Kelly Snedeker

By Shawna Carpentier
UWRF Sports Information

Kelly Snedeker, a junior left wing, is laying it out on the ice for the women's hockey team in her third season for the Falcons.

Joe Cranston, Falcon women's hockey team head coach, says that Snedeker is playing her best hockey ever right now. "I know what I'm going to get out of her, but this year she has really stepped up her game and that's very important this year when we don't have much depth."

In 14 games this year she has scored four goals and has five points. She has one game-winning goal.

Snedeker takes pride in her role as one important aspect of her team. "I like how it is very team orientated: we all depend on each other, but it takes each one of us to step up and get our own jobs done," says Snedeker. Despite the sparse bench this season, Snedeker trusts the Falcons to produce the season that is in their desire. "I want our team to keep working as hard as we have been. We may not have very many players right now, but we do have a lot of talent and hard work, so I just want us to have [confidence] in ourselves and each other and I know we will be able to go as far as we want," she says.

Even though she missed half of last season while sitting out with a broken ankle, playing hockey for the Falcons has been a positive experience for Snedeker who felt that River Falls "seemed too perfect" to pass up. "If I did not play hockey, I do not think I'd be as motivated in other aspects of my life," says Snedeker.    

Snedeker sacrificed her senior year of hockey at Osseo Senior High School to play for the Minnesota Thoroughbreds. Making the team was an opportunity for Snedeker to improve her hockey skills in preparation for competition at the collegiate level.   Competing with better players is what Snedeker feels opened up the chance to play at River Falls.   "When I got to high school it did not even phase me to quit, so my parents and I started looking into colleges and I tried out for the Thoroughbreds," explains Snedeker in her plans for college hockey.

Snedeker has been featured as Falcon Player of the Week and NCHA Player of the Week earlier this year. She scored three goals and had one assist in a sweep of Finaldnia. Previously, Snedeker earned all-conference honorable mention and was captain twice during her four years of high school hockey competition.

As a hockey veteran, Snedeker, who has played hockey from her fifth grade year, thinks that people should know something about hockey. "There are so many aspects of the game. Skating, stick handling, knowing the "systems," being mentally prepared. It's not just "get the puck and score" even though it would be nice if it were as easy as it looks," she says.  

Hockey like any sport has its perks and downers, and Snedeker tells that hockey can be challenging. "There are so many aspects of hockey and there is always something to improve in the game. You also have to be mentally prepared and confident," she says.

Snedeker recommends two elements to garner success in hockey; having fun and practice. Beyond her own personal excitement for the sport, Snedeker is active involving the community in the aggressive, adrenalin rushed game. "I love promoting hockey! People are always amazed when they hear about women who play hockey especially at the college level and I love to promote that."  

Those who know Snedeker rest assured because there is more to her than just her enthusiasm for hockey sticks and skates. "Kelly is one of those kids I never have to worry about," says Cranston.  

Not just a student athlete but a member of the National Student Speech Langue Hearing Association as a communicative disorders major; Snedeker hopes to attend graduate school to become a speech pathologist upon graduating from River Falls. "[A speech pathologist] work[s] with people with speech impediments or who are cognitively delayed due to mental retardation, strokes, etc," explains Snedeker. Snedeker plans on working with elementary students as a speech therapist after graduate school.  

"Like everybody else in this world, I would like to be happy and successful by my own terms," says Snedeker. "I want to make a difference with the people I'm working with."

With support, Snedeker looks to the people she refers to as "role models," her family and friends, for guidance in her ambitions. "Each person who I come across and I care about help me in different aspects of my life and each one of them wants me to succeed as much as I want to," Snedeker says.

Whether she's playing a game of hockey or the game of life, Snedeker knows she needs a plan. "From experience, when I'm not mentally prepared, I'm behind from the beginning of the game until the end."  

In her spare time, Snedeker enjoys playing pond hockey, shopping, spending time with friends and playing with her puppy Lily.

Snedeker describes herself as shy, motivated and friendly. "I almost always have a smile on my face," states Snedeker. "I just try to enjoy life one day at a time and not worry too much."