The United States women’s national hockey team has been in training camp in Wesley Chapel, Florida since Sept. 5. Wesley Chapel is about a 25-minute drive from Tampa. Though the Tampa Bay area was not directly hit by Hurricane Irma, as was originally feared that it would be, the region did receive a rough pounding from the storm nonetheless. There were some concerning talks regarding the safety of the players housed in the community of close to 45,000 residents. Fortunately, for everyone’s sake, the area came out okay in what otherwise could have been devastating circumstances.
There is also a growing concern for the safety of athletes competing in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea. This stems namely from the tensions currently felt between North Korea and the United States and its allies. How true any potential threat is remains to be seen, but worry is there nonetheless.
A general unrest is in the world right now. A dissension exists between growing numbers of people and oftentimes it stems from fear or hatred. At times, the world does not feel welcoming to those who inhabit it. We have become separated and divided on so many issues and throughout many walks of life.
Perhaps more than ever, people need something to feel hopeful about. In times of upheaval, sport has given the world sanctuary. We rally behind a particular athlete or a team. Our hopes ride on their hopes, and their victories seem to rejuvenate us as a community. It is a way to become one again.
Team USA goaltender Nicole Hensley will be competing in the 2018 Winter Games. She recognizes that she has a platform enabling her to make a positive difference and maybe help bring about togetherness once more. Though it is not talked about often, there are hockey players who play the game while exuding a faith in a higher power both on and off the ice. The prevailing reason behind where Hensley is today is her faith in God.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” – Romans 12:12.
With regards to her God-given abilities, Hensley is arguably the best female goaltender in the United States, at least. It is looking more and more that the 23-year-old will be the starting goaltender when the U.S. takes to the ice in PyeongChang.
Hensley played her collegiate hockey at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. The program is an NCAA Division I school and a member of College Hockey America (CHA). Hensley played in 122 games for the Lady Lions and went 30-78-12. Those numbers are highly deceiving, as her individual numbers separate from her record are quite remarkable. Her goals against across her four years was a minuscule 2.98. That would include four career shutouts, 4,094 saves and a .921 save percentage. During the first two games of her senior year – both against Wisconsin – she made 49 and 42 saves respectively.
Not surprisingly, her numbers were consistently among the top for goaltenders in the country during her collegiate career.
Even in her college years Hensley recognized the importance of spiritual belief and a relationship with God in her life. Attending church with teammates, she would garner a stronger understanding of her own faith.
After finishing the 2015-16 season at Lindenwood, Hensley was one of the three goaltenders selected to represent the United States at the 2016 Women’s World Championships in Kamloops. Tending the net alongside Alex Rigsby and Jessie Vetter, Hensley still saw her share of action. In the US’s second game of the tournament, Hensley was between the pipes against Russia and pitched a shutout. She went a perfect 16 for 16, stopping shots from elite snipers like Lyudmila Belyakova and Ekaterina Smolentseva. The United States would go on to win the gold medal, defeating Canada 1-0 in overtime of the championship game.
Hensley would have a larger role in the following year’s championship, this time in Plymouth, Michigan. Although she would not be perfect between the pipes this go-round, she would not be far from it. Hensley’s stats were the finest of any netminder in the tournament. In three games she allowed only two goals while making 56 saves. In two of the three games she pitched shutouts; one each against Canada and Germany.
Hensley would be at her finest when it counted most. In the championship game she would back stop Team USA to a fourth straight gold medal for the women’s national team. She steered aside 28 of 30 shots, including four in OT.
“Michigan was something. It was pretty nerve-wracking,” she laughed in retrospect.
Hensley finished with an astonishing 0.63 goals against average and a .964 save percentage for the tournament.
To have pitched such stellar performances in net and at the highest level possible, one would think that Hensley has ice water flowing through her veins. How else could she maintain such cool in such high pressure situations? For Hensley though, her goaltending has been as much spiritual training as it has been mental and physical conditioning.
Now Hensley will take that mindset into the most monumental show of them all – the Olympic Games. As far as goaltending is concerned, every indication is that these will be Hensley’s Olympics. Her faith has helped her keep the upcoming experience in perspective. Her mindset is strong.
When the PyeongChang Games get underway in February, there are bound to be a vast number of young girls that will be getting their first glimpse of Hensley between the pipes. Many of these youngsters will want to emulate the US’s goalie. Seeing the phenomenal saves she will make, the intricacies of her mask and her equipment, her artful acrobatics on the ice. They will find themselves a new hero. An athlete to admire.
Women’s hockey is just starting to blossom into mainstream appreciation. That is greatly evident by the expansion of two teams into China with the CWHL and with the NWHL entering into a third season. The excitement of women’s hockey in PyeongChang could easily foretell the state of the women’s professional game for years to come. When the Olympics have wrapped up, the majority of the players on the national teams will be continue their play in either the CWHL or NWHL for at least the four years following. Hensley is only 23 and has many more years of hockey to play, if she so desires. How her hockey career progresses lies in the hands of a greater power.
All of us have innate gifts. Each person on the face of this earth has a particular talent or skill, no matter who they might be. The Olympics are the finest collection of individuals with abilities in a particular skill or craft. Hensley knows and understands that her affinity for and her elite prowess as a hockey goaltender are skills unique to her. At this moment in time, she is the best woman in the United States at being a hockey goaltender. Hensley knows though that how her skills have developed and how her career has progressed are more than just being talented or having worked hard. While those ingredients are certainly necessary, it is a steadying hand that has steered her in the right direction.
Life is not easy. People are struggling more than ever to get by. Playing for a United States national team has given a Hensley and the other athletes that comprise the squad a unique view of the world. Hensley, like most astute young people, is aware of what is going on around her.
Words such as those are what the Olympics are all about. Harmony, sympathy, compassion and humility.