skip navigation

Current Section

Alex Rigsby Earning Her Stars and Stripes for Team USA

09/23/2014, 4:30pm MDT
By Justin A. Rice - Special to USAHockey.com

Even though Alex Rigsby exhausted her eligibility at the University of Wisconsin last spring, she still showcased her Badger-painted goalie helmet when the U.S. National Women’s Team defeated Canada in three straight games during an Under-22 series last month in Calgary.

“Well, I don’t have another helmet, so I don’t know what else I’m supposed to wear,” Rigsby said during a recent telephone interview. “I’m just lucky my pads are red and white, so at least they match the uniform.

“Team Canada, they give their goalies generic helmets and the older girls [on Team USA] get their helmets painted. I’m not at that point yet.”

But Rigsby — who just missed making the national team that went on to become the Olympic team that took home the silver medal last February in Sochi, Russia — knows exactly what it will take to get to that point.

“It’s just a lot of dedication from here on out,” said the first goaltender in history to have played for the U.S. at the U18, U22 and national team level. “I’m training pretty much all on my own now. I don’t have someone to tell me what to do. It’s a matter of getting myself in the weight room and on the ice. It’s just me working hard and continuing to improve and being as sharp as I can be.”

A first-team All-American, Rigsby captained Wisconsin to its seventh Frozen Four last year, where the Badgers ultimately lost to the University of Minnesota. Rigsby also set a program record for career wins with 100, the second most in NCAA history. The Delafield, Wis. native was third in the country in goals-against average (1.32) and tied for the top save percentage (.945) in the nation before being named Wisconsin’s Female Athlete of the Year.

Even though the ultimate prize, a national championship, eluded the Badgers last year, Rigsby said returning to the team after being cut from the Olympic squad was crucial for her.

“Just to come back to a team that cares so much about each other, it was just really nice to play with them again,” she said.

Rigsby said she was “humbled” to be named captain by her Wisconsin teammates, despite the fact that goaltenders are rarely named captain.

“This past year I took on a different role, I had a team leadership role,” she said. “Just kind of growing in that way, being one of the older girls on the team, I feel like I gained a lot of experience I otherwise wouldn’t have dealt with if I was on the [national] team. I kind of gained more confidence saying stuff in the locker room. It was just different in that regard.”

Rigsby is undergoing another different experience now that she’s back on campus as a student, and not a student-athlete, expecting to graduate this spring with a degree in life science communications and entrepreneurship. She’s also working toward a certificate in visual studies.

Aside from taking classes and trying to coordinate training schedules with roommate and Team USA teammate Brianna Decker whenever possible, Rigsby also has an internship in the marketing department of the university’s athletics department. She’s been assigned to do promotions and events for the women’s basketball team as well as the football, soccer and volleyball teams.

“It’s awesome. You just see a completely different side of things that as an athlete you don’t really know is going on,” she said. “For games, you have to be there a couple hours early just as you do as an athlete, but you don’t get as physically exhausted.

“It’s cool to see what goes into trying to get fans to the games and that little stuff that goes on. It’s cool.”

Other than a potential gig as a practice goalie for a new United States Hockey League junior men’s team in Madison, Rigsby knows she isn’t going to get much game experience this fall. But she’s not worried about losing her edge and said giving her body a break from training six days a week could prove helpful in the long run.

Nevertheless, she’s still working out four times a week in the weight room and skating four times a week on her own. And while she misses the structure provided by a team atmosphere, she also knows motivating herself will only be one more skill needed to help reach her goal of making the Four Nation’s Cup squad in November and ultimately the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team.

“If I do make the Four Nations Cup team, I do hope I get more experience,” she said. “I only played in one [national team] game [last year], and I hope I can earn more of an opportunity to kind of prove myself there. It’s something I’ve wanted to do and been dreaming of for so long now.

“Hopefully it can turn into a reality.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Recent News

|

Most Popular Articles

Team USA Women Win World Championship

04/04/2015, 10:15am MDT
By USAHockey.com

Wild Game Another Classic in Border Rivalry

U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team Rolls to 11-0 Victory Over Switzerland at IIHF World Women's U18 Championship

01/08/2008, 1:15pm MST
By U18 Women's World Champs

CALGARY, Alta. – A five-point effort by Ashley Cottrell (Sterling Heights, Mich.), along with a hat trick from Brooke Ammerman (River Vale, N.J.), led the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team to an 11-0 blanking of Switzerland in the second preliminary-round game for both teams at the inaugural 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's U18 Championship here tonight at the Father David Bauer Arena.

Team USA out shot the Swiss team by a 63-4 count as 11 players contributed to the scoring, including six who had three or more points on the night. The Americans (2-0-0-0) will take on Sweden (2-0-0-0) in the third and final preliminary-round game for both teams tomorrow night at 4:15 p.m. The winner will finish first in Group B.

