Liz Schepers scored the first ever Walter Cup clinching goal. She celebrated with the Cup, and also sees a wave of players from Ohio State, her alma mater ready to take on the PWHL. Here's her conversation with THN's Cee Benwell.
Liz Schepers scored the first ever Walter Cup clinching goal. She celebrated with the Cup, and also sees a wave of players from Ohio State, her alma mater ready to take on the PWHL. Here's her conversation with THN's Cee Benwell.
Liz Schepers capped off her first season in the PWHL with a Walter Cup and scored the Cup-winning goal against Boston in the fifth and final game of the series. She signed a one-year extension with her hometown team in the off-season. Cee Benwell recently had a chance to talk with Schepers about what’s in store for the second season.
Could you tell us a little bit about what you did on your day with the Cup?
I brought it home to my hometown of Mound, Minnesota. It's a small town, small community, so it's really awesome to bring it back where everything kind of started for me and share that with the community and really put an emphasis on making it accessible to the youth teams, the high school teams that I do a little bit of work with. It was a special day, a lot of family, a lot of friends around, and felt like a really long day. But at the end of it, it was done in a flash and all of a sudden, the Cup's onto the next person, but definitely special and memories that hopefully that community is going to have for a long time.
I wanted to find out about your dog Rookie. He has a great social media presence. Did he get to drink out of the Cup?
I think he was the first one out of all of us to drink out of it. He’s always the star of the show, the center of attention. So he definitely wasn't going to miss out on that. I don't think he grasped the importance of anything other than himself and his schedule right now but maybe one day he can appreciate it.
You will go down in history for scoring the first-ever Walter Cup winning goal. Can you describe that goal in the moment?
Yeah, for sure. I mean it was a great play by Syd [Sydney Brodt], I think maybe she did bobble or mishandle it a little bit but her composure and poise to stick with it when it seemed like everything else was a little bit chaotic and make a play to get it back to the net. I just knew I had to go to the front of the net and kind of be there in case anything happened and got a little bit of a nice bounce as it went off stick, shin pad, post, whatever, and found its way to the back of the net.
And I think that was a huge swing in the game, after kind of waiting for that first one to go. And then we could all take a little bit of a deep breath and settle in and we really didn't look back from that moment. So definitely one I'll remember forever.
In the regular season, you had no goals but three assists. And then in the playoffs, in ten games you had five points overall. Did you expect to be a playoff performer?
I think I want to expect that out of myself every game, regardless of where we are in the season. So definitely like a little disappointing, I guess, with production in the regular season and it was nice to feel like I broke through a little bit in the playoffs. I think I can attribute that a lot to being in big situations, all throughout my career in college and having good playoff runs and being on teams that are expected to perform. I think our whole team really kicked it up because of how we finished the regular season, went into the playoffs with a clean slate, and this is anybody's to take and we really put the pedal down there when it mattered most.
I think you also need to count on that depth production when you're in the playoffs and getting into those big games because you see so many times, the top two lines and top players really cancel each other out or do their best to kind of negate what the other team is doing. And you’ve got to rely on that depth. And a lot of us pulled through.
The Minnesota connection for you is obviously a big thing. You did go to Ohio State. Is that the only time you played hockey outside of your home state?
I was born and raised in Minnesota, played all my youth and high school hockey in the Mound Westonka organization , and that’s something I’m super proud of. Then I had the opportunity to get away from home a little bit and see what else is out there. I went to Ohio State, spent five years there, and it was the time of my life. I was really fortunate to play in the WCHA and also come home a lot to play in front of friends and family during those big games here in Minnesota.
When the time came to leave Ohio State, I was fortunate enough to play with the Whitecaps. That was really important for me to come back home. Over the five years I was in school, I spent the majority of it in Columbus, even summers and training, my life was there for five years, and you miss out on a lot when you're away from home. My family is super close and super important to me, so that was a point of emphasis. Then obviously when this league started up, I really didn't know what was going to go on with the draft. I was just really fortunate to land back here in Minnesota and make it my home still.
There were a lot of Minnesota natives selected, and the team really does have that identity. Does that make it special that there is such a strong Minnesota identity?
Yeah, it’s definitely something that we leaned into. I think with the way we started last season, that familiarity we all had with each other really helped us out of the gate. It’s super cool to come back and play with girls that, maybe you played with when you were 12 years old, and we’re just really familiar with each other. Obviously, I played a lot against these girls in college as well, with a huge WCHA presence on our team. So we have that mutual respect. We know what each other brings to the table and how we can bring the best out of each other. It’s been really cool, really special, and hopefully that will continue to be our identity.
So let's look into season two coming up. I wanted to ask you about the draft and the incoming players, are you excited to get them on board? Any specific players you were excited to see get drafted?
Yeah, it’s super exciting. I think our whole draft class is really strong and is going to fit into our team really nicely. I’m looking forward to getting to camp and seeing everybody together. Obviously, they’re all coming off of really successful college careers and national team careers. That’s only going to continue to push our group and make all of us better. So definitely counting down the days to get us all on the ice together.
As we get into the second season, do you feel there are any built-in rivalries from the first year that you're looking forward to?
With only six teams, we play each other so often, you get sick of seeing the same people over and over again, bumping shoulders with them, which can lead to some rivalries. Geographically, we don’t have these close rivals, but in the playoffs, that intensity definitely ramps up. We expect those playoff rematches to carry a little bit more heat and even that much more intense. That’s where rivalries are built.
And also, having that defending championship target on our backs, we know we're going to get everyone’s best. They’re going to be playing like the Walter Cup’s on the line, and we have to match that intensity and be sharp right out of the gate.