Lundquist keeps taking her love of hockey to new heights

If ever there were someone who could write a book about their life, it would be Cloquet native Sadie Lundquist. Despite being just 27 years old, Lundquist has lived a lifetime of excitement all wrapped up in less than three decades of living.

Currently Lundquist plays on a professional women's hockey team and works for the Minnesota Wild. More on that later, but suffice it to say the former CEC team captain has a resume that must be four pages long and beyond comparison with most people her age.

Here's how it all began.

In high school Lundquist helped lead the 'Jacks to three state tournaments. In eighth grade, Lundquist and the Lumberjacks finished second in the Class AA tourney. The following season the 'Jacks finished in third place. Her senior year they were eliminated in the first round. That means three of her five high school seasons saw the star forward help lead her team to the state tournament.

Following her graduation from Cloquet in 2009, Lundquist played Division I hockey for Bemidji State, where she was a four-year starter and the team captain.

"My sophomore year we opened our brand-new arena, the Sanford Center, against No. 1-ranked Mercyhurst," recalled Lundquist this week. "I scored two goals, including the first goal at the new arena, and it was also our first win against a No. 1-ranked opponent."

Lundquist acted much like a giant killer during her high school career and college career, and that trend continued not only against Mercyhurst, but also against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers opened their brand-new rink and brought in Bemidji as their opposition. It was Lundquist who scored the lone goal of the game as the Beavers skated out of town with a 1-0 win.

Most people would love to have had those items on their "been there, done that" list, but for Lundquist, it is only the beginning. Late in her senior year at Bemidji, Lundquist picked up a job that would help start her impressive post-college run.

"I interviewed and accepted my first position with the Minnesota Wild during my final month at Bemidji State," Lundquist said. "It was a relief to know I had something lined up after graduation. I was in a seasonal sales position and working hard to get hired on full-time."

That was in June of 2013, and Lundquist has been with the Wild ever since. Eight months into her part-time tenure, Lundquist was hired full-time as a "new business development" sales representative. About a year after that, she moved on to the Wild service team, which works on retaining current clients and is currently managing around 650 season-ticket accounts.

For most people the need to compete seems to ebb a bit as we get older, but for Lundquist that drive to compete just continued to get stronger, so she had to find other things to satisfy her thrill-seeking nature.

Enter the world of Red Bull Crushed Ice. It is a wild sport where four racers skate downhill on a course with tight turns and nearly impossible uphills - all the while slamming into the other racers in a sprint to the finish line. A few years ago, the series showed up in downtown St. Paul and both Lundquist and her brother, Sever, got the bug to compete - and boy, did they ever.

"Competing in Red Bull Crushed Ice was incredible. You're never fully comfortable in that sport, always pushing yourself and boundaries on the course," Lundquist said. "I got to compete and travel with my brother, Sever, so that was incredibly special. I am forever grateful for the people I met, the places I traveled while racing. I never would have thought racing ... would bring me to France, Germany and around Canada."

She broke a leg while racing a few years ago. "So it wasn't always fun," she said.

In 2017 Lundquist finished second in the St. Paul Winter Carnival races and was also ranked in the top 10 on the Red Bull racing circuit, which includes skaters from all around the globe.

In the winter of 2017-2018 Lundquist moved on to another phase of her career: She started skating with the Minnesota Whitecaps, a professional women's hockey team based in the Twin Cities area. Established in 2004, the team is a member of the National Women's Hockey League. The Whitecaps play home games at the TRIA Rink in St. Paul, the practice rink of the Minnesota Wild.

"At the end of the day it is a group of ladies who love hockey and want to win," Lundquist said. "We have a lot of players at different stages in their lives and careers but we're all hockey players who absolutely love to compete. We all work full-time jobs and this is 'extra.' This is a great platform for ladies who want to continue playing after college. Hopefully it continues to grow and give young girls the opportunity to dream about playing professional hockey."

The Whitecaps play other professional women's teams and also play exhibition games against some of the top NCAA Division I teams. Earlier this year, Lundquist assisted on a pair of goals, including the game winner, against then No. 9-ranked UMD in a 4-3 win.

Hard to imagine that someone just 27 years old can pack all this excitement into such a short amount of time. It makes you wonder - if Lundquist ever does write a book - what other exciting things are to come in the future.

A banner day for Lundquist

Cloquet grad and Minnesota Whitecaps professional hockey player Sadie Lundquist will soon be the first woman to have a banner bearing her name hang from the rafters at the Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Lundquist will join former Cloquet players such as Clay Wilson, Corey Millen, Jamie Langenbrunner and Derek Plante. The Lumberjacks hockey team will honor her with a ceremonial puck drop and banner reveal prior to their 7:30 p.m. game Thursday, Jan. 24, against Grand Rapids/Greenway. There will be a youth autograph session between periods.