Becoming a member of the women’s national team isn’t easy, in fact it isn’t exactly a cakewalk for a young girl to make her way into a hockey program – especially if there isn’t a female team at your local rink. But it can be done, just ask Potter when the U.S. Women’s National Team skates at a rink near you for the 2006 Hilton Family Skate to 2006 Tour (http://www.usahockey.com/hilton/main_site/main/home/). If you can’t make the tour to ask her yourself, here’s the digs on how this Minnesotan learned to check the boys and earn a starting spot on her local team. 

Q1: Minnesota is a place where hockey is a lifestyle, but if you weren’t born with skates on your feet, how does a young girl find her legs if there isn’t a female program at the local rink?

JENNY POTTER: Hockey is definitely something I grew up with, but you’ve got to start somewhere and I started playing at the park and on a boy’s team. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned playing with the boys as far as checking goes. It’s harder for girls to play for boy’s teams, but if you love to play hockey and your parents support you, I think you can make anything fun. Even if it’s playing with the boys - if the only team around is a boy’s team, go for it! 

Q2: Did you have brothers that pulled you onto the ice?

JENNY POTTER: Actually I don’t have any brothers, but we lived two blocks away from an outdoor hockey rink and we would jut go down there every day and skate. My Dad played hockey with a group of guys, so I always wanted to do that. He would always say, “No, you’re too small.” Once I got big enough I started to play and I thought it was great. But I didn’t play on my first team until eighth grade because I was a swimmer and played on the boy’s football team. It was tackle and I loved it, so I guess playing hockey with the boys was an easy transition.

Q3: When the boys checked you, did you get them back on the next play?

JENNY POTTER: Not really, I think the best is probably making a move on them. When I was growing up, all the guys were like, ‘girls can’t play hockey.’ But I proved to them that girls definitely can play.

Q4: When did you realize that you really could make a career out of hockey?

JENNY POTTER: I’m not sure when it really clicked that I could make the national team, but I have all these great memories of faking out my Dad’s friends and scoring on them. For a long time, there wasn’t a national team, but as soon as it started up – I was gunning for it.

Q5: Your daughter Madison is four and a half, when did she start skating?

JENNY POTTER: She started skating when she was one. My dad actually made her a pair of skates by riveting some blades on a little pair of work boots. He even added the plastic to the sides of them to make them more stable.

Q6: Do you let her score on you?

JENNY POTTER: Oh yeah, all the time – she actually thinks she’s faster than me. But that’s okay because she really is fast, just not faster than her Mom.

Q7: Your husband is also involved in hockey, why is hockey such a family sport?

JENNY POTTER: It’s totally a family thing. We did everything as a family growing up and hockey was no exception. With hockey, there’s early morning practices and Mom or Dad usually has to take everyone with them, so instead of a brothers or sisters sitting around watching with their older sibling practices, they just end up playing.

Q8: Besides winning two Olympic medals, what have you done to help expand the presence of women’s hockey?

JENNY POTTER: I’ve spoken to a lot of community girls teams and until the 1998 Olympics, there really wasn’t a lot of girls teams out there to speak to. Until we won gold in ’98, I didn’t know the impact we had until we came home from Nagano. The impact was overwhelming, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and because of that, a lot of girls started lacing up the skates. Now there’s nothing better than going on a hockey tour and stopping at local high schools and rinks to talk to girls teams.

Q9: Do you get a lot of fan mail?

JENNY POTTER: It’s really strange because I don’t feel like someone who should get a lot of letters or email from fans, but girls send me stuff all the time and I really love answering them. They ask everything from simple stuff like when did you start playing hockey to what are the obstacles that you overcame to get to where you are. It might take some time, but I answer them all.

Q10: What motto did you live by as a young girl out on the ice?

JENNY POTTER: There are a lot of things, but my drive came from within. I’ve always believed that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I think that if you parents support you and you want to do it, then do it. There’s always adversity to overcome and you have to find an avenue. Even if that avenue is playing with the boys. Sure, they might be faster and stronger, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t play smarter than them. If you want to do it – find a way.