MINNEAPOLIS – In case you thought you were just imagining an amazing few weeks for hockey in Andover, Minn., the two most coveted titles for prep teams were followed quickly by one of the more coveted individual awards in college hockey.
A few weeks after the Andover High School girls hockey team won a state title, and a few days after the Andover High School boys equaled that accomplishment, Andover native Peyton Hemp was named national Rookie of the Year in college hockey.
Hemp had a dozen goals and 20 assists for the Gophers in 37 games as her team won the WCHA title and spent more than a month ranked atop the national polls. And while some college freshmen take some time to get used to the pace of the game, Hemp was productive for the Gophers immediately.
“The biggest thing for her this year was her consistency. She came in right away, day one, and was playing in almost every situation and it wasn’t too much for her,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “She was able to carry that on the whole year.”
Hemp, who was Ms. Hockey for Andover last season, scored a goal in her first collegiate game. She becomes the third Gopher to win the Rookie of the Year award, which is handed out by the Hockey Commissioners Association and determined by a vote of the nation’s assistant coaches. She won the WCHA’s Rookie of the Month honors three times, and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year at season’s end.
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Previous Gophers to win the national honor include Dani Cameranesi in 2014 (the first year the award was given out) and Sarah Potomak in 2016.
“Somebody asked me if Peyton reminds me of anyone and I think I said Cameranesi in the sense that they’re both really solid players at both ends of the rink and they get to those dirty areas,” Frost said.
The coach said the things she learned this season were almost as important as what Hemp did on the ice. She took just two penalties all season, scored five game-winning goals and scored on the power play and shorthanded.
