Athlete Bios
Hockey
Jessie Vetter
Goalie helped her U.S. team clinch the world championships in 2008, 2009
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 | 4:52 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Jessie Vetter defends against Canada in a match on Dec. 12, 2009.
(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)A hockey team cannot win a tournament unless its goalie plays well, and last year no goalie in women's hockey played better than Jessie Vetter. In fact, no woman in college hockey last season played better than Vetter.
In 2008-09, Vetter was a senior at the University of Wisconsin. She played 40 games, boasting a 94.2 save percentage. She had a record 14th shutout in a 5-0 victory over Mercyhurst in the NCAA championship game. For all she did that season, Vetter was voted the Patty Kazmaier Award as the nation's top collegiate player.
"Jessie is the backbone of our team and without her, similar to our last three seasons, we wouldn't be where we are today," said Wisconsin Coach Mark Johnson, who also coaches Vetter and the United States Olympic team.
Johnson wasn't exaggerating. The Badgers won two other NCAA titles with Vetter in goal, starting with a 3-0 title-game shutout of Minnesota when she was a freshman. And Vetter was between the pipes for the United States when the Americans beat Canada for the gold medal at the IIHF World Championship in 2008 and 2009.
Vetter, from Cottage Grove, Wis., a suburb of Madison, first came to Johnson's attention not in hockey, but at a Little League baseball game. She was playing shortstop against his son's team and hit a home run. He could just as easily have seen her on a local golf course (she can drive a golf ball more than 220 yards), or soccer field (as a goalkeeper she led her high school to three state championships).
But hockey was where Vetter excelled the most. At Monona Grove High School, she guarded the nets for the boys team and was voted its most valuable player in her sophomore, junior and senior years.
She switched to the women's game at Wisconsin, where Johnson gave her the starting job as a freshman. An admirer of the New York Rangers and of the former United States goaltender Mike Richter, she says she favours a calm approach to her craft.
"I think I'm just a calm person as it is," Vetter said, and referred to Johnson. "I think that's what he saw in me. I was calm, and he knew if I got scored on, I wouldn't get rattled."
Thing is, Vetter has not been scored on very often. She will try to keep that true in Vancouver in February.
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