"We were much better tonight," said Katey Stone, head coach for Team USA and also the head women's ice hockey coach at Harvard University. "We were on our toes, dictated the play and created some great opportunities. Again we got scoring from everywhere and our special teams were clicking well. I'm definitely pleased and hope that we keep ratcheting up the pace with each game."

The first U.S. goal came at the tail-end of Team USA's first power-play opportunity of the night as Ammerman shoveled the puck past goaltender Sophie Anthamatten at 3:47 of the opening frame. The Americans extended their lead to 2-0 when a rush up the right-side boards resulted in captain Sarah Erickson (LaPorte, Minn.) dumping the puck in front of the net and Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.) tapping it in behind the Swiss netminder at the 4:54 mark.

Ammerman tallied her second goal of the game at 8:31 of the first when she took advantage of a scramble in front of the Swiss net to beat Anthamatten at the left post. Team USA then scored a quick pair of tallies in the closing minutes of the frame to take a 5-0 lead. Erickson was set up by Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) in the slot, where Erickson roofed it at 18:27 during a U.S. man-advantage. The duo combined for the last goal of the period at 19:46, as Erickson carried the puck into the Swiss zone on the left side off a pass from Kessel and put one between the goalie's legs.

Team USA scored the lone second-period goal at 10:40 when a give-and-go byMadison Packer (Birmingham, Mich.) and Cottrell gave way to Cottrell's third goal of the tournament and a six-goal U.S. lead. By the end of 40 minutes of play, the United States held a 43-4 shots advantage.

The Americans put five more goals on the board in the final stanza for their second straight 11-0 victory. Ammerman completed her hat trick at 3:49 when she used a spin move in front of the net to put Alev Kelter's (Eagle River, Alaska) shot from the point through Anthamatten's legs. Corey Stearns (Falmouth, Mass.) netted her first Team USA goal at 7:21 on the power play from Packer to put the United States up 8-0.

Cottrell added to the U.S. lead at 7:54, before Stearns put home Kelley Steadman's (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) rebound while shorthanded at 11:25. Packer closed out the scoring with her fifth of the tournament at 15:44 when she knocked the puck through the five-hole from the right-side goal line.

NOTES: Ashley Cottrell was named the U.S. Player of the Game ... Alyssa Grogan(Eagan, Minn.) recorded the U.S. shutout with a total of four saves ... Team USA went 3-for-8 on the power play, while holding Switzerland 0-for-5 with the man advantage ... Seven different players had multiple-point nights, led by Cottrell (2-3--5) ... The goals scored by Kendall Coyne and Corey Stearns were their first career U.S. goals ... JoiningKatey Stone on the coaching staff as assistant coaches are Erin Whitten Hamlen, associate women’s ice hockey coach at the University of New Hampshire, and Bob Deraney, head women’s ice hockey coach at Providence College.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA

5 1 5 -- 11
SUI 0 0 0 -- 0

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Ammerman (Cottrell, Kelter), 3:47 (pp); 2, USA, Erickson (Kessel), 4:54; 3, USA, Ammerman (Decker), 8:31; 4, USA, Erickson (Kessel), 18:27 (pp); 5, USA, Erickson (Kessel, Kelter), 19:46. Penalties: SUI, Rigoli (tripping), 1:50; SUI, Stiefel (interference), 5:30; USA, Sherry (hooking), 12:45; SUI, Waidacher (slashing), 14:35; SUI, Balanche (holding), 17:47.

Second Period - Scoring: 6, USA, Cottrell (Packer), 10:40. Penalties: USA, Coyne (interference), 1:34; USA, Decker (charging), 7:56; SUI, Hochuli (tripping), 17:50.

Third Period - Scoring: 7, USA, Ammerman (Kelter), 3:49 (pp); 8, USA, Stearns (Packer, Cottrell), 7:21; 9, USA, Cottrell (Wild), 7:54; 10, USA, Stearns (Steadman), 11:25 (sh); 11, USA, Packer (Cottrell), 15:44 (4x4). Penalties: SUI, Benz (hooking), 6:58; SUI, Stiefel (kneeing), 9:19; USA, Decker (tripping), 9:35; USA, Ammerman (tripping), 13:44; SUI, Waidacher (tripping), 15:22.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA   24 19 20 63
SUI   2 2 0 4
           
Goaltenders (SH/SV)   1 2 3 Total
USA, Grogan, 60:00   2-2 2-2 0-0 4-4
SUI, Anthamatten, 60:00   24-19 19-18 20-15 63-52

Power Play:USA 3-8; SUI 0-5

Penalties: USA 5-10; SUI 8-16
Officials:Referee-Katerina Ivicicova (CZE); Linesmen-Marina Konstantinova (RUS), Kerri Rumble (CAN)

28 Players Invited to 2013 U.S. Women's National Under-18 Winter Festival

12/11/2013, 10:15pm MST
By USAHockey.com

Tag(s): Home