With the girls’ hockey season already underway, junior Brooke Madsen, this month’s Athlete of the Month, has plenty to do. A standout player, she is the only junior captain on the team, joining seniors Taylor Ramthun and Lexi Wilson. Her leadership comes with more than just her captaincy, however, as she also currently leads the team in goals scored.

Brooke has improved upon last season when she took second in team scoring, falling just behind fellow star Taylor Anderson, a freshman. This advancement, as she identified this year as being better than last year, comes from her work this offseason on her speed and her shot. The results have been obvious, as she is currently on pace for more goals this year.

Despite her obvious success early on in the season, Madsen stressed ways to improve herself when asked how her season has been going. Calling it a “pretty good” season so far, she highlighted the desire for “a couple more goals…and a couple more wins against Eastview and Hastings.” She hopes to continue to get better at shooting the puck, saying that what she needs to work on most is her “accuracy and scoring goals.” She continued on by arguing that she “can get more” this season, including that as her main goal for the season.

The reason for Brooke’s skill most likely stems from her early start to the sport. Like many Minnesotans, she began skating when she was around five years old. Although her parents put her in figure skating, she knew from the beginning that she liked hockey skates better, along with the outdoor rinks. Since that early age skating around, she has become a leader of the Wildcats hockey team, and the Athlete of the Month.