St. Thomas women’s hockey first-year goalie Saskia Maurer received the WCHA Rookie of the Week honor on Monday.
Maurer’s recognition, which marks the first weekly honor the women’s hockey team has received as a Division I team, comes after she stopped 39 of 41 shots faced in last Friday’s game against St. Cloud State and helped the Tommies (2-3-1) secure their second win this season; Maurer is 2-0-0 in net this year with a .957 save percentage.
An international student from Switzerland, Maurer has an impressive hockey resume. Before coming to St. Thomas Maurer played for HC Dragon Thun, a top Swiss under-20 team and was a representative on the Switzerland national hockey team at the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
“I’m glad I get to represent my country and I’m very proud of it,” Maurer said. “My goal for the team is to give my best (effort) during every game and to show the others that we are a good team and that we belong in DI.”
Assistant coach Bethany Brausen said that she is proud and impressed with Saskia, and gives coach Marty Sertich credit for recruiting Maurer’s talents for the University of St. Thomas.
“He had some international connections with different coaches and did a great job connecting with them to develop that network with and for us,” Brausen said. “She’s been a great addition to the program.”
Living well over 4,500 miles from home as a first-year student can be intimidating and stressful, and Maurer is juggling school work, practice, training in the weight room and playing DI games on top of that.
However, Maurer said that she has found her place on the team and in school with help from her teammate and fellow Swiss native Nicole Vallario, who played with Maurer on the Switzerland national team.
“She’s a really good friend, and I can talk with her about everything,” Maurer said as she chuckled. “She’s a really great support for me and that is really important to me.”
Vallario reciprocated that sentiment, admitting that while she also struggles with being homesick and missing friends and family back home, it helps to have Maurer around.
“Playing with (Maurer) makes me feel confident because we trust each other and we communicate well together on the ice, ” Vallario said.
Assistant coach Brausen said that Maurer is very competitive despite a quiet nature off the ice.
“It’s a natural challenge for any freshman to connect with people, but Saskia has found her niche,” Brausen said. “In the first couple of weeks she was a little more soft-spoken, but she has a quiet conviction about her that is so well received… It’s been fun to witness her come out of her shell and start to let her true colors show through her personality.”
Vallario is very happy for her teammate and said that Maurer is the best teammate she has played with.
“She’s the best, she puts in the hard work and she deserves this award,” Vallario said. “I am very proud of her.”
Maurer humbly said that her job as a goalie has not changed; she just hopes to keep improving as the season progresses.
“The main point for me being here is to play hockey,” Maurer laughed. “Maybe it’s a little bit different from international hockey to college hockey, but as a goalkeeper, your only job is to catch pucks.”
The Tommies play the University of Minnesota-Duluth (2-4-0) at 2 p.m. on Saturday and again on Sunday at the Saint Thomas Ice Arena.
Andrés Tejeda can be reached at teje4962@stthomas.edu.