USA Women's Hockey

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.