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Photo / Jana Chytilova/HHOF-IIHF Images T HEY HAD WON GOLD MEDALS and traveled the world representing the red, white and blue in hockey. However, October's USA Hockey Evaluation Camp in Blaine was unlike anything Minnesotans Taylor Heise (Lake City), Gabbie Hughes (Lino Lakes), Natalie Snodgrass (Eagan) and Madeline Wethington (Edina) had ever experienced. The group of collegians were four of 53 players attending this fall's camp, featur- ing the top women's hockey players in the country. Each previously represented USA Hockey at the U-18 level. A ll four hope to one day do the sa me w ith the senior U. S. Women's Nationa l Tea m ( US W N T ). "My ultimate goal is to make the Olympic team," said Wethington, currently a sophomore defender at the University of Minnesota. "That's my dream, ever since I was 4 years old, was to make that Olympic team and wear the USA crest at the Olympic games and to get an opportunity to win a gold medal. "That's every little girl's dream when they 're playing hockey is to get that oppor- tunity to sing the national anthem with a gold medal around their neck." Getting to this point in the dream requires years of hard work honed in Minnesota rinks. Playing with the national team requires a higher level of com- petition. Getting to the October camp itself involved needing to quarantine and passing two Covid tests before even getting on the ice. As with the rest of the world, goals and training in 2020 have been uproot- ed. Heise spent the most time away from skating she had ever done in her life. Snodgrass could not train at a normal gym while Wethington lifted and shot out- side every day with her sisters. Hughes, a junior at Minnesota Duluth, focused on Former Eastview star Natalie Snodgrass got her first taste of gold in 2016 after scoring the overtime game-winner against Canada in the IIHF U-18 Women's Worlds. b y N AT H A N W E L L S The next wave of Minnesota talent hopes to continue its international success at the highest level 21 J A N / F E B 2 0 2 1 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M GENERATION GOLD GOLD