During the first day of scouting meetings leading into the NHL Draft, Krissy Wendell-Pohl’s phone kept ringing with a Toronto area code.
As an amateur scout with the Penguins, she tried to remain focused on the task at hand – but the caller was persistent.
At one point, she leaned over and asked director of player development Tom Kostopoulos, who’s from Ontario, if he had that number saved, but he did not. Finally, Wendell-Pohl received a text saying, ‘hey, this is from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Can you give us a call?’
“I'm like, oh my gosh. Then it kind of hit me, and then they called again,” she recalled with a laugh. “I remember thinking, ‘I should probably leave the room. I don't know how long this is going to take.’ It's just… my mind was spinning.”
As Wendell-Pohl walked around the lower level of the Wynn resort in Las Vegas, trying to find reception, she still thought there was a chance the Hall of Fame might be calling about a former teammate. But chairman Lanny McDonald informed Wendell-Pohl she was the one being inducted.
“I didn't really even know how to process,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I don't even want to listen to that phone call because they probably are like, ‘who is this idiot and how does she not know what's going on?!’ But I truly was speechless. And just the timing of it, I think was kind of cool and unique. It certainly caught me off guard, for sure!”
Wendell-Pohl had to juggle telling her loved ones the news while returning to meeting mode, though the rest of Pittsburgh’s staff – including Amanda Kessel, Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and GM – were thrilled to mark the momentous occasion.
“Everyone on our staff is so happy to see her tremendous career honored with the announcement of her induction,” Kyle Dubas said. “And Amanda being on the staff has really been great for educating the rest of the staff on how great a player Krissy was. Now, the way she goes about her business, it's awesome. She's so humble, but confident. It's been great to see the outpouring of support, and for us to be able to share in that moment during our scouting meetings was cool.”
Wendell-Pohl got started in the sport after making a deal with her parents. Her brother Erik - who is two years older - had gotten signed up, and Krissy wanted to play, too. They told Krissy that if she still wanted to play when she turned 5, they would sign her up because that was the age for registration in their home state of Minnesota. Krissy excitedly counted down the days, and woke up on her 5th birthday like it was Christmas morning.
It turned out that not only did Wendell-Pohl love hockey, but she was also incredibly talented. A forward, she went on to craft a remarkable career. In high school, Wendell-Pohl scored 219 goals in just two seasons – as Brooklyn Park didn’t have a girls team when she was a freshman and sophomore – and 165 points (110G-55A) in her senior year alone.
Not only was she the first player in U.S. history, both boy or girl, to score more than 100 goals in a single season – she accomplished that feat twice, and continues to hold the record for all-time leading scorer in women's hockey.
Wendell-Pohl then went on to the University of Minnesota, captaining the Gophers to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2004 and '05. In her three seasons there, she amassed 237 points (106G-141A).
Internationally, Wendell-Pohl represented the United States in six World Championships – winning five silver medals and one gold – and two Olympic Games, capturing silver in 2002 and bronze in ’06. She recorded an astounding 247 points (106G-141A) in 147 games with the U.S. National Women's Team.
Looking back on it all, Wendell-Pohl is just so grateful that she even had the chance to play. When she laced up the skates for the first time, there were no high school girls teams to play on, no college scholarships available, and no women's hockey in the Olympics. But as she progressed along, those opportunities opened up.
“I just barely made it. Had I been four or five years older, I wouldn't have had any of these opportunities,” she said. “Not just to have accolades or have any of that stuff, but just to play the game and continue to play it. So, I just feel super blessed and super thankful that the timing of it all worked out.
“I was able to stay and play college in my home state with people that I had grown up with and around my friends and family, and I've been able to play in the Olympics in my home country and also overseas. I just feel super lucky. I do. I really feel so lucky.”
In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, friends and teammates from every part of step of the way reached out to Wendell-Pohl, which meant so much to her.
“I think anytime people feel a part of your journey, as they should, because they're a huge part of it, it’s great. I think when something happens for somebody else that they know, they're a part of that as well,” Wendell-Pohl said. “Even (hearing from) people from my home state that I played high school with or played with growing up, I think for me, that really put into perspective not only what it means to my family, but really, what it means to those people that they can say that they shared a part of that. That's kind of where my mind went as the day went on.”
One of the most enjoyable parts of Wendell-Pohl's life in hockey has been the relationships, connections, and meeting people all over the world. This has continued with her current role, primarily scouting amateur players in the Minnesota area. Wendell-Pohl joined the Penguins in November 2021 and has learned so much in her nearly three years under two different management regimes, which is the most exciting part for her.
Wendell-Pohl also has some amateur players in her own household, with Emily, an ’08 birth year, getting selected to the USA Hockey Girls Under-18 Select Player Development Camp in Lake Placid. Krissy lived and trained there during her Olympic years, so she can’t wait to go back with her oldest daughter next month. “It’s kind of all coming full circle a little bit as my kids get older. it's crazy!” she said.
It's been wonderful for Wendell-Pohl to watch the world open up for her girls, with the PWHL the latest development in the progression of women’s hockey.
“Just for the kids to have that vision, I think, is so important to be able to see it,” she said. “My girls now are growing up being able to have female role models in the sport that they love to play. That’s something I never really had, right? So, that alone is super special. I see that in my own kids, and I'm super thankful for that.”
