finally get there and do something with it. We worked our hardest, and we can honestly say that we left it all out there. I don't want to focus on the bad parts of it. It was an awesome experience; it was an awesome week. I'm just grateful to have had that experience be the last week I got to spend with my teammates. It was the perfect way to end my high school career. It was amazing. We won the first game and the second game, and we wanted to win and be competitive [in the championship game], but we were just so excited and happy – that's the way you want to remember it.

GS: When did you realize that playing Division I hockey was a possibility for you?

OK: I think it was after the first state tournament game. My high school coaches said, "Here it is. This is your chance. When you're in the winning bracket, more people come to watch. This is your chance. If this is what you want to do, you can do it. You think it's too late, but it's not." It was funny because once I got to be a junior, I knew it could happen but I thought most likely it wouldn't, so I never really worried about it. It was better for me. I would just play, and I knew I was playing the same way regardless of who was watching me. I think that helped me the most. When I was younger, I was more nervous about that sort of thing. It was good for me to move away from that. After my coaches said that to me during the state tournament, I still just wanted to win the tournament. That was what I was focused on, my team and my last weekend with those girls.

GS: How did it come together for you to come to the University of Minnesota and play for the Gophers?

OK: I got a phone call and we set up a visit after the state tournament. I had no idea that the coaching staff would be interested in me. It was a dream come true. Going into my senior year, I had just kind-of accepted that I was going to be done playing hockey after high school. People commit so young, especially in girls hockey. That's just the way it is, and I was fine with it. I had accepted it and knew I would be happy either way. I definitely wanted to compete and keep playing hockey, but if that wasn't my path, I had accepted it. Then once they contacted me, I didn't know what to say. When I came on my visit here, I knew I just couldn't pass this up.

GS: Did you play any other sports growing up?

OK: I played soccer and lacrosse. I actually just joined lacrosse this year, so it was a new experience. It was definitely a lot of fun, but it was different. In Brainerd, it's pretty new. It's only the second year as a high school sport. All of the soccer girls played lacrosse, and some of the hockey girls too, so they convinced me to try it. I played soccer since middle school though. It was something fun. Most of the hockey girls played soccer, too, so it was almost the same team, which made it a fun way to spend more time with them. It was a nice way to get focused at the end of the summer, having soccer to look forward to. I didn't know how much I would miss it; it was always my second thing. I definitely wanted to be good and be part of the team, but hockey always came first. When soccer ended, I realized I would miss it a lot.

GS: What's your family like?

OK: I have two brothers. My older brother is in the Navy. He's at basic training now. My other brother is 12 years old. I'm in the middle, the only girl. My brothers both play football, and my dad is a big football guy. My dad is an assistant coach for both football and hockey in Brainerd, so if I was a boy, I'd definitely be playing football. Growing up, hockey was a big thing we always did together. My dad would build the rink at our house, and that was something nobody else had. We would play boot hockey. I remember being out there all the time on our makeshift ice rink. It's definitely made us a closer family. We spent long nights at the rink together. We live about 30 minutes from the rink, so if one person had practice, everybody was there all night. Once we got to high school, it was different, but when we were in youth hockey, we were there all of the time.

GS: What do you like to do in your free time outside of hockey and school?

OK: I like to fish. My dad is a big fisherman. We hunt. I like to do that stuff. I think it's fun – obviously if you're catching fish, it's fun. I like to swim and be out on the water. Up north especially, everybody is on the water all of the time in the summer.

GS: Do you know what you want to major in or what career field you're interested in?

OK: I have some ideas, but I'm not sure yet. I'm interested in doing something to do with law, possibly being a lawyer, but I'm still undecided.

GS: What are you most looking forward to about joining Gopher women's hockey?

OK: I'm looking forward to the culture and being a part of the team. I try to think of everything like a team, like my family is a team and everything like that. I'm really excited to meet everyone and get close to everyone; that's something that's most important to me, having people around you who care about you and you care about them. You create something that's so special, and that's huge to me.

GS: Is there anything in particular that stood out to you about the team or the coaches on your visit that solidified your decision to come to the University of Minnesota?

OK: On my visit, we walked into the locker room and we were talking a little bit. I didn't know anybody yet, but Kelly Pannek was in there. She walked us around. She was so funny and so honest. We looked at everything, and the school is amazing, obviously. Kelly said that she spent the last five years of her life at the University of Minnesota, and it's just the best place. Everyone I have talked to has said that. It's the best four years of your life, everyone who has graduated from here who played women's hockey, everyone says it's just awesome. I felt like, how could I not want to do this? There's not one person who has said anything bad about the program, and that means something. That's huge.

GS: What's one part of your game that you're confident in and one part of your game you want to work on more?

OK: I think one part that I'm really confident in is my ability to stay in the game with everything going on. I can focus really well, be aggressive, and play the puck. It's my favorite thing. One thing I can work on is keeping my hands in the play. Sometimes, they get lost.

Faceoff with Olivia King
Favorite pizza topping: Black olives
Favorite season: Summer
Favorite hobby: Swimming
Favorite Netflix series: Riverdale
Favorite musician: Shawn Mendes
Favorite animal: Bulldogs
Describe yourself in one word: Weird
Hockey players should always _________: Shower
Favorite athlete: Noora Raty
Biggest pet peeve: When people don't close their mouth when they are eating
Name one food you could never give up: Fettuccine alfredo
Favorite holiday: Christmas
If you could play another sport in college, it would be: Soccer
Dream job: Singer
Night person or morning person: Night person
Favorite workout: Ab workouts
Favorite sport to watch other than hockey: Football
Dream vacation: Australia
Biggest fear: Ants

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Players Mentioned

Olivia King

Kelly Pannek