This is a story of a powerful, beautiful and unique lifelong friendship, which began when eight young women, actually high school girls, decided independently of one another, to attend the same college, Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Among the main reasons each chose Gustavus, three stand out. Each wanted to attend a college that: 1) Was strong academically, 2) Was a small enough school that students felt they were a part of the college community, and 3) A college with a successful women's varsity ice hockey program. Gustavus checked the "Yes" box for all three. 

Mollie Carroll, who played her high school hockey for Eagan and Allie Schwab who skated for Stillwater High, were the first of the eight attending Gustavus, beginning in September of 2008. Next came Kelsey Kennedy, also from Eagan, Meagan Wanecke from Delafield, Wisconsin, who skated for the Wisconsin Wild U19 AAA team, Tam Meuwissen from Chaska who also skated for The Minnesota Thoroughbreds U19 AAA team and Jenna Christensen, a hockey standout from Albert Lea, each freshman in 2009. The final two of the Gustavus Eight, Maddie Bergh who skated for Benilde St Margarets, and Marah Sobczak, a goaltender, from Stillwater High School, who both entered Gustavus in September 2010. 

All eight made their mark on Gustavus women's hockey, as individual players and as part of one of the most dominating runs in women's college hockey history. The facts speak for themselves: From 2008-2013, a five season frame, the Gustavus women's hockey team won 5 MIAC championships, played in 4 NCAA D3 Championship Final Fours, and compiled an overall record of 117 wins, 19 losses and 12 ties. Three of the eight were named hockey All Americans (Carroll, Kennedy and Schwab), with Schwab also being crowned as the MIAC Player of the Year in 2012, and all eight receiving MIAC and national recognition for hockey and/or their academic performances. Carroll, Kennedy, Bergh and Sobczak were named National Scholar Athletes for achieving GPAs over 3.5. In addition, Sobczak was the 2012 recipient of the Elite 89 award at the NCAA championships for the student/athlete in the Final Four with the highest GPA-3.858 (with a Major in Physics no less). Not surprisingly the Gustavus team had the highest GPA of all the Final Four teams four consecutive years.

With most college athletes, however, while the friendships last beyond graduation, the time as teammates in competitive sport comes to an end. But not for the Gustavus Eight. And this is where the sport of bandy comes into their story.

In the fall of 2011, Kelsey Kennedy's junior year, she took a class, "Organizational Behavior", taught by Professor Kathi Tunheim. A guest lecturer, Mike Dueber, who was a Gustavus grad of 1989, spoke to the class. Dueber was also a bandy player, having skated in the US league for years. He became a mentor to Kennedy and at one point asked her what she intended to do with hockey after she graduated. Kennedy responded that she would likely play senior women's hockey in the existing Women's Hockey Association of Minnesota - "WHAM". Dueber suggested that she also give bandy a try. He noted that for decades Gustavus had been supplying players to the US men's bandy league, including many players who had gone on to skate for the USA men's national team. And that is what Kennedy did.

After graduating in 2013 Kennedy contacted the captain of the USA women's team about playing bandy and in the winter of 2013-14 began her new athletic career as a bandy player. Joining her was her roommate Jenna Christensen, and together they made their international bandy debuts skating for the USA in the 2014 Bandy World Championships in Lappeenranta, Finland, competing against Russia, Sweden, Canada, Norway (a 1-1 tie) and Finland (a 3-3 tie). The two were now hooked on bandy and they had no trouble convincing their former Gustie teammates Mollie Carroll, Meagan Wanecke and  Maddie Bergh to become bandy players. All five began playing for the women's team in the US First Division, and were teammates on the US women's national team at the 2016 world championships held in Roseville, Minnesota.

The Gustie pipeline to US women's bandy, however, remained wide open. In October 2016, Allie Schwab and Marah Sobczak joined the US team, as they competed in the women's bandy world cup in Sweden. And in the fall of 2017 Tam Meuwissen, having returned from graduate school in New York, became the eighth Gustie on the US squad. 

