• Molly Engstrom - 2024

Molly Engstrom was born and raised in the small northwestern town of Siren, Wis., and played youth hockey from the ages of six to twelve in nearby Webster. Girls hockey was not available to her at that time so she played with the boys until age 14.. As a 13-year-old, she was selected as the first female player to participate on a boys team with Wisconsin Selects from Superior and would play with that team of 1983 birthdates for the next two summers.  This program played in the Team Minnesota Hockey Festival in the Twin Cities and would lead to her being contacted by the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, for which she played through age 15. 

She would spend her weekends with the Thoroughbreds, and on weekdays at home going to school and participating in many other sports.  As a 16-year-old junior, Engstrom would leave home and attend Culver Academy in Culver, Ind., where she played hockey, golf and track and field.  She would compete in the Indiana State Championships in golf and discus as a Junior and Senior.  Engstrom would move on to a four-year collegiate career with the Wisconsin Badgers and would be an assistant captain in her senior year.  She was named an All American at Madison and was the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005.  She was selected as a top-ten finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2005.
 
After finishing her college career with the Badgers, Engstrom enjoyed a storied career in the United States and abroad.  She is a five-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Team for the Internation Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Championships, winning Gold in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011, and Silver in 2004 and 2007, and was named the tournament’s top defender in 2007.  As an Olympian, she was a Bronze Medalist in Turin in 2006, and a Silver Medalist in Vancouver in 2010, where she earned the “Best Defenseman” award.  She is a four-time member of the U.S. Women’s Select Team for the Four Nations Cup, a two-time member of the U.S.
Women’s Under-22 Select Team and a seven-time member of the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival.  As a professional, Engstrom played and coached in the Swedish Women’s Professional Hockey League (SDHL), the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL).  Her teams won championships in the SDHL, CWHL and the WWHL. After retiring from her playing career in 2013, she came out of retirement in 2015 and played for the Connecticut Whale in the NWHL and for SDHL in 2016-2018 before retiring once more.

After her playing career was over, Engstrom was given a scholarship by the U.S. Olympic Committee that resulted in her attaining a master’s degree in Sports Administration from the Russian International Olympic University in 2014.  Returning to the United States, she served as the girls’ varsity hockey head coach and assistant athletic director at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. from 2014-1016.  From 2018-2022, she was the assistant coach at St. Cloud State University in Mankato, Minn.  In 2022, Engstrom was named the Head Coach for the Maine Black Bears Varsity Women’s Hockey Team.