Winter Classic profile: Edina, Proctor/Hermantown H.S. girls teams

The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 will not just be an outdoor game between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, it will also be a celebration of the "State of Hockey." Part of that celebration will include various hockey teams and clubs from throughout Minnesota skating on one of several auxiliary rinks at Target Field. NHL.com is profiling each of the teams. Today, the girls teams from Edina and Proctor/Hermantown high schools.

Sami Reber has experienced the growth of girls hockey in Minnesota as a player and a coach at Edina High School.
Therefore, Reber can appreciate as much as anyone the significance of the girls high school game being highlighted as part of the celebration of the sport at the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS).

"When people think of the 'State of Hockey,' I think girls hockey is absolutely a part of that now," Reber said. "It started to become it when I was in high school, but not near to what it is today. … Everyone knows about Minnesota hockey and they know that both the girls' and boys' programs in Minnesota are very skilled and talented."
So, it's fitting Reber's Edina team, which has won the Minnesota Class AA state championship four of the past five seasons, and the reigning Class A champions from Proctor/Hermantown will represent girls high school hockey among the 12 hockey programs that will be featured on the eight auxiliary rinks surrounding the game rink at Target Field.

Reber will be on the ice with Edina's four senior captains: Jane Kuehl, Berit Lindborg, Vivian Jungels, and Haley Maxwell. Proctor/Hermantown coach Emma Stauber will be joined by four graduates from the 2020-21 team that went 21-0-0 on the way to winning the program's first state championship: captains Ella Anick and Alyssa Watkins and assistant captains Macy Sieger and Aurora Opsahl.
"This is so cool for our program," Stauber said. "We're just trying to continue to gain respect and get that recognition not only for our program itself but for female hockey. These are just ways the NHL is willing to recognize us and give us a chance to be recognized."
Stauber was a defenseman at Proctor/Hermantown, an amalgamation of players from the Proctor and Hermantown high schools that also included Duluth Marshall until 2011, and helped it win its first Section 7A championship in 2010 before graduating in 2011. She went on to the University of the Minnesota-Duluth and a professional career with HV71 in Sweden and now the Minnesota Whitecaps in the Premier Hockey Federation

Growing up in a hockey family that includes her uncle Robb Stauber, a retired NHL goalie, Stauber played mostly against boys until she reached high school. But more opportunities for young female players emerged as she got older with the Duluth Icebreakers Girls Hockey Association and the Proctor/Hermantown Junior Mirage.
"It's been tremendous to see the growth, and a lot of that I think comes from the girls who have paved the way and been great examples and from breaking barriers down," said Stauber, who returned to coach Proctor/Hermantown in 2019. "My team that I play for, the Whitecaps, all of us are involved in the community and we're giving back and we're trying to continue to get that spark for other little girls to join hockey."

Reber, who played at Harvard after graduating high school in 2011, returned to coach Edina in 2016 and guided the Hornets to state championships in her first three seasons. A 22-0-0 record and another state championship last season further enhanced Edina's reputation and it was selected to participate in the 2022 Hockey Day Minnesota, an event started by the Wild in 2007.
Edina will play Andover in an outdoor game at Minnesota State University in Mankato on Jan. 22 that will be televised on Bally Sports North.
"For us to be a part of it is one thing, but they don't just throw girls teams in there to throw them in there," Reber said. "They want to make sure that they give us everything that we possibly need to succeed so that people are excited when they see girls hockey on TV on Hockey Day. So, I think it's awesome. It's such a privilege to be part of."