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Fit for a Warrior

By Peter Odney , 05/30/19, 6:15PM CDT

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Brainerd/Little Falls goaltender Olivia King went from Division III to the Golden Gophers in a matter of months with her spectacular play.


Olivia King was a five-year member of the Brainerd/Little Falls varsity hockey program.

King moves from Brainerd to Dinkytown

Tears are not uncommon during postgame press conferences during the Minnesota State Hockey Tournaments. 

They've been shed by head coaches, 18-year olds off to college in the fall, and NHL first-round draft picks.

Under the harsh lights in the bowels of the Xcel Energy Center on the night of February 23, after falling in double-overtime in the Class 2A state title game to Edina, former Brainerd/Little Falls goaltender Olivia King admitted that she had probably played the last hockey game of her career. 

"Really at that moment I was so heartbroken for not being able to play with those girls ever again, and never with those same coaches," King said. "It was the end of something that had been a huge part of my life for eight years."

King made plans to move on. She finalized a roommate for her first semester of college, where she wouldn't gear up for hockey for the first time since she was in kindergarten. 

"Unless something crazy happens," King said during her Youth Hockey Hub Girls' Goaltender of the Year interview, reassuring to her would-have-been future roommate and Warrior teammate Ella Kalusche that their plans would remain unchanged. "And then something crazy happened," King grinned. 


King makes one of her 38 saves in Brainerd/Little Falls' 3-2 win over Andover in the 2019 Class 2A State Tournament semifinals.

In the span of approximately two months, King went from a couple of tepid offers from Division III programs to a bonafide scholarship offer from the preeminent women's hockey program in the country. 

"It's a team I've always watched as a kid," King said, quickly citing Finnish women's national team and former Golden Gopher All-American goaltender Noora Raty as her favorite player. 

"Noora Raty, I met her when I was at a camp when I was really young," King said. "She's so good, and I wanted to be just like her," King continued. "She and Alyssa Grogran are just amazing," King said, referring to another former Minnesota netminder in Grogan, whose camp King initially fell in love with the pair.

Former Brainerd/Little Falls head coach James Ernstner and goalie coach Toby Kvalevog spoke glowingly of King during the Girls' Goaltender of the Year selection process, lauding her worth ethic, natural ability, and her presence in the Warrior locker room. 

Ernstner and Kvalevog's reaction to King's commitment mirror the Brainerd community's, thrilled for the goaltender who wasn't nominated for this year's Let's Play Hockey Senior Goaltender of the Year Award. 

"I actually hadn't told them anything about it until it got further down the line," King said. "I didn't want to get their hopes up for anything (until it happened)."

"They're awesome," King said of Ernstner and Kvalevog. "They coached me for the past five years...I owe them everything for that and for sticking with me when I was thirteen and didn't know anything." 

King received multiple Division I offers after her Tournament de Force, where she stopped 101 of 107 shots in over 163 minutes of play and said that choosing the Golden Gophers was an easy decision.

King will battle former Rochester Mayo standout Makayla Pahl for goaltending duties, with upperclassmen Sydney Scobee and Alex Gulstene ahead of the incoming freshmen on the roster. King said she's ready for a new challenge and looks forward to being a part of the iconic program. 

"As soon as I went on a tour and met all the coaches, I (knew) this is for sure where I want to go," King said. "I would never have thought, a year ago, that I would play for the Gophers."


King finished her senior campaign with five shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.61.

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