Moving Forward

This trip to California has been much more exciting for Jenny Schmidgall than the last time she visited.

That was several years ago, when the Minnesota teenager arrived in Orange County from Edina with her family for a mid-winter trip to Disneyland. During the stay she got food poisoning.

This week, Schmidgall, who played forward for the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s ice hockey team, has been a center of attention on and off the ice.

She is competing at the Women’s Ice Hockey National Championships in Anaheim for her club team, the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, through Sunday at Disney Ice and Glacial Garden Ice Arena.

During the seven months she trained with the Olympic team, Schmidgall, 19, matured into one of the strongest--and savviest--women’s hockey players in the nation.

“Her stick-handling abilities are quite amazing and she uses her strength, which is above and beyond most of the players on the team,” said teammate Cara Samuelson, a forward. “It’s amazing how strong she has become since she went to the Olympics.”

Schmidgall’s two goals and three assists in six Olympic games don’t tell the entire story. She characterized her style of play at Nagano as “skillful, team-oriented play-making.” USA Hockey officials think she has a long future on the ice.

She believes, however, that her greatest contribution to the sport may be serving as an inspiration for girls who want to play. After all, she only recently graduated from high school and during her week in Orange County, Schmidgall said, she has been flattered by dozens of autograph requests.

“I don’t see myself so much as a star, but maybe as a role model for young girls,” Schmidgall said. “I’m someone for them to look up to.”

Samuelson has witnessed the attention Schmidgall has drawn this week and thinks it’s healthy for the sport.

“Most definitely she is a role model,” Samuelson said. “I know little girls who come around just to talk to her. A lot look up to her and may think they can’t play ice hockey, but then say, ‘But she can, so I can too.’ ”

Schmidgall, who shoots left-handed, was shy and reserved when she started playing hockey early in her life.

Her father would bring her to the rink while he played in an adult league in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis. Jenny--one of three daughters of Dwayne and Terri Schmidgall--would watch and sometimes go on the ice to skate around, but it wasn’t until eighth grade that she became interested in playing the sport.

She made her first appearance with the U.S. Women’s National junior team in 1995, seeing limited action. But she worked on improving her game. Then came her Olympic experience.

“I’ve known her for quite a while,” Samuelson said. “When she came back from the Olympics and we would go around to places, everyone would know her. It’s interesting to see her level of play has been raised so much higher.”

Schmidgall said she has had difficulty adjusting to national-caliber tournaments after coming off her Olympic high. But now, she said, she thinks her future is bright. She plans to enroll at Minnesota in the fall, coinciding with the university fielding its first intercollegiate women’s hockey team.

“I want to make it through college and make it big on a national [club] team,” Schmidgall said. “I hope to do well in school and play on maybe two more Olympic teams. That would be cool.”

She believes the women’s game has momentum.

“The level of play is a lot better already and it will improve dramatically,” Schmidgall said. “I don’t know as far as a pro league getting started, but there’s going to be a lot more players out there in five years.”

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Women’s Ice Hockey

* What: USA Hockey Girls’/Women’s National Hockey Championships

* When: 7 a.m.-10 p.m., today through Sunday

* Where: Glacial Garden Ice Arena in Anaheim today and Saturday, Disney ICE on Sunday

* Participants: Five divisions for girls and women--Squirt (12 and under), Pee Wee (15 and under), Midget (19 and under), Senior A (open) and Senior B (open).

* Tickets: Daily general admission $8 adults, $5 children 6-17; tournament passes $20 adults, $12 children 6-17; children 5 and younger admitted free.

* Information: (714) 535-7465