St. Peter, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus senior women’s hockey player Lindsey Hjelm (North Oaks, Minn.) looked so comfortable at the blue line last season that at times it was easy to forget that she played forward during her first two seasons in a Gustavus sweater. Hjelm put her versatility on display once again this January when Head Coach Mike Carroll moved his senior captain back to a spot in the forward lines. The move paid off for both Hjelm and the team, as the Gusties went 6-0 in January to maintain their No. 2 ranking and remain one of only two teams in NCAA Division III women’s hockey left unbeaten. For her efforts, Lindsey Hjelm has been named the January Female Student-Athlete of the Month.
After playing defense through the opening portion of the season, Hjelm joined sophomore Carolyn Draayer (Deephaven, Minn.) and first-year Allison Eder-Zdechlik (Stillwater, Minn.) on the top forward line in the club’s opening game of 2013 against UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 11. The line was responsible for four points in the series-opener against the Pointers, as Hjelm scored a goal and added an assist in her encore as a center.
The North Oaks, Minn. native went on to tally a total of nine points on four goals and five assists in Gustavus’ six games over January. She scored in all but one contest, finishing the month on a three-game point-streak. In the final game of the month on Jan. 26 at home against Concordia, Hjelm scored her first career hat trick and added an assist for a season-best four-point performance. She was later named the MIAC Women’s Hockey Athlete-of-the-Week after registering five points over the weekend against the Cobbers, taking home the honor for the first time in her career.
The Hjem, Draayer, Eder-Zdechlik line accounted for a total of 19 points in January, as Gustavus swept two second place teams in St. Catherine and Concordia over back-to-back weekends to finish off the month.
Lindsey Hjelm is currently the team’s leading scorer with 17 points off of eight goals and nine assists. The Gustavus women’s hockey team enters the final month of the regular season with a record of 18-0-0 overall and 12-0-0 in the MIAC. The Gusties will trek to Superior, Wis. on Tuesday, Feb. 5 for a 7:00 p.m. game against UW-Superior before heading back in to MIAC play this weekend for a home/away series against Saint Mary’s.