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From California to Wisconsin:
Two Cal Selects to play for reigning NCAA champion Badgers women’s ice hockey team

Posted Dec. 23, 2006
The quality of women’s hockey in California received a boost when the defending NCAA champion University of Wisconsin Badgers reached out to the Golden State to include a pair of West Coast natives among its five early signings for the 2007-08 season.

Both are familiar names to anyone who has followed the fortunes of the Cal Select team based in Huntington Beach: forward Kelly Nash and defender Olivia Jakiel.

Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson, a member of the 1980 U.S. “Miracle on Ice” Olympic team, said he was particularly excited about the five early signings. Besides the two Californians, the group also includes as two players from Minnesota —defenseman Anne Dronen and Malee Windmeier — and one Canadian (forward Mallory Deluce).

“This class is a very skilled group and from a speed standpoint, it’s one of the quickest classes we’ve ever recruited,” Johnson said. “The big hole that we needed to fill from the senior class was three defensemen that have played the blue line for four years. That was our number one priority — to try to find kids that we thought were capable not only of being good players, but of being able to play right away.
“We’re excited about the five players that we were able to sign and hopefully they’ll continue to improve and make strides, so when they come in next September that they’re ready to go because we are going to need them.”

The Badgers, who defeated border rival Minnesota, 3-0, for last year’s NCAA women’s ice hockey title, had a record of 16-1-3 (12-1-3 in WCHA play) to close out the 2006 portion of their 2006-07 schedule. Wisconsin entered the holiday break ranked third among Division I women’s collegiate programs behind Mercyhurst (16-1-1) and New Hampshire (14-2-3).

In winning last year’s NCAA Division I title, the Badgers finished 36-4-1, setting records for most wins (36), fewest losses (four), winning percentage (.890) and most games played (41).

The two California recruits sport impressive credentials.

Jakiel, a 5-10 defenseman from Santa Clarita, has taken part in National Development Campos at both the under-14 and under-16 levels. She won a USA national championship at the under-12 level in 2001 and finished second the following season. Her brother, Steve, is a freshman goaltender for the University of Michigan.

Johnson said Jakiel’s height should be asset in the women’s game. “Olivia is a tall left-handed defenseman with a real nice slap shot,” the Wisconsin coach said. “As her strength continues to develop and she continues to be exposed to hockey, she’s going to be good.”

Nash, a 5-foot-6 forward from Bonita, has played with the Cal Selects since 2003, earning honors as the team’s Forward of the Year in 2003, 2005 and 2006. She keyed the Cal Selects in point-scoring en route to the Huntington Beach team’s first-place finish at the 2005 USA Hockey girls under-16 national championship tournament. Nash led all players in scoring at the same tournament the following year as the Cal Selects finished second.

She has been selected from the Pacific District to attend four consecutive USA Hockey Select Camps. The 2003 camp was held in Rochester; the 2004, 2005 and 2006 camps were held in Lake Placid — a hallowed place for hockey in the United States.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given her West Coast upbringing, Nash began her career by playing roller hockey. She currently plays on her high school team, the Bonita Vista Barons, and owns the distinction of finishing second in league scoring as a sophomore — a feat that helped earn her recognition as the school’s Best Athlete of the Year.

She is also a three-year letter-winner in girls lacrosse and played basketball during her hiatus from roller hockey as a junior.

Johnson recognized Nash’s ability and leadership qualities. “Kelly is very skilled in the sense that she’s got an excellent set of hands,” Johnson said. “She was very good last year in the select camp and I think she’s going to come in here and do a lot of the same things that she did with her team out in California because she understands how to play the game.”

Both Nash and Jakiel toured Wisconsin on the same recruiting trip.

“As a California girl growing up 20 minutes away from the beach, playing college ice hockey seemed far fetched,” Nash wrote in her Wisconsin biography questionnaire. “My older brother (Brent) introduced me to roller hockey at age 7, and from that moment, I was hooked. Wisconsin was one of a few schools that dedicated time to conduct hockey clinics in California. When it came down to making the final choice, Wisconsin was the one school I didn’t find anything I didn’t like. I immediately liked the coaching staff; I loved the hockey program and their great reputation; I was impressed with the university academic standing; and, lastly, Wisconsin is one of the closest universities to California with a great women’s ice hockey program.”

Nash was also impressed by the size of the Badgers’ championship rings.

“I’d like to won the NCAA championship,” Nash said. “They have these huge rings. I want one of those.”

Nash currently commutes twice each week to practices in Huntington Beach from suburban San Diego and plays in games for the Cal Selects on Sunday.

She said she is excited about having another Cal Selects team member going to Wisconsin.

“We’re going to room together,” Nash said. “I’ll have another California girl around. The whole team is great. The coaches are incredible. The athletic facilities are first-class.”

As for Johnson, who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic team with 11 points and scored two goals in the history-making victory against the Soviet Union, the Badgers appear to have found the right individual to lead their program. A Wisconsin graduate and former WCHA Rookie of the Year, Johnson owns a 111-27-10 record in four previous seasons as the head of the school’s women’s ice hockey team. He earned honors last season as both the WCHA and NCAA Division I Coach of the Year.

Johnson may also be in line to become the next U.S. women’s Olympic coach — something that could only benefit the two Californians’ chances of one day making the U.S. Olympic team roster.

The Badgers have seven seniors currently on the roster, 16 Americans and seven Canadians. Nash and Jakiel would become the lone California players — an exciting trail to blaze.