Competitive kids work all year just for the chance to play on Team Wisconsin, no matter the sport.
So you can imagine the thrill Tomahawk sophomore Nicole Nerva felt when she not only made that squad in girls hockey, but her U16 Tier 1 team set a new standard.
“Well, it was really exciting because we were the first Wisconsin girls team to make it to nationals,” Nicole said. “It was really cool. I’d never been to California before.”
The Wisconsin girls had their work cut out for them facing more cohesive teams last week in San Jose, but Nerva felt they handled themselves with aplomb.
“We wanted to do good, but we didn’t expect a lot because it was our first time there and we were going to play some good teams,” she said. “Especially because we’re a before-and-after school team. We were playing against teams that play together the whole year round.
“It was pretty cool to be able to hang with them. If you watched our games you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them and us.”
Wednesday’s tourney opener had the girls up against Shattuck St. Mary’s (Faribault, Minn.), and Shattuck won a 7-0 game. Thursday’s second contest pitted the Badgers against Assabet Valley (Mass.) and they were tipped 3-0.
“It turned out Shattuck and Assabet made the finals, so we had the two toughest teams right off the bat,” Nerva said. “That didn’t help.”
The girls then knocked off the Anaheim Ducks 1-0 on Friday, before being eliminated in a 3-2 heartbreaker with Chicago Mission. A win would have put them into the semi-finals.
Nerva saw plenty of action on defense for the Wisconsin squad.
“(Coach Kathleen Woodman) plays the people really fairly,” Nerva said. “Everybody played the same amount. We all played a lot.”
Shattuck defeated Assabet 4-3 in the finals for its second title in four years. Assabet had won nine times since 2000. Shattuck’s coach was quoted as saying he knew his team could pull it out since they had played 60 games and held 100 practices over the course of the year.
Team Wisconsin had qualified for the national event by capturing the state championship, then defeating the St. Louis Lady Blues in the recent Central District Regional.
To add even more excitement, if possible, the tourney was staged in the NHL arena of the San Jose Sharks.
Stevens Point native Joe Pavelski has starred for the team for the past seven years. That alone is a wonderful tie-in, but Nicole has more-long ago she attended Pavelski’s Absolute Hockey School camp. She has the picture to prove it.
Now, four hours after playing in her first national game, she was able to attend her first NHL game with Pavelski on the ice. She even met up with him again.
“I don’t know if he remembered me, but it was pretty cool to go to his camp and then watch him play an NHL game,” Nicole said. “It’s kind of cool that one of the guys playing at the highest level taught me things I use now.
“I watch (the NHL) on TV, but it’s really fast in person. It’s a lot faster when you’re there. You get to see how skillful they are.”
Nicole is sure to give Team Wisconsin another shot, but the task of making it has just jumped a level.
“Next year I would be on the 19’s team if I make it,” she said. “I will try. That will be really exciting. Hopefully, I do because a lot of the 16’s girls will move up to the 19’s, and if we can make it to nationals again, we won’t be as nervous, so we can do better.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to play college hockey. I don’t really know. There’s a lot of good players out there. I don’t know if I’ll play D1. Hopefully, I’ll be able to play at least D3.”