Maddie Rooney

Maddie Rooney was in net for the United States when they won gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang — a result that also earned her the Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year Award, given annually to the outstanding American-born women's ice hockey player. Born and raised in Andover, Minnesota, Rooney now plays for the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL, wearing number 35.

The path to that Olympic moment ran through Andover youth hockey, Burnsville High School, boys varsity hockey, and four seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth. At UMD, Rooney became the program's all-time career saves leader with 3,449, played more games and more minutes than any goaltender in Bulldogs history, and owns three of the top four single-season saves records in program history. She returned to the Olympics in 2022, this time winning silver, and has competed at four IIHF Women's World Championships, bringing home gold in 2017 and 2019 and silver in 2022.

Before the PWHL existed, Rooney played with the PWHPA — three games with Minnesota in 2020-21 and nine games with Team Adidas in 2022-23, going a combined 7-1-0 across both stints. The PWHL's arrival marked a different chapter. On ^[1] the InGoal Radio podcast, Rooney described the difference between the two setups in direct terms: the PWHPA years in Minnesota meant a loose group of roughly ten players who practiced separately and flew out on weekends to join teammates they had never trained with; the PWHL brought a shared facility, consistent daily practice, a goaltending coach, and the ability to work on team systems together. "It's a night and day difference," she said.

That goaltending coach — referred to in the conversation as Brennan — became a regular presence both on the ice and in the film room. Rooney told ^[1] InGoal Radio that having dedicated pre-practice time and access to optional sessions gave her room to work on technical specifics she had been refining for years, particularly around lateral movement and staying balanced rather than widening out during shuffles.

The PWHL's first season also brought crowds that surprised even a two-time Olympian. Rooney described a home game against Montreal at which attendance surpassed 13,000 — setting a record at the time — as one of the top memories of her career, and pointed to the league's broadcasting reach, including games streamed live on YouTube and regionally on Bally Sports North, as evidence of a significant moment for women's hockey. ^[1]

On ^[1] the InGoal Radio podcast, Rooney also opened up about the mental side of goaltending, including her approach to managing nerves at high-stakes moments and the specific breathing technique — a square method of four counts in, pause, four counts out — she uses during media timeouts and intermissions rather than in live play. She described her preference for moving on quickly after goals rather than reviewing them on the Jumbotron replay, and talked through the process of adjusting her game each time she moved between levels, from boys hockey to girls high school play to Division I and beyond. Her childhood goaltending role model, she noted, was Marc-André Fleury — and she has since crossed paths with him at Tria Rink, the shared practice facility used by both the Frost and the Minnesota Wild.

InGoal Magazine has covered Maddie Rooney in one podcast appearance.