Winter Classic profile: Consistently Cuatro women's pond hockey team

The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 will not just be an outdoor game between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, it will also be a celebration of the "State of Hockey." Part of that celebration will include various hockey teams and clubs from throughout Minnesota skating on one of several auxiliary rinks at Target Field. NHL.com is profiling each of the teams. Today, Consistently Cuatro.

Growing up in Minnesota, Consistently Cuatro women's pond hockey team forward Mollie Carroll remembers always being on outdoor ice as a kid, usually with her current teammate, defenseman Kelsey Kennedy.
"Kelsey and I grew up together, so we've known each other since we were 8 years old," Carroll said. "It'd be like, 'OK, what time are we meeting at the rink?' And we'd just go dink around, then go to her parents' house and have hot chocolate to warm up because our toes are frozen."
That childhood tradition will continue when Consistently Cuatro is one of 12 hockey teams skating on auxiliary rinks to celebrate the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN1, TVAS).
"Growing up in Minnesota, you're inevitably part of Hockey Day Minnesota or the Winter Classic somehow," Kennedy said. "It's really fun to be a part of it. We're usually skating somewhere anyway, but to actually be located there, where all the fun is happening is going to be really exciting."

Consistently Cuatro was named such because Kennedy, Carroll, forwards Meagan Wanecke and Allie Johnson (nee Schwab), and defenseman Maddie Bergh, played hockey at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. The team finished fourth at the NCAA Division III women's ice hockey tournament four straight years (2010-13).
Consistently Cuatro said they define hockey in Minnesota from their flannel uniforms to the fact they've played on ponds and outdoor rinks since childhood.
"It's almost muscle memory," Wanecke said. "We've played together so many years now than when you're going out there, you know where everyone is, you know the tendencies and habits of the other players that you're playing with. It's just really fun to celebrate with each other along the way. It comes so naturally to all of us."

Cuatro formed in 2014 and won the women's division of the 2015 and 2020 U.S. Pond Hockey Championships. Having that familiarity from college helped them during pond competition.
"I don't think we would've had success outside of us all playing together," Carroll said. "Over the years, we've gone on and off with having systems or just showing up and trying to play. We found that when we've gone back to knowing how we all play and our strengths and how that means we should play together that we've found the most success together."
Carroll said Cuatro players are on the ice together three or four days a week.
"Instead of really scheduling socially, we just know we're going to see each other three or four times a week playing hockey," she said. "It's just fun that we've been able to play with our best friends and you'll see that across the pond hockey teams. Everyone is super connected and really good friends on and off the ice. That's just what Minnesota hockey means to all of us."

Six of Cuatro's players, Carroll, Wanecke, Bergh, Johnson, Kennedy and Amy Stech also play for the U.S. Women's National Bandy team that's competed at the Women's Bandy World Championship, most recently in Oslo, Norway in 2020. In bandy, players use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
"We've been consistently Cinco, I think, in bandy for the last three world championships," Carroll said with a laugh. "Bandy is super fun and it's definitely dominated by Russia and Sweden. If you beat Russia or Sweden, that would be like the (United States men) in the 1980 (Lake Placid Olympics) gold medal game. We just haven't broken through and medaled, which is our ultimate goal.
"There's supposed to be a world championship in January, now moved to march in Stockholm. Our goal there would be to medal, which would likely be a bronze for third."
Until then, Consistently Cuatro will keep enjoying their camaraderie and their success on the ponds.