Hill-Murray goaltender Grace Zhan ready for her shot at state tournament
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — The Hill-Murray School's girls' hockey team is back at state after a three-year drought.
A huge reason they could win it all is one of the state's elite goaltenders: Grace Zhan.
"She's really good," said Hill-Murray co-head coach Johnny Pohl. "Her angles, her rebound control, her demeanor, her crease presence. She has it all."
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Zhan is from Beijing, China. It's a big place with a small hockey culture.
"My first rink was a commercial rink on the fourth floor of this mall that we had," said Zhan.
In eighth grade, Zhan and her mom packed up and moved halfway around the world. Choosing a destination was simple.
"This is where girls' hockey and women's hockey is the biggest in the entire world," said Zhan, who will play for Dartmouth next year. "It's such a pleasure to like meet these people and then just like experience something I've never experienced before, because before moving here I played with boys my entire life."
Zhan had always planned to move to the United States for college. She studied English since she was a toddler. But this was a shock for sure.
"First of all, there's a lot less people (laughs)!" said Zhan, remembering the culture shock she experienced. "There's a lot less people, there's a lot less cars. There's no traffic, which is awesome."
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Because of the pandemic in 2020, Zhan's dad had not been able to visit since she moved, until last week. He witnessed a close section final where Hill-Murray was losing to start, but came back to win and clinch their spot in the state tournament.
"At the Stillwater game we were down I think 0-1 in like the first for like quite a while, and then I looked at him, he gave me a thumbs up, and then it's such like a warm feeling for me because I grew up kind of like having him by my side," said Zhan.
A well-timed reunion for a much-anticipated state tournament.