There’s nothing new about Minnesotan’s escaping the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’ for warmer climates this time of year, but for those Minnesotans who have earned a spot on the USA’s women’s hockey team, they didn’t expect to among those vacationing right now. But, then again, maybe they did…

“I think we were kind of in shock but for me personally I was like, here we go again, says team USA forward Hannah Brandt. “It almost didn’t feel real, but that’s always how it happens, and we’re so used to this stuff happening that it’s almost like, as shocked as we were it was also unsurprising in many ways and we were like, here we go again.”

At the end of their quarantined training camp in Portland, Maine, Team USA had just finished their final practice before they were to depart the next day for the women’s world championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when they received word – on the ice – that the event was being cancelled.

“We kind of thought it was sketchy because after a camp like that we wouldn’t normally meet on the ice and we started to wonder why all of the staff was here and we thought, maybe they wanted to take a group picture and thank our hosts for having us, something like that,” says Brandt. “Then, she (Team USA GM Katie Million) started talking and we were like, this doesn’t sound good, and then she told us and we were like… we were pretty upset, obviously.”

You cannot blame them for that. Thanks to the pandemic it has been more that 700 days since Team USA last competed in a tournament format. Last year’s world championship, like so many other events, fell victim to the pandemic. But since then, sports have been returning on all levels, including other major events put on by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHL), in Canada. So, the news that the government in Halifax had decided to cancel this event hit hard.

“It’s definitely a balance of trying not to be a victim because we get to do something that we love and we’re all very aware of that and it’s why we are successful at what we do,” says team USA forward Kelly Pannek. “But It’s OK to be frustrated because we should be, right? Because any men’s players in the situation that we’re in? They’d be pissed, and they’d be allowed to be pissed. Now, with so much coming up for us there’s only so much time to be pissed about it. So, at the end of the day you’ve got to pick everything up and figure it out and make things happen. So, it’s definitely a balance.”

Understandably upset by the announcement, about half of team USA decided to rent a house with a pool in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they golfed, swam, relaxed, and leaned on each other to get over the latest bump in the road you travel when you are a women’s hockey player.

Says Brandt, “As much as we have really supportive people behind us, our families, friends, whatever, the only people who truly understand what you’re going through is each other.” 

Adds Pannek, “It’s exhausting, both physically and mentally to have to always be ready and always be training and preparing, which is part of the reason why we wanted to take a quick trip because we don’t really do a whole lot of relaxing. I mean, we might be physically relaxing but mentally we have to be prepared for what comes next, always.”

Turns out not all the news they received on their collective vacation was bad, because after much global pushback on social media, the IIHL announced on Friday tentative dates for a rescheduled tournament to be held from August 20-31 at a site in Canada that has yet to be determined.

“The Players, the teams, Hockey Canada, and the IIHF have been placed in a difficult position due to the sudden cancellation, but this is not an excuse to operate this tournament at half-measure,” said IIHF President Rene’ Fasel in a statement. “We needed a range of dates that can work for the teams and also would allow for comprehensive broadcast coverage as well as a chance for spectators to attend the games.”

As you might expect, this came as welcome news to the vacationing ladies on Team USA, but it is news that also brings a new set of challenges concerning tryouts for the U.S Women’s Olympic Team, which at this point are still set to take place in early June, and for the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament which is set to take place in November.

“We want to play a world championship for sure but there’s a hard, fine line between a world championship and also competing to make an Olympic roster, and then for whoever’s on that roster to try to win a gold medal in less than a year”, says Pannek. “We want to be in a world championship. For some it’s a first, for some it’s a last, everyone is in a different situation and it’s an important event to have but it’s a very weird timeline now of Olympic prep vs. wrapping-up a season type of deal.”

So, while they wait to hear where the delayed world championship will be held, and how they will have to deal with the new hurdles that come with an Olympic timeline that is still very much in-flux, they’ll do more than return to their “real world” jobs when they return to Minnesota, they’ll get back to work on the ice, too.

“Obviously it’s a frustrating time but we’re always keeping our heads up and we’re always training for the next event,” says Brandt. “You definitely get tired and some days are harder than others, but that’s why it really helps to have teammates that you can lean on.”