By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
Abbey Murphy lists Kendall Coyne Schofield as her sports role model.
Now, she will be a teammate of Schofield on the biggest stage for women’s hockey.
Team USA Hockey announced its Olympic roster over the weekend and two-time medal winner Schofield, a native of Palos Heights and a Sandburg graduate, will be joined by another former area standout. Murphy, an Evergreen Park native who attended Mother McAuley, made the team for the first time.
Murphy, 19, is a sophomore at Minnesota, a school that has eight players or former players on the 23-member Team USA squad. Joel Johnson, a longtime assistant coach at Minnesota, is the Olympic team’s head coach.
Murphy said in her Team USA video that when she was 6, she learned to rollerblade and gradually learned to skate on ice. To get to this point has taken some work.
“My family believed in me,” Murphy said. “And I’ve always wanted to make an impact and carve a path for the younger generation to come.”
As a freshman for the Golden Gophers she scored eight goals and had 10 assists in 20 games.
Murphy also competed as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship in 2021, and helped the team bring home a silver medal. She represented the U.S. in various other international events, including the 2021 My Why Tour presented by Toyota
As a member of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team, Murphy participated in three IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championships and won a gold in 2020.
Additionally, she is a three-time member of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s Select Team, competing in three Under-18 Series against Canada from 2017 to 2019.
Also in 2018, she went to Russia and won a gold medal with the USA 18-Under team, and at 15 years old was competing against players three years older than herself. She scored a goal in a 2-1 win over Sweden and added another in a 6-2 victory over Canada. She added two more goals in a stunning 9-3 victory over Sweden for the title.
She was honored at McAuley with a golf cart parade through the school, and said at the time that she would love to someday be teammates with Schofield.
Schofield, 29, helped the U.S. win a silver medal in 2014 and a gold in 2018. In 2014, she scored two goals and added four assists in five games and in 2018 added two goals and an assist in five more games.
She has played in 155 games on various levels and competitions with Team USA and has 74 goals and 82 assists.
Making this team never gets old for her and she is looking forward to the challenge in Beijing in early February. The U.S. is scheduled to open pool play against Finland on Feb. 3.
“Every day I need to give my best,” Schofield said on her Team USA video. “Not only for this team but for this country. To be able to represent our country at the highest level through the sport of hockey is an honor and a dream come true and a privilege.”
Ten years from now? Schofield would like to stay heavily involved in the sport.
“I would like to leave this game better than I entered it,” she said. “Whether that’s a player or as a coach or as a role model or as a leader. This game has taken me to some amazing experiences. … I can’t imagine my life without hockey.
“I know I won’t be playing forever; hockey will be in my life forever.”