The 2018 World Championships were played for the first time ever in China, in Chengde, a city of 3 million people three hours north of Beijing. The tournament was played on a frozen lake, in bitter cold conditions. The tournament zamboni had broken down and the ice was cleaned at halftime and between games by a group of volunteers wielding ten foot long brooms of straw. Seven of the Gustavus eight were on the team, with only Allie Schwab Johnson at home for the birth of her first child, Nora. The USA lost to Finland in a shootout which prevented them from reaching the semi finals but then defeated host team China in the fifth place game. In addition to the extraordinary experience of playing bandy in China the team spent several days after the tourney in Beijing, including visiting the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and climbing to the top of the Great Wall of China. Upon arriving home to Minnesota the US women's team then proceeded to win the men's first division playoff championship, with a 5-4 shootout victory in the semifinals and a 1-0 triumph in the championship game.

In February 2020 the USA women competed in the World Championships in Oslo, Norway with the eight Gusties in the lineup Carroll, Schwab-Johnson, Kennedy, Wanecke, Bergh, Meuwissen, Christensen and Sobczak were all still going bandy strong. In Oslo the US tied host country and eventual bronze medal winner Norway in the round robin, but against Finland hit the crossbar with less than a minute remaining, a goal that would have put them in the semifinals. They once again took fifth place, defeating Japan 5-0.

 

Throughout these years, long after their Gustavus hockey careers had ended, the Gustie Eight not only continued as teammates, but also as close friends. In the summer of 2019, when Bergh got married, and then in 2021 when Carroll, Kennedy, Wanecke and Meuwissen were married, their bandy teammates made up the majority of their bridesmaids.

In addition to bandy, most of the players have also continued to play hockey in the WHAM league, including the predominantly Gustie team named "The Nutcrackers." In 2020 a team with five of the Gustavus Eight skaters - named "Consistently Quatro" - even won the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship, which was played on a frozen Lake Nokomis in south Minneapolis.

The five Gusties on "Consistently Quatro" readily acknowledge that playing bandy on the frozen lake in China in the 2018 world championships helped prepare them for becoming pond hockey champions. "Consistently Quatro" also put on a pond hockey exhibition in front of 35,000 spectators before the NHL's Winter Classic game between the Wild and the Blues at Target Field on January 1, 2022.

The 2022 World Championships will take place in March in Stockholm, Sweden, at an indoor bandy arena. Seven of these bandy Gusties will play for the USA as they seek to reach the semifinals and win a medal. They have been training for the two years since the last world championships to achieve this goal, off ice skills training from May through October,  competing against men's teams in summer rink bandy, practicing on the big bandy ice in the winter while playing in the US First Division, and even playing 3 mixed team games with men's elite team The Sparrows. Regardless of what happens on the ice in Stockholm, the Gustie players each know that their ability to compete on a team together, both in the US bandy league and on the international stage, is priceless. They are an extraordinary group of women. Their collective friendship, forged in college skating for Gustavus, and continuing with bandy, is one for the ages.

The Gustavus Eight:

 

Kelsey Kennedy Ackmann:

Midfield, Degree in International management with minors in Religion and Spanish, Business Process Engineer for United Health Care Global Solutions, A Fulbright Scholar recipient is currently earning her MA in Global Health Planning through Johns Hopkins University, also has refereed in in Women's World Cup, the 2019 University Games and the Men's B pool World Championships, the first women to ever do so.

 

Mollie Carroll Zemaitis:

Libero(Center fullback), Degree in Public Accounting, Financial Manager for Best Buy, CPA

 

Meagan Wanecke Franke:

Forward, Degree in Business Management, Senior Brand Strategy Manager for Grammerly

 

Maddie Bergh:

Fullback, Degree in Accounting with a Minor in Studio Arts, Financial Analyst at nVent,

 

Tam Meuweissen:

Halfback, B.S and Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology, Data Consultant for Optum, is a world ranked "Crashed Ice" downhill skater

 

Allie Schwab Johnson:

Halfback. Nursing Degree, Registered Nurse at University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital in Pediatric Sedation Department, has two children-Nora age 4 and Sutton 4 months

 

Marah Sobczak:

Goalie, Degree in Physics and BS and MS in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineer

 

Jenna Christensen:

Halfback, Business Management Degree, Business Analyst for Hydrow