Gustavus women's hockey team starts national championship defense with heavy hearts
ST. PETER, Minn. — It's a new season with a foreign feeling. This August, four Gustavus women's hockey players were in a car accident. One player, Jori Jones, did not survive.
Fellow sophomore Lily Mortenson was in the car.
"We were just having a good day," remembered Mortenson. "And the crash happens and it's just like our life kinda turns upside down."
They were coming home from a weekend at fifth-year captain Hailey Holland's home in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
"I'm someone that looks at everyone's location," explained Holland. "They were all coming from my house. So I was kinda just checking where everyone's at, making sure everything's OK, just like normal. And then I just realized everyone's in the same spot. And just my gut feeling was like, something is off."
That feeling has lingered into the start of school and the new hockey season. Gustavus brought in a former Gusties player who is a mental health professional to speak to the team.
"She came and addressed and talked to the team, and it was very moving and a very good first step in working together in grieving," Gustavus' head coach Mike Carroll said.
In March, the Gusties won the team's first-ever national championship, beating Amherst in triple overtime, a landmark moment that should have carried into this season.
"It has been a roller coaster, that's for sure. That's for sure. It's hard to even, like, process a lot," Holland said. "The beginning of this season for me, it was hard to get motivated to be on the ice because of the reminder and all that."
As just a freshman, Mortenson played a key role on last year's title-winning team. She injured her knee in the crash. But the loss of a teammate is what could have kept her from returning to play. She decided to stay.
"I thought coming back would be really hard without Jori being here but I think it made me realize how much I love hockey and how much my teammates love hockey," said Mortenson.
With their first game around the corner, Gustavus will see Jori's number 33 on the ice and the walls of their rink as they heal with hockey.
"I think it will feel different," said Mortenson. "It will feel the same but different. I'm always gonna think about, you know, let's win for Jori. So it's always gonna have a different motivation now for us."
