All-Time Top Players, G : Natalie Darwitz,
Forward, Eagan
1998 Player of the Year
How She Got Started
"I started skating
… before I can
remember,"Natalie said. Her dad [Scott Darwitz] remembers.
As coach of his son’s youth
teams,Scott Darwitz would allow Natalie to attend
boys’ practices, with the understanding that shewould have to
skate through all the drills. Natalie spent hours at the nearby outdoor rink. "I remember times when the rink would
closedown at 10 p.m. during Christmas vacation, and I’d leave the car lights on so
she could keepplaying," Scott Darwitz said.
Nancy Darwitz admits trying to divert her daughter from hockey because
boys’ hockeypresented an uncertain future for girls. At the time, there was no
girls’ high school hockey. "When she
started playing at 3 and 4, she’d ask when she could be on the team," Her mother said. "I’d say, ‘You have
to be 5 to play.’ I thought if I put it a year or two ahead, she’d find something else to do. But when she was
five, she played
Mini-Mites." . "When she made the
boys’ Peewee A team as a first year player, she was voted captain. Shesaid to give
it to a second-year boy, but they said
no because they’d voted." . . . Darwitz
Sets the Standard,
Mpls Star Tribune By John Gilbert,
February 17, 1998, [Excerpts from article]
Her High School Stats
Year
Record
Highlights
1996-1997
7th grade
22-5-1
[Natalie
joined Eagan's girls hockey team as a
seventh grader.]
Eagan's final regular
season rating: 9th.
"Section
Two's top seed
Eagan was led by 7th grade wonder Natalie
Darwitz." LPH
Eagan was Runner-up in
State Tournament. Lost to Hibbing: 6-3.
First Team All-State. [As a seventh
grader.]
Natalie scored nine goals
in the State Tournament. [Seven were
unassisted.]
She made the All
State-Tournament Team.
1997-1998 8th grade
27-1-0
Eagan's final regular
season rating: No. 1.
Eagan entered State
Tournament undefeated: 25-0-0.
Eagan won the Consolation
Championship: 5-3.
First Team
All-State.
Natalie was the leading
scorer in Minnesota with 143 points.
She made the All
State-Tournament Team.
She was voted "Minnesota’s
Player of the Year".
1998-1999 9th grade
23-2-0
Eagan's final regular
season rating: No. 3. [South St. Paul:
No. 4]
Eagan lost to South St.
Paul (24-1-0) in Section 3 final: 1-0 (OT).
First Team All-State.
1999-2000 10th grade
22-5-1
Eagan's final regular
season rating: No. 5.
Eagan entered State
Tournament: 20-4-1.
Won Consolation
Championship: 3-2.
Soph. Natalie Darwitz made
First Team All-State; for the
4th time.
She made the All
State-Tournament Team.
[Natalie
left Eagan H.S. girls hockey team.]
[Joined
U.S. Women's National Team.]
Natalie's Statistics
Season
Grade
Team
GP
G
A
Pts
Pts/Gm
1996-97
7th
Eagan
28
87
33
120
4.29
1997-98
8th
Eagan
28
85
58
143
5.11
1998-99
9th
Eagan
23
52
23
75
3.26
1999-00
10th
Eagan
26
82
35
117
4.50
Totals
104
304
149
455
4.38
A Final Tribute
Do
we already know [in
1997] 2002
Ms. Hockey? Letter From The Editor,
LET’S PLAY HOCKEY, February 27, 1997
"Natalie
brings the level of girls' hockey up the same way guys like
Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux do in the NHL," said
Burnsville coach Tom Osiecki after his Blaze lost 7-4 to
Eagan in the Kaposia Classic Final. "Right now,
I don't think the University of Minnesota has anyone as
skilled as Natalie is. I think she could be
playing on the [1998] U.S. Olympic team this season,
but my prediction is that in the next Olympics, She will not
only make the [2002] U.S. team, she will be the best
player in the Olympics."
Published: Mpls Star-Tribune,
about January 1, 1998.
Note:
Darwitz left high school after her sophomore season
[1999-2000], to join the U.S. National Team. She
made the 2002 U.S. Team, and was one of the
best players in the Olympics.
"First
Team All-State" in
1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
"All
State-Tournament Team" in 1997, 1998, and 2000
1998
Player of the Year.
Eagan
High School Girl's Hockey Team retired the
"No.20" jersey that was
worn by Natalie Darwitz, from 1996 to 2000, on
Tuesday, December 19, 2000.
