Ivana Wey scored two "Michigan" goals this year. The rising Swiss star says being creative on the ice is just being herself.
Ivana Wey scored two "Michigan" goals this year. The rising Swiss star says being creative on the ice is just being herself.
Some players will never score a "Michigan" goal in their career. It's a highly skilled move to complete in practice, let alone a game. Switzerland's Ivana Wey has done it twice...this season.
Playing in Switzerland with EV Zug, Wey scored 31 goals and 79 points in 15 games. The 18-year-old helped her club earn promotion to Switzerland's top league alongside fellow national team members Lara Stalder, Noemi Rhyner, Annic Buchi, and fellow teen star Naemi Herzig.
It's amazing, it's great to play in front of such crowds, and with these players, against these players, it's great," Wey told The Hockey News of making her senior national team debut at the World Championships.
The 18-year-old has also represented Switzerland at the U-18 World Championships the past two years. While she earned more ice time from Switzerland at this tournament, it wasn't at the expense of the creativity and fun aspects of her game that have become a calling card for Wey.
"I'm a creative player, I like to try a lot, I also try to get new skills and use them also in the games, but first in practice," she explained of her willingness to attempt moves on the ice others would not.
"I just like to play and be myself," she said.
For an offensively starved nation that has relied almost exclusively on Lara Stalder and Alina Muller for years, the development of Wey not only into a national team regular, but as a player who remains creative and dynamic on the ice, is crucial for the Swiss. Luckily for Switzerland, the most exciting aspects of Wey's game is just the talented forward being herself.