Halli Krzyzaniak skates at Ralph Engelstad Arena last weekend. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

UND has always been known for having its long list of hockey players competing at the national level, and last week Halli Krzyzaniak was added to that list.

The Manitoba native of Neepawa, Canada was chosen to patrol the blue line for her country at the Four Nations Cup Tournament this November.

“It’s a great honor to be able to suit up and play for your country,” Krzyzaniak said about being selected to play in the tournament.

The sophomore defenseman has been familiar with international play in her young career.She competed with Canada for three years with the Women’s National Under-18 team from 2010-2013.

With Canada, Krzyzaniak helped lead the team to gold medals at the IIHF U18 World Women’s Championships in 2012 and 2013.

“I think we have a really good chance to win if we play our game,” Krzyzaniak said of Canada’s chances of capturing another gold medal at Four Nations tournament. Since the debut of the 4 Nations Cup in 1996, Canada has managed to win the gold 13 times, while also earning silver on five occasions.

In 18 years of the tournament, the gold medal game has been played between Canada and the United States 16 times.

“I’m really looking forward to when we play the U.S.,” Krzyzaniak said. “There is just such a really big rivalry between the two teams.”

Looking to win gold, Canada built a strong roster around ten players that won gold medals last winter in Sochi, Russia in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Krzyzaniak will have plenty of talented players around her when tournament rolls around next month.

“Everyone is really welcoming and do a really good job with leading by example,” Krzyzaniak said on playing with Canada’s best.

Quick start

UND Women’s hockey has been off to a fast start this year, starting off the season 5-1.  Krzyzaniak has been a big part of the team’s success, having recorded three points in six games while recording one goal and two assists.

The past weekend, UND hosted its first home series against University Minnesota Duluth. An exciting win came for UND Friday night when it defeated UMD 2-1 in overtime with a game winner off the stick of junior Sam LaShom. Becca Kohler and Halli Krzyzaniak had assists on the game winning play.

Saturday’s game didn’t go as well for UND, losing to UMD 1-0.

Next weekend No. 3 ranked North Dakota will travel to take on a No. 1 ranked Minnesota team that has one national championships the last two seasons.

Ben Novak is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